“We want to be the property of choice within the JBR marina area. All the rooms have been designed to be family friendly to add value for money to key feeder markets. All our rooms accommodate two adults, and a child or two under the age of 11 can stay complimentary. The children get to eat for free and use the kids’ club too,” says the general manager.
Radosevic adds: “It’s family friendly, but we want to attract a younger clientele too. It’s young, hip and four-star because we identified a long time ago there’s a niche in the market, a gap that we can fill.
“Of course Dubai’s always been promoted as a five-star destination, but some of the people around the world don’t even consider a five-star when travelling.
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“We felt if we provide a really high-quality four-star we will have clientele forever. It’s resonated in the market fantastically and we have had great support from DTCM [Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing] too — they’re promoting it as ‘we finally have a four-star on the beach’. They’re aware there’s a need for it,” she says.
Foodie focus
A major part of the hotel, expected to make up 50% of total revenue is the property’s vast food and beverage offering.
“We’ll do a lot of sales and marketing to the local community. All-day dining will always have a majority of in-house guests as clientele, but one of the concepts will be one of the most popular bars in Dubai for local residents without a doubt,” declares Radosevic, referring to the Scottish-themed Girders restaurant, bar and terrace.
“We’ve got an external staircase so guests from outside don’t need to enter the hotel they can go direct to the terrace of the bar — external access is very important. Some of the more popular clubs or bars in Dubai have external entrances. Residents like to go to the bar rather than the hotel,” says Harley-Fleming.
Radosevic asserts: “It’s the only licensed venue directly accessible from the walk”.
“The word ‘girder’ in Scottish means a steel beam from the construction industry so it ties in with the history of our parent company, and in Dubai there is no real Scottish bar as such.
You’ve got some British bars with a Scottish twist; we’re doing Scottish with a British twist. We don’t want to isolate it only to Scots, obviously, but Haggis will certainly be on the menu at Girders,” adds Scottish-born Harley-Fleming.
The operator has also imported Scotch whisky and staffed the outlet with majority Scottish and British staff for authenticity. In fact authenticity is a key focus for executive chef Alexander Fries, particularly in speciality Brazilian grill Fogo Vivo.
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Jan 10, 2013 , United Arab Emirates
It sounds like a very unique hotel , in setting, location, concept approach and positioning. I like the your space room idea, the pizza with scissors and the Scottish bar. Differentiating and innovative approach ! All the best