HOT DEBATE: Five UAE general managers to watch

At Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi , GM Pep Lozano has just finalised the landscaping of the resort ahead of September's launch.

2583 ROOMS, 48 RESTAURANTS, 4350 STAFF VACANCIES

By the end of 2012, these GMs will open a total of 2583 hotel rooms and 48 restaurants in the UAE. Together they are recruiting more than 4350 staff. Hotelier’s exclusive roundtable reveals their recruitment strategies, F&B philosophies and where in the pre-opening ranks they really are…

No-one could ever dare suggest that the UAE’s hotel industry is stagnating. These five general managers, each representing one of the country’s most exciting upcoming launches, are testament to the dynamism, creativity and sheer boldness still dominating the hospitality scene in the emirates.

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Indeed, with so many developments underway, it can be difficult to work out who is doing what and when. That’s why this month, Hotelier Middle East gathered these five GMs for an exclusive roundtable held at the upcoming JW Marriott Marquis Dubai; the first ‘event’ to be held in one of the property’s mammoth ballrooms no less.

We had a brief tour of the hotel, taking in floor-to-ceiling murals in the Indian restaurant being developed in consultation with famed chef Atul Kochhar and breathtaking views across Dubai’s ‘World’ islands, before settling down to discuss the nitty-gritty of the pre-opening process, the huge recruitment task and the pressure to lead their teams to success.

The mantra “location, location, location” still rings true in the UAE: what are the benefits and any potential pitfalls of your hotel’s location?
Pep Lozano, Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi: In terms of Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi I think location is key. We are right in front of Sheikh Zayed Mosque which is one of the most impressive monuments within the UAE.

The area is called Between Two Bridges, we’re actually facing the Shangri-La and the Fairmont which make up this area which is called Grand Canal, a destination itself. In Abu Dhabi you have the Corniche where you have the big mass of five-star hotels, you have Between Two Bridges, and then you have Yas Island and Saadiyat Island. We’re actually 15 minutes from the Corniche, 15 minutes to the airport, which makes it a very great location.

Luigi Romaniello, Rosewood Abu Dhabi: Our location is very favourable in that we are at the heart of the business centre of Abu Dhabi — right in front of the Abu Dhabi mall my ownership [Mubadala] has developed an island [Al Maryah island, formerly Sowwah Island] and established the new Abu Dhabi stock exchange there, we forecast occupying about 12,000 people in those towers.

And I’m also connected to the Cleveland Clinic [opening end 2013] — we have a sky link, the patients will have a golf cart to our hotel, we’ll be able to room the families while the patients get their care.

So we do have a couple of captive audiences within our market. We have a wonderful retail component below us that is called the Galleria being built with 110 shops, [and so] along with a spa, with our 11 F&B venues, with the shopping, with the business — the high point of energy that it has — we feel that we can get a great business and leisure clientele.

Martin van Kan, Fairmont The Palm, Dubai: We’ll be the only hotel at the moment that is not on the crescent [of Palm Jumeirah] , we’re on what is known as the trunk, although we don’t want to call it the trunk anymore — we want to call it the heart of the island where we can service all the ‘Palmies’.

It’s the first hotel you’re going to hit coming onto the island, when you come off the island the hotel’s there, it’s close to Internet City, Knowledge Village but at the same time…you have the leisure component with four swimming pools, 450m long beach, kids centre — the hotel is also able to be a major part and centre and hub for the local community of the island and we’ll be playing to that a lot.

It’s not a destination hotel such as our competitors on the crescent but it lends itself very well to being able to share its market segmentation between corporate and leisure, obviously favouring the leisure but that’s purely [down to] its location.

Mario Ferraro, Conrad Dubai: I think location is a key success factor and our hotel is strategically located on Sheikh Zayed Road in front of the World Trade Centre and we are connected by the Metro bridge. DIFC is in front of us, and we are close to the shopping malls and I think the location is fantastic. It’s close to the airport, really for the business traveller it’s the perfect location because you are in the heart of the city and you can still attract leisure clientele because you are close to the shopping areas and the beaches.

Rupprecht Queitsch: For our market I couldn’t be happier with this location. Our key business is the convention market, the corporate business traveller, that doesn’t mean that we ignore the leisure traveller and there is still a lot of that, but for the business traveller this is ideal.

You have a very good location next to the financial district in the Business Bay district — although it still needs to be developed more, I have a few numbers: the total development is a population of 190,000, plus 110,000 working in Business Bay so that’s around 300,000 people just in the surrounding area.

We are obviously close to the convention centre, we’re working very closely with the tourism bureau. It takes me 10-12 minutes in the car to come from the Palm and it’s 20 minutes to the airport the other side. Being right off Sheikh Zayed Road it’s very easy to access.

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