Ahead of The Hotelier Middle East Great GM Debate 2014, being held in Dubai on September 2, advisory panel member Serge Zaalof, president and managing director of Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, shares his views on the most pressing challenges, and exciting opportunities, facing today’s GM.
What are the challenges with benchmarking and obtaining hotel performance data in UAE? What else would help you manage and monitor performance and comp sets?
The challenge with benchmarking and obtaining hotel performance data is the discrepancy of data which is used. There is a lack of consistency for room revenue reported to firms like STR, one of the reasons being the service charge. For example some hotels report the total room revenue including service charge others take it completely out and others calculate it partly in the figure. A common standard of how hotels and resorts report their numbers would definitely help with having a correct benchmark for the industry.
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The talent now in Dubai means new openings recruit up to half their staff from within the city. What can GMs do to retain staff?
We are successfully operating an iconic destination resort; we do not rest on our achievements but challenge ourselves daily to deliver excellence to our guests.
Dubai’s economy is dynamic and has attracted the attention of other hotel operators from around the world. Atlantis, The Palm has a great reputation to blow away our customers and to keep up with this we need to attract and retain talented and passionate people.
A genuine focus on training and professional development of all our team members is crucial because these are the people who will ultimately deliver the guest experience. Employee engagement is the key to retaining.
Allowing employees to gain an intimate understanding of the purpose of their role, allowing them to be innovative so they have the autonomy to deliver service excellence based on their interpretation of the company’s vision and investing in their development so they master the necessary skills will keep them engaged and motivated to produce excellence.
With increasing openings planned, hotels will need to go back to the ‘old’ style recruitment trips, but at the same time, create careers, not jobs, for these people to keep them. What is the GM’s responsibility on this front?
I believe a GM’s role is to create the brand image that promotes the purpose behind the organization’s business strategy. Successful organizations are filled with employees who understand the purpose and positioning of the company – this attracts and keeps employees engaged.
Employees are not looking for a job but rather for an opportunity to learn, grow and to add value. Recruitment campaigns, fairs and career pages should communicate the opportunities for candidates to reach their full potentials and how the company is prepared to invest in their future. Before employees even join an organization, they should know what career paths are available to them, the training courses they must complete with defined measurable outcomes and the ongoing skills and competencies they need to develop to ensure they are prepared to take on more meaningful roles within the company.
The GM needs to be an active and visible champion behind this message so new and existing employees know that they have a future and that they are seen as a good investment. Living in a transient market such as Dubai, creates its own share of risks and challenges. Some in the industry are stuck in the old methodology of only providing the very basic training for employees to perform their jobs and fail to understand that they should be developing their employees for long lasting careers and excellent guest service.
Third party intermediaries such as booking.com and expedia are very important, but commissions are getting higher. How can you balance this? What are you doing to drive business to brand.com?
Third Party intermediaries such as Booking.com, Expedia, Orbit and others, play an important role in Atlantis, The Palm’s multichannel marketing strategy. These channels drive brand awareness and bookings in key emerging markets. They also provide a billboard effect which benefits atlantisthepalm.com by driving online traffic to our site.
Looking at longer terms strategic partnerships with third party intermediaries enables us to keep a check on commissions and the value these channels bring. At various times of the year, Atlantis collaborates with these suppliers on strategic marketing activities to attract visitors from key emerging markets and drive bookings.
The Atlantis brand is about wowing the customer. We aim to impress our guests before their journey begins. The Atlantis online customer experience is far greater than that experienced on the third party intemediaries, which tend to be more commodity driven.
We are an entertainment information portal to all the activities guests and day visitors can experience at this iconic entertainment resort. The Atlantis website provides rich information and imagery to help guests plan their trip in advance, whether that is making a room reservation, planning a meal at our numorous award-winning restaurants, booking a ticket to watch the latest music artists at our Sandance and Live@Atlantis events, or simply checking out the weather before they land in Dubai. We’ve partnered with EarthCam, the world expert in live-broadcasting, to provide two incredible real-time views of the resort, overlooking Aquaventure, the number one waterpark in Europe and the Middle East.
We also have offers and packages some of which are specific to atlantisthepalm.com
To find out Zaalof's views on social media and targeting the younger generation, click through to the next page.
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