Service and staff
Business may be on the up for 2012, but that is not to say that Dubai is without challenges. As travellers increasingly seek both value and personalised service, Grub says it’s time to push service standards back up in Dubai.
“I believe that over the years, as a destination, Dubai hotels have really slipped in providing customer service,” asserts Grub.
“We came from a very high plateau, where we serviced a customer, where customers were in abundance, and off we went, it didn’t matter that much, then all of a sudden — over the past few years — people cut expense, cut costs; naturally so. Because we did not lose that much on occupancy if you think about it, where we lost as a destination was rate and rate manifests itself straightaway in the bottom line,” he explains.
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The solution is simple, and it comes down to “really listening to your customers”, says Grub. “And really — and I’m not telling you something new — if you’re really customer focused, you will do well. And I believe it is all to do with customer retention, and really focusing on the customers’ needs — we have repeat customers, we know who that customer is, their likes and dislikes.”
This approach should be taken with all guests, at all types of hotels, continues Grub.
“Let me put it this way; as an individual, regardless of whether you stay in a super deluxe hotel or whether you stay in an apartment building, you still want to be treated [as if you are] special.
“You may not get that silver spoon, you may get a stainless steel spoon; instead of a crystal glass, you maybe just get a regular glass — you get what you pay for. But you still want to be treated as the individual from wherever you came from. This is hospitality — it has nothing to do with stars and brands and rankings.”
The right staff is pivotal to achieving this, acknowledges Grub, who is set to start recruiting management for the new properties in the first quarter of this year.
“Recruiting is probably the most important process you undertake because there you are selecting an individual who is the stakeholder of your business.
Regardless of whether that person works in a guest-facing or non-guest-facing position, that individual will interact directly or indirectly with the customer — unless these people know perfectly well what their objectives are, what their tasks are supposed to be, how it affects the stay of the customer, or how it affects the organisation overall, if you cannot do that, then you have a challenge,” says Grub.
It is more than making staff aware of their responsibilities, he continues, it is about monitoring their interaction with guests and “really making sure” your team understands the impact they have. Put simply, it comes down to empowerment.
“You have to have a good empowerment process…and continuous coaching going on in order to achieve that objective,” says Grub.
And with that, Heinz Grub is off for, you guessed it, a team meeting; missing out on those Dubai boom years certainly hasn’t dented this hotelier’s passion!
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