02:50pm Taj's director of sales Ritika Gupta popped by the stand and is gearing up for the group's newest opening in Dubai, expected to open by the end of the year in Business Bay.
02.45pm: JA Resorts & Hotels announced a new hotel in Dubai yesterday, a third property at the JA Jebel Ali Golf Resort. However, following a chat with David Thomson, chief operating officer, JA Resorts & Hotels, Hotelier can reveal there are actually THREE new hotels planned for Dubai. These will both be located at the Al Sahra Desert Resort, owned by JA parent company Dutco. One hotel will be very high-end, says Thomson, while the second will be more traditional. The new hotel at Jebel Ali Golf Resort, meanwhile, will be a four-star product, aimed at leveraging the sports activities at the hotel and accommodating sports teams during peak season. Having now opened hotels in Seychelles and Maldives, the company is also focused on more international growth, with Phuket and Sri Lanka key targets, as well as Scotland!
02.30pm: Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Dubai have piloted some new F&B initiatives recently, focused on positioning select outlets as standalone entities and trialling new social media inititiaves. At Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Cafe Belge is being heavily promoted, while Blue Jade is the pilot project at Ritz-Carlton Dubai; the aim being to make sure the outlets are more visible within the local community. The Ritz-Carlton Dubai GM Raul Salcido said he wanted to change the perception that Ritz-Carlton’s outlets are just for special occasions and show residents that Blue Jade is an outlet they can return to time and again. As part of the hotel’s upgrade and expansion project, Salcido added that a new, bigger, more fun brunch concept would also be introduced at the new all day dining.
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02.05pm: Emaar Hospitality Group’s lifestyle dining division is also a focus for COO Philippe Zuber. The group has just opened the greatly anticipated Cut by Wolfgang Puck at The Address Downtown Dubai, and Zuber says more celebrity chef partnerships are on the cards. Another exciting upcoming opening is that of Dubai’s first Cipriani restaurant, a standalone venue next to The Address Downtown Dubai due to open early next year.
13.30pm: Amadeus has launched its latest global report - ‘Shaping the Future of Travel - Macro trends driving industry growth over the next decade' - which suggests that overnight visitor flows are expected to grow at 5.4% per annum over the next decade worldwide, significantly faster than GDP growth at 3.4%. However, the Middle East and Africa region is expected to witness even higher growth, at an annual rate of 11.9%, faster than the 8.4 % growth registered over the previous 10-year period.
12.55pm: Interested in working for one of the Middle East’s home-grown hotel brands? As Emaar Hospitality Group focuses on expansion, with four brands now under its belt — The Address, Vida, Manzil and Dubai Inn — chief operating officer Philippe Zuber says the company will need to double its workforce within the next four years, meaning thousands of new jobs will be created. The company currently employs 4200 staff. With regard to expansion, Zuber said The Address brand was now well established enough for the company to pursue growth through management contracts, with Abu Dhabi one of the locations on the target list. Address Hotels are already under development in Istanbul, Kenya and Egypt, and Zuber says more international growth is now a priority.
12.20pm: Emirates Group, a major exhibitor here at ATM, has just released its annual report for the financial year ending March 31 and it makes for interesting reading on the hotel front. With the first full year of operations at its flagship JW Marriott Marquis property under its belt, revenue from hotel operations was up 68.8% to AED395 million (US $107.5 million). It also helped the group increase food and beverage revenue up 24.5% to AED 625 million ($170.2 million).
11.55am: We managed a catch up with Doros Theodorou, commercial director, EMEA, Business Listings, Tripadvisor, who revealed some worrying stats about UAE hoteliers. Only half (51%) of the 760 hotels listed on Tripadvisor are registered owners, meaning only half read and reply to reviews left by guests. Across the Middle East, this percentage drops to 38%. On the plus side, some locally-based hotel companies, like Jumeirah and Emaar Hospitality Group, have partnered with Tripadvisor to enhance their listing, adding special offers and promotions to their page for example. Doros is hoping to encourage others to do the same; after all, according to research from PhocusWright, 50% of people will not stay somewhere without reading reviews, and they especially look for management responses.
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