Competition
Asked which hotels the Rotana properties will be competing with, McCarthy says: “We’ve targeted our main competitors —Hyatt, Marriott, Taj, Sheraton, Radisson, even Mövenpick and the recently refurbished Crowne Plaza.
“Initially in the first year bringing leisure in is the easiest thing to do. But still we’re centrally located here, we’ve got a new business tower here, we’ve got businesses around us and plus we’re looking to take some business from everyone else around here.
If I was to give percentages I’d say business is probably going to be 30-40% and 50-60% leisure. We’ll probably in the end go more towards a 50:50 situation,” he explains.
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Furthermore, a stable income will be generated from the Arjaan hotel apartments, which have a separate entrance and comprise one-, two- and three-bedroom units. McCarthy expects a “good chunk” of guests will stay “well over a year”, with others ranging from two- to three months.
But with a number of new properties due to launch nearby on Sheikh Zayed Road this year, including the first phase of JW Marriott Marquis Dubai’s 1608-key, two-tower complex, McCarthy believes business could be a little tight going into the New Year.
“We’ll get affected somewhat by some of the hotels opening. At the moment when Sheikh Zayed Road fills up the spillover comes down here, so that won’t happen as much but I expect the number of events will grow and it will keep pace.
This is a fantastic area for tourists, the metro’s right around the corner. There’s a kind of resurgence in this area. Deira is the real heart of Dubai.”
Going into 2013, chef Textor believes the hotel will also be able to diversify revenue from F&B through outside caterings, meetings and events. And McCarthy hopes to see a positive impact on business from the completion of the Al Ghurair City shopping centre slated for March, adding around 150 stores to its existing 200.
Chef Textor adds that the cruise terminal close by will generate business too.
“The Creek side was kind of lagging behind, everybody was looking at Sheikh Zayed Road and further out, but you can see now firms coming here. We’re unique though because our style is very sophisticated, much more modern and on par with designs you’ll see in JBR [Jumeirah Beach Residence] in Dubai Marina,” adds Weller.
The area also has something else in common with Dubai’s JBR area — the heavy traffic: “Speaking bluntly a lot of people are put off coming to this side of the creek because of traffic jams”, says Weller.
However, one advantage of launching later than planned is that the traffic situation has started to improve slightly, according to McCarthy.
“Traffic’s eased up now as they’ve finished the metro construction. It was different when I was here last year, I was saying ‘ooh traffic is a bit of a problem’ but the construction has cleared up, barricades have been taken down and this year seems much easier.”
Fortunately, Rotana guests will also have access to a dedicated, air-conditioned parking area in the mall’s basement parking.
“And we have valet so ladies can come for a spa treatment, pull up here and head to the spa ,” adds McCarthy.
Finishing touches
With the hotel interiors evidently nearing completion, the final task is to bring the brigade in and train them up.
“In the end we’ll have around 470 team members. We have about 70-80 people here, but we’ve hired already 370-380,” McCarthy.
Then for the real test: “We’ll invite all the other general managers from the hotels to come and stay,” he adds.
Hopefully they’ll be as impressed with the service as Hotelier Middle East was with the look of the properties, setting the bar even higher for Rotana’s 43 properties in the Middle East pipeline.
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