New opening: Dubai Marriott Hotel Al Jaddaf
Jutting out of the empty land at the merge nose of Oud Metha Road and Al Khail road near Dubai’s Royal residence Zabeel Palace, is the proud standing Marriott Al Jaddaf.
The majestic mashrabiya dappled building is still surrounded by scaffolding and a fine layer of dust when Hotelier Middle East takes a sneak peek of the property, but on entering the grand reception doors, guests can expect to be welcomed by an immaculate lobby area and grinning Marriott Red Coats.
The hotel, which opened on January 21, is significant for the company since it marks the first Middle East roll out of the new Marriott brand voice under the Travel Brilliantly campaign, launched last year.
As such, the hotel and apartments promise to target a new generation of travellers who are looking to combine work and play in a mobile world.
The 408-unit complex is comprised of signature brand Dubai Marriott Hotel Al Jaddaf and upscale serviced apartment brand, Marriott Executive Apartments Dubai Al Jaddaf.
The hotel offers 353 rooms across eight floors, including 192 deluxe king and 107 deluxe double rooms as well as 39 executive suites, two Zabeel suites and a presidential suite, while 128 fully furnished one, two and three bedroom apartments provide space and privacy for extended stay guests in the adjoining property.
Two rooftop swimming pool areas give views across the looming Dubai skyline, taking in the iconic Burj Khalifa, while a strong food and beverage offering with four signature restaurants is set to add iconic entertainment venues to the existing supply in the emirate.
However, perhaps the most obvious examples of the new Marriott brand voice are demonstrated in the properties’ extensive MICE facilities. These consist of 14 meeting rooms, a Zabeel ballroom with separate entrance which can accommodate 540, as well as the ‘Greatroom’ — a new lobby lounge concept, providing a space for socialising, going online, and having meetings over a coffee.
According to Graeme Lunn, the complex’s marketing director, the Greatroom complies 100% with Marriott criteria for the facility. The wide lobby with warm colours and plenty of plug sockets, as well as an Illy coffee counter serving up homemade biscuits and pastries lends a café-style accessibility to the area, offering a space equally suited to business and pleasure.
General manager of the Dubai Marriott Hotel AL Jaddaf and Marriott Executive Apartments Dubai Al Jaddaf, Khaled Al Jamal, a Jordanian national, explains: “The lobby is set up to cater to customers who want to multitask. They might be having a snack while checking Facebook, or replying to emails, while making a phone call.”
For guests looking for a more formal work space, the 14 dedicated meeting rooms offer an interactive guest experience with the new Red Coat Direct App, available from the opening day of the hotel. The app can be downloaded to guests’ mobile devices so that they can call upon Marriott Red Coat event staff for assistance without leaving the meeting room.
“Red Coat Direct will be big for us in 2014,” explains Al Jamal. “In the Middle East one of our targets is to get the Marriott Al Jaddaf on strategy with all the latest Marriott initiatives, whether it’s Red Coat Direct or the Greatroom. That mobility for our customers is something we are really proud of with this property.”
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A new brand voice
Underpinning these structural and technological features at the Marriott Al Jaddaf is Travel Brilliantly, a multi-year global campaign, which is a bold move toward amplifying the brand’s dedication as a leader in the future of travel.
The campaign reflects the lifestyle of the next generation of travellers who ‘seamlessly blend work and play in a mobile and global world’.
“We’re proud to be the first hotel in the region to be on strategy catering to Generation X and Y customers with the new transformation of the Marriott brand,” comments Al Jamal.
Integral to this “transformation” is a shift in the way guests are communicated with.
An initiative rolled out in January, and coined ‘guestVoice’, takes social media reviews into account along with surveys in calculating the guest satisfaction score. On property this means that a member of staff manages social media functions, collating information to present to management.
Al Jamal comments: “We cannot ignore the influence of social media right now. It’s a big focus for us and a position that is definitely well-worth having and investing in. Marriott is a company going towards what we call ‘guestVoice’ where we combine the traditional guest survey with social media under one platform which is monitored and can also be viewed on Marriott.com for customers to see — so we have transparency there.”
Taking guest interaction one step further, new co-creation website travelbrilliantly.com offers a space for guests who have stayed at a Marriott to share their travel experiences and offer ideas for improvements.
Suggestions are put to a judging panel with the brightest and most feasible implemented through an ‘innovation lab’. One idea that has come out of this so far is a healthy vending machine which Marriott promises to provide further details on in the next few months.
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Marketing strategy
Originally conceived in 2008, a delay in construction meant that this property took six years to come to fruition, however, from a marketing perspective this has been a blessing in disguise according to Lunn, who has been on board since September 2012, making him the longest serving member of the team.
“The timing of Travel Brilliantly and the whole brand refresh happened perfectly in that we could adapt what was already planned to allow Marriott to have a showcase property for the new branding.
“With the growth of the group in the MEA, the regional team will bring future owners here to show them what their new properties are going to look like. The benefit that we have of being the first on-brand property in the Middle East is that we’re actually able to ride on the back of the global marketing campaign that started last year, so we’ll take that messaging and put it out locally,” Lunn explains.
However, one challenge that he admits he will face in marketing the property, is convincing potential guests that it’s in a convenient location. “Some people will think this hotel is in the middle of nowhere,” Lunn comments.
“I totally disagree with that. The main marketing strategy for me is to be really positive about the location. We’re less than 10 minutes to Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping mall; we’re less than 10 minutes to DIFC, which is a growing financial centre with worldwide prominence; we’re less than 10 minutes to terminals one and three – the main international hubs for the airport.
We’re also less than 10 minutes to Bur Dubai, to Business Bay, to Silicon Oasis. We’ll probably see that around 70% of guests are here for business and the balance will be for leisure. The likes of Dubai Mall will drive that leisure demand.”
Al Jamal agrees, adding that he is positive about demand for the foreseeable future, particularly in the wake of the recent Expo 2020 announcement.
“The Dubai market will continue to enjoy a really good demand for years to come,” he says. “With Expo 2020 and with Dubai being very well established on the world map we’re not worried about people coming, we just need to make sure we’re competitive enough to take our fair share of this supply.”
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Staying ahead of the Game
However, with Dubai’s hotel inventory predicted to double to around 164,000 hotel and hotel apartment rooms within the next seven years, how will the Marriott Al Jaddaf stand out from the crowd and establish itself firmly in time for 2020?
“Marriott Rewards is a very strong loyalty driver for us,” explains Al Jamal. “We’re talking about more than 40 million Marriott Rewards customers that we can tell right now that the hotel is open.”
Lunn is similarly confident about the draw of the company’s rewards scheme which he says “is massive in the area”.
He adds: “It’s another Marriott property in an area where we anticipate huge demand, both in terms of groups and individual transient travel. Business customers will be attracted because they’re going to be able to use their Marriott Rewards points.
They’re going to be able to get to their work because we will be operating a shuttle service to the key business feeder areas of Dubai, including Business Bay, Emaar Square, DIFC, and Healthcare City.”
Nevertheless, coming into a high demand market like Dubai can be intimidating, even for the most confident pre-opening team.
“We are looking to achieve over 60% occupancy for our first year on the market,” explains Al Jamal. “In Dubai which performs on average in the low 80s we will need to build up a customer base first.”
Key to this he says, will be running a successful team. However, having only come on board in December 2013, getting to grips with a brand new workforce of 285, with 130 new staff to follow by the time the property is fully up and running, has been no mean feat.
“We were all working around the clock to get this property open on time and get customers coming in as soon as possible, so the biggest challenge was time,” says Al Jamal.
He was relieved to discover, having entered at a point when most of the team was already appointed, that many of the senior staff members had Marriott experience under their belts; and with positivity visibly emanating from the Al Jaddaf Red Coats, the pressure has been taken off slightly.
“Luckily the team on the property is very strong. My task was to distribute them around me and start functioning from day one because the opening was just around the corner. We have had a very short time to start working as a team and to make sure that we are singing the same song when it comes to receiving customers in the first month of being open.”
“We are overcoming these challenges together by having fun and sharing some group moments,” Jamal concludes. “It’s a new team and we are all motivated by the opening of this beautiful property.”