The 10 stately buildings that arch around the expansive lawns in a crescent shape are complete. Although extensive, the walk from the lobby to each end only takes two minutes.
Target Markets
With such a wealth of facilities, the market is wide open for Ritz-Carlton and the team frankly admits that in a city where competition is rife, they will need to tap into every opportunity. Generally speaking, corporate, government and leisure business will form the key markets, with group bookings expected to account for a significant portion of business.
“If you are in a market where demand is greater than supply you can choose who you target. At this point in time, we’ll target all markets,” says Dilip Mukundan, DOSM.
With 532 rooms available though, he says it’s “a perfect group hotel”, with one request from the US already coming in for an entire takeover of the hotel for four days. “It’s a big win not just for us but for the destination,” says Mukundan, adding that Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority’s (ADTCA) presence with a regional office in New York has been greatly beneficial.
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“For us ADTCA has been crucial in order to develop a lot of new business opportunities within Abu Dhabi,” adds Lozano. “It’s played a key role building tourism offices in major cities, in Riyadh, in New York, as well as bringing big delegations.
Adding Ritz-Carlton to the portfolio of Abu Dhabi will increase awareness of the city now. Thanks to our website and our powerful links with clients and business we will create more awareness of Abu Dhabi in the market, so I think it’s a win-win solution.”
Mukundan says the UK market has received the product very well — particularly the villas — and that a key target is to sway the Russian market to book standalone trips to Abu Dhabi, rather than twinning the destination with Dubai as has been the case historically.
“We’ll push a lot of groups into the hotel — that’s our drive,” adds Mukundan. “Weddings will be an important segment — we have far larger inventory than other five-star hotels in the city.”
A weddings specialist will look after sales and organisation of the events, with enquiries already coming in from India.
In terms of corporate clients, Mukundan says Ritz-Carlton will likely share some accounts “with the hotels across the water” — namely Fairmont and Shangri-La.
According to Lozano, the proximity to these two hotels is positive, with the three together working to establish the ‘Between the Bridges’ area of Abu Dhabi.
“[Together] we’re actually competing with other hotels on the Corniche,” he says.
As always, location is critical, but being based at the entrance to Abu Dhabi city, 15 minutes from the Corniche, 25 minutes from Abu Dhabi International Airport and less than an hour’s drive from Dubai, puts Ritz-Carlton in a strong position.
Ramping Up
So with the 60-day countdown begun, what are the GM’s priorities? Firstly, it’s the people, says Lozano, referring to his 75 managers and opening workforce of 700.
“As a general manager the main concern before opening is to make sure your ladies and gentlemen are well taken care of.
“So the focus remains to make sure their accommodation is ready, that all the managers are on board, that we found suitable schools for the managers that have children and that everything is working for them so they can focus strictly on the hotel.
“And then of course a very big focus is handing over the building to make sure that we take over the building properly, that our testing life and fire safety commission and so on are taken care of,” continues Lozano.
“And number three is positioning the hotel properly, he adds. “This is going to be the flagship of the Middle East right now. We haven’t had an opening since two years back in DIFC in Dubai, this is the first one in the capital of UAE and definitely it’s going to be one of our key properties within the Middle East.
“We are different from the other [hotels], we have special features and our location. In addition, it’s a piece of land that has a lot of history behind it because here there used to be the Gulf Hotel, one of the oldest in Abu Dhabi. A lot of the big families have learned how to swim here, have been coming at the weekends, got married here, so they’re all [looking forward to the] Gulf Hotel coming back,” says Lozano.
As we’ve seen, it’s likely these families will find a few surprises in store at the new hotel — but we imagine they’ll be in for quite a treat. Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi manages to present the traditional class, elegance and opulence for which the brand is renowned, but in a slightly more contemporary clothing.
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