Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has three properties in Cairo, Egypt. Pictured is a view from a restaurant at the Fairmont Heliopolis which opened back in 2008.
Dubai institution
While Van Kan is just starting out on his Dubai journey at Fairmont Palm Jumeirah, in the city, general manager Michael Moecking is busy planning 10-year anniversary celebrations at Fairmont Dubai.
“Throughout the year we will have special packages, special celebrations, especially in food and beverage. We are going to promote our 10 years. And the employees will have a great party on February 5 where we will celebrate the 10 years in style.
We still have 50 employees with us now that started 10 years ago, so we are very proud of them and we will have a very nice dinner with them and their families,” says Moecking.
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Looking at the bigger picture, however, and in keeping with Fairmont’s ethos, an anniversary campaign will target the community and act as a platform from which to further promote Fairmont Dubai in the future.
“What we are actually doing is we are starting out trying to be a little bit younger, doing viral campaigns, trying to include the internet and get the hotel promoted and celebrated over the internet, so that will be very interesting – not a corporate campaign. It’s a sexier campaign that we are looking to run,” says Moecking.
“We see ourselves as an institution…but every institution needs to be talked about so we will add an Italian section at Spectrum on One this year, so we are trying to refresh the image a little bit — something that people can talk about. We’re bringing household mothers in for two weeks of homestyle cooking classes — we need to create something new and have a story to tell,” says Moecking.
“This property really sets the tone for us as a brand, the success of this property was really built on the success of its F&B,” backs up Fries.
Going forward, Fries says the success of each of the UAE hotels will in part rely on their relationships with one another, a factor that will no doubt become even more significant as the three further UAE properties come online.
“We are three hotels. We’re very different. We have a lot of commonalities as well and we make those synergies work between us. They benefit the customer and the colleague and that is going to be our recipe for success — we’re not three individual hotels, there is a lot of connectivity behind us that we can work together.
“There are going to be many more synergies in the future as we get different locations coming online and sharing resources — we have people with a proven track record of excellence and this is all adding value.
“It’s never easy to open up a new hotel, whatever market, it’s always going to be a challenging undertaking and we as a brand are there to give it good support and see it off to a good start,” he concludes with a knowing look at Moecking and Van Kan.
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