GM INTERVIEW: Safak Guvenc

W Doha general manager Safak Guvenc explains how the hotel is focusing on food and beverage and emerging markets to stay on top as supply outstrips demand in the city

The last time we heard from W Hotel Doha & Residences general manager and area manager for Qatar Safak Guvenc was at the Hotelier Middle East Qatar GM Debate in April, when he warned hoteliers against a rate war.

Dropping rates amid increased competition should be a last resort for hotels, he said.
Five months on and he’s followed his own advice having managed to marginally increase occupancy and RevPAR by approximately 4% year-on-year in spite of a number of new competitors opening their doors, including the Hilton Doha.

“We have not lowered our rates. Summer was better than I expected. There has been growth over the last six months; demand grew by 25% but supply grew by 32%, so supply is growing faster than demand but at some point I think demand will catch up,” says Guvenc hopefully.

A quick check online reveals minimum rates of US $277 for a Saturday night: “If you look at the weekend rates versus last year, this year’s weekend rate is higher,” asserts Guvenc.
As predicted by hoteliers at the Qatar GM Debate, many of the new hotels came into the market offering enticingly low rates, but this did not intimidate Guvenc.

“Of course they came in with introductory rates, which is healthy — it’s something we’ve done when entering a new market so guests can experience the new brand in town.

Did it affect us? No, because over the last three and half years we have built strong relationships with our guests so we have loyal customers who believe and trust in the W brand and they are continuously supporting us.

“We are very strong as a company with Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), which helps create loyalty and returning customers to a property,” he adds. “In our portfolio St. Regis opened [earlier this year] so we’ve got Sheraton, W and St. Regis in town now – three operating brands – which is great for variety as a company.

“In total 1800 rooms entered the market but being the only lifestyle hotel in Doha I think we have a different niche, so we were able to maintain our occupancy and our market share,” he continues.

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Airport delays
The Qatar GM Debate also concluded that the forthcoming opening of the New Doha International Airport would be a crucial demand generator for Doha hotels amid increasing supply in the city.

However, since the debate, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said the airport scheduled to open on December 12, 2012 had incurred a number of setbacks, including the termination of a $245m fit-out contract and is not expected to open to the general public until the second half of 2013.

Many hoteliers responded to the news reported on HotelierMiddleEast.com expressing concern and saying they would be forced to adapt their 2013 strategies, however, Guvenc is more positive.

“The airport has been delayed but we still strongly believe that next year we are expecting arrivals to increase, they’re increasing year over year so the signs are very positive in the market. Of course we wished it would open in December 2012, but I don’t see a big challenge if it opens next year.

It’s going to be one of the top airports in the world,” he says, predicting that arrivals will continue to increase alongside travellers in transit.

“Qatar Airways is doing a great job of connecting world destinations, by having a bigger airport they will do that more comfortably and I think Doha will become one of the top transit hubs in the world because of its location. We’re four-to-seven hours to so many destinations and as Doha becomes a destination more people will prefer to stop over for 24 —48 hours,” explains Guvenc.

He says the W Doha has already witnessed an increase in the number of guests stopping over at the hotel en route to other destinations.

“We are a stopover to the Maldives, to the Far East so it’s starting. We now do packages with W Maldives which is very strong – the guests come here and stay two nights, then have two to four nights in the Maldives, then sometimes on the way back they spend another night here before going to their final destination,” reveals Guvenc.

Events business
A second demand generator highlighted at the Debate in April was the Qatar National Convention Centre, which opened at the end of 2011, and the events it would bring to the country.

“The year started very strongly. We were worried about year-on-year [results] as last year we had the Asian football games — this year we don’t have that but we’ve had the Qatar Motor Show and Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition — it’s continued very well.

“If you look at the fourth quarter for the year we have the United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change 2012 [COP18/CMP8 from November 26 to December 7) coming into town, the city will be packed. Before that we have The Doha Tribeca Film Festival so the city will be able to maintain it’s year-over-year occupancy and rate,” asserts Guvenc.

Home run
Guvenc is also keen to look after W Doha’s local guests – a very important market for the hotel: “The GCC is our number one feeder market – from Bahrain, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, then it’s the US, the UK, and goes out to France, Turkey and Spain.”

And not forgetting the Qatari residents, who are crucial to enabling the hotel make significant revenue from food and beverage.

“We’re seeing a lot more Qataris dining out with their families and there’s a very healthy mix of expats and locals entertaining in our restaurants so we focus on F&B. It continues to be the most consistently-growing part of our business. If you look at year-over-year growth on F&B compared to rooms, it’s significant — especially for the W brand.

“That’s why as a hotel — every three to five years — you have to come up with new F&B concepts to attract different market segments. So that’s something we’re working on for 2013 to add a new concept. It’s not changing one of the restaurants, it’s adding,” he reveals.

“It will be very exciting,” Guvenc adds without giving any more details away. He says that the hotel will also continue with the expansion of its outside catering business.

The efforts on the F&B side appear to be paying off, with F&B making up 50% of all revenue to date, compared to 45% of revenue last year – party attributed to the launch of brunch at its Spice Market outlet.

Going into 2013, the W Doha will also focus on tapping into emerging guests markets including Brazil, China and India, according to Guvenc, and he is confident in the efforts to boost tourism that are being spearheaded by Qatar’s government.

“More and more contracts are being signed for works in Doha and it’s the right country for the World Cup 2022. In the next 10 years corporate tourism, leisure tourism and incentive tourism will all continue to grow. It is a great place to be, a great city and it is all very promising for the future,” Guvenc concludes.”

Stat attack
- 4% Predicted y-on-y growth in RevPAR and Occupancy alike
- 25% Predicted growth in demand in Qatar in 2012
- 32% Predicted growth in hotel rooms supply in Qatar in 2012
- 1800 Predicted number of rooms to open in Qatar by enD 2012
- $277 Minimum rate at W Doha when booking online