With demand for room nights in Doha expected to grow at an annual rate of 11% from 2014–2017 and a total of 30 hotels planned to open, hoteliers will have to provide world-class service to capture their piece of the pie. That's according to panellists at the Hotelier Middle East Qatar Hospitality Summit, which took place on April 14 at Grand Hyatt Doha.
Julian Crane, director of marketing at Four Seasons Doha said: “Having been here two and a half years, I think there’s a foundation of good service, but there’s a want and a need to extend this good service further.”
At St. Regis Doha a key focus for providing luxury service is providing butlers to assist guests with unpacking, room service and transport. Tareq Derbas, general manager at St. Regis commented: “We have a butler service; one butler per nine rooms and we’re the only hotel in Doha doing that – I think that adds a lot of value to the guest experience.”
Magdy Shoukry, general manager of Governor Hotel, Doha similarly claims that providing a personalised room service experience is another way in which hotels can stand out to long-stay travelers. “We added our personal chef,” he commented. “Whatever comes to your mind that you want us to cook we do it. The reason is we have a lot of long-stay guests so we want to make them feel at home.”
However, aside from providing guests with physical assistance, a key topic that came to the fore with regards to providing top class service in Doha was engaging guests through social media. Savino Leone, general manager of Crowne Plaza Doha said: “Social media is key. You need to manage it every day. One of our targets is to respond to 80% of comments. When a guest goes to make a booking they will check TripAdvisor so it’s very important that you respond to reviews and put your own comments.”
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Derbas added that today “customers are in the driver seat – they are two steps ahead of us”. He said that the hotel’s aim is to impact guest experience through social networks.
“Nowadays people are posting their experiences during their stay. As soon as they make a negative comment on their social network that’s where the hotel could be impacted heaviliy,” Derbas said.
Crane revealed that Four Seasons used a ‘Glitch System’ whereby guests' issues are posted live to staff members so that something can be done to resolve any problems while the guest is on site. “While the guest is actually with us we can do something thoughtful with this opportunity,” Crane commented. “It’s about knowing when to engage with that guest and let them know firstly that we know and also that we’re doing something about it.”
Doha’s hotel market is expecting an additional 7,000 rooms by 2017, representing a total supply of 23,000 rooms.
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