VP INTERVIEW: Shaza's Sanjiv Malhotra
Shaza Hotels vice president operations Sanjiv Malhotra explains why the guest experience is at the heart of the Eastern-inspired hotel concept being rolled out across the region and beyond
The Shaza Hotels brand, which launched in 2011 with the opening of Shaza Al Madinah, is inspired by the cultural roots of the ‘Eastern region’, with every aspect of the hotel experience - from design to cuisine to service - expected to reflect this rich backdrop.
As a result, the Shaza team, comprising just six people in Geneva and two in Dubai, is currently focused on designing a range of brand concepts to deliver this heritage and character no matter where the hotel is located.
One of the team members tasked with nurturing the development of the Shaza brand and making it an operational reality is Sanjiv Malhotra, VP of operations.
Previously regional VP for East Africa with Kempinski — which along with Guidance Hotel Investment Company set up Shaza as a JV — and before that with Oberoi Hotels India, Australia and Egypt, Malhotra is dedicated to delivering the distinctiveness of the Shaza brand.
“We do believe our biggest theme is that we are a contemporary Eastern brand built on the aspiring values of its culture. And if you want to be authentic to it you must carry its values out in full,” he asserts.
“I have great admiration for Mandarin Oriental — it presents beautifully the culture of the Chinese civilisation. So wherever they are in the world, whether New York or Geneva, or in the East, they are representing the culture of the Chinese civilisation. We want to present the civilisation of the East,” he says.
“In Arabic there is a word called Sharq, which is not a region, it’s not a Middle East and North Africa, it actually extends almost along the silk route from Morocco to Persia and that’s our footprint — these are the cultures we wish to represent,” says Malhotra.
The hotels themselves may be built outside of this geographic zone — there is a property open and another upcoming in Sarajevo, Bosnia — but the Eastern culture will still be represented in these locations.
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As a result, resources are being used to fine-tune the brand ahead of the delivery of a pipeline that currently comprises 11 hotels, located in Fez, Marrakech, Istanbul, Salalah, Dakar, Cairo, Jeddah, Doha, Sarajevo, Karbala and Bahrain.
Malhotra says the team currently has four main focus points: the creation of the Shaza design journal, which will inspire the concept brief for the hotels in conjunction with their specific location; the establishment of 100 Shaza ‘fazets’, distinctive facets or guest experiences that are both intuitive and special; the Shaza Ethos, which is the staff training programme; and the brand communication launch, set to take place just before Arabian Travel Market on April 30.
With regard to the design journal, Malhotra is adamant that it is time for hoteliers to redress mistakes made over the years.
“We did research with a few 100 travellers and we asked them what they liked and didn’t like about design when they go to hotels, and each of them very interestingly came up with scores of irritants,” says Malhotra, referencing the ‘drip, drip, drip’ associated with the walk from the sink to dryer in bathrooms.
“These are the things hoteliers miss out when they shouldn’t. They should have got it by now that these are design deficits — they just shouldn’t happen. That formed the core of what we call our Shaza design journal, which is what we draw from when we make the concept brief of the hotel. Then comes the technical services person who supervises it, then comes the hotel services person who is creating these ‘Shaza fazets’.”
These ‘fazets’ are “distinctive experiences that are signature to Shaza”, says Malhotra.
“We are creating hundreds of experiences in the hotel; in the rooms, in F&B, in public areas — the three pivotal points where guest experiences mostly happen.”
One example is an in-room footbath delivered upon request — the sort of thing one might do at home after a busy day that normally, is not possible in a hotel room.
He explains: “Usually, when travellers come back to the hotel room — particularly in a business hotel — you want to enjoy the room and maybe you don’t want to go out. You had an intense day, a long flight, you want to put your feet up, read a book, rest, unwind.
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So we have developed a ‘soak your feet in a beautiful ceramic bowl’ [fazet] that is offered to you in an interesting information piece saying ‘if you would like to soak your feet give us a call’. In about 10 minutes a person shows up with a little basket that has towels, salts, a flask of hot water and a bowl with a stand.
They set up the bowl with the hot water, the salts, aromatic oil and a towel by your side, and you just soak your feet — it’s done simply. We want people to say ‘somebody really thought about this’”.
Malhotra says large chains have forgotten the importance of positive guest-focused experiences; quite an issue considering he believes 60-70% of a guest’s ‘carry aways’ come from personal interaction rather than the “splendour of the setting”.
“When you become big as a hotel company you focus more on systems and structures as opposed to guest experiences and I think that is a trap most hotel companies fall into.
I’m not saying all of us do, but when you have 200 hotels you are into a completely different range of focuses that are not necessarily centred around the guest experience anymore. And to us those guest experiences then have to be delivered.
So we are in the process of creating a Shaza Ethos and creating training programmes that are [aimed at helping] our people be knowledgeable and inspiring so that they can be themselves.”
Malhotra says the brand, which has been relatively quiet on the marketing front, is ready to launch its campaign at the end of this month.
“The key features of the brand are its mystery; it’s intriguing, it’s multi-layered, it is cultured yet contemporary. It is not 1001 Arabian Nights, it is understated, it is well travelled, so that is the kind of personality [of Shaza],” summarises Malhotra.