GM Interview: St. Regis Doha's Tareq Derbas
As it completes its second year of operation, Louise Oakley revisits St. Regis Doha to find out how general manager Tareq Derbas has set the hotel on its path to being a “must-visit destination”
It’s been two years since I stayed at The St. Regis Doha, and close to four years since general manager Tareq Derbas arrived on site ready to lead the pre-opening.
On my first visit back in April 2012, the hotel had been open only 10 days, and I don’t know many general managers willing to have Hotelier’s prying eyes in-house so early in the operations.
Despite the early arrival, the QR 2 billion (US $54.9 million) product couldn’t fail to wow, and Hotelier was impressed, in particular, with Derbas’ self-proclaimed “obsessive concern” with the finest of details. At the time, he also set some big goals; asserting that the hotel would “raise the bar” in Qatar and become the “must-visit destination” for visitors to the state and the region.
Returning in April this year, while visiting Doha for the annual Hotelier Middle East Qatar Hospitality Summit, it’s evident that business has matured, with occupancy above 60% and the four F&B outlets I experienced all more than half-full, despite it being a Monday.
It’s also clear that the St. Regis signature butler service is a smooth operation, subtly ticking away behind the scenes, and there are some familiar faces on the team, with 70% of manpower from the opening still working at St. Regis.
Training for quality, consistency and commitment to the brand standards has been essential, says Derbas, revealing that the hotel achieved a score of 8.8 for service standards and guest experience — “which is the benchmark for the brand worldwide and that’s not easy”.
However, some key members of the executive committee have moved on from the hotel, many promoted to other positions globally, with deputy GM Hal Philp now opening GM at the Sheraton Melbourne, for example. He’s been replaced by Dagmar Lyons, who previously worked at The Palace Downtown Dubai.
Derbas says this is normal after a pre-opening, once the positioning is successful, and that the new senior team is now tasked with “taking things to the next level”.
Also important is up-skilling the middle management, with Derbas, a stickler for detail — inevitable following previous roles as hotel manager at Burj al Arab and a long career with Four Seasons — now ready to pass responsibility down through the team.
“The most important thing to us now is to focus on the middle management. Those are the people who control the remainder of the staff. Through the opening stage, the people who were driving the ship were the executive committee and the senior management. I think now it is about time to empower those who are second in command,” says Derbas, adding that they will be trained to deliver the company’s glitch-handling system.
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Profit and product
At the time of opening, Derbas communicated his aim to bring new corporate business to Doha rather than compete for existing accounts. He says that now, there is corporate and consultancy business from Sunday to Thursday and weekend leisure business that “you cannot find anywhere in Doha”.
“This is not an easy segment to attract,” he says of the corporate market.
“Firstly, it is price sensitive, secondly, you cannot compromise with their loyalty. Remember I said the first time, it is not about getting business from the competitor, that’s not our game. As a brand we’ve created our own market, we have our own business, we went to new destinations.
We were the first hotel to visit the luxury market in China, we went there three times for the Luxury Travel Market, we succeeded in Brazil, in South America. There is plenty of business in those destinations for Qatar to attract.”
The hotel has also made an impact in the market with its F&B offering, arguably providing the impetus for recent renovations and additions from other hotels. Brands such as Hakkasan, run on a management contract, are hard to compete with, and Derbas says the leased Opal by Gordon Ramsay and in-house Astor Grill are now catching up, with an 11th outlet — a terrace project with a lifestyle focus — under proposal.
“In terms of food and beverage offering, the 10 outlets are second to none, nobody in Doha has in one hotel this amount of signature outlets and venues. To be very honest, we created that competition,” he says of the expansion in Doha’s hotel restaurant scene.
The hotel has also launched a bespoke outside catering service, which Derbas says they are “starting to see the fruits of”, and established itself as the “the most expensive wedding venue in Doha”.
“I’m so proud of that and still the demand is there. We have 92 weddings already on the books for the remainder of the year; 22 are royal and each royal wedding is equal to 10 other weddings, in terms of value and PR. There is no room for mistakes,” he says.
So, what impact have these success stories had on the hotel’s performance and profitability? Dersays that by the end of the second year, the hotel was making profit.
“In 2012, which was opening year, we finished at around 30% occupancy. Last year we finished at 45%. In the first quarter of this year we’re at 67%,” he says. “This is what you call stabilised. For a big property like us, with 336 rooms, 67% is a great occupancy level because also we need to create that balance; I do not want a full house every night because I cannot focus on the same service I give at 67%.
“Also, we have a very healthy average rate, we rank number two in Doha for RevPAR, last year we were number five in our comp set,” reveals Derbas. “This quarter [Q1], is the first time since we opened that we have made a profit. We made a profit in terms of exceeding the budgeted profit. We are ahead of budgeted GOP for the first time since we opened.
The business is also maturing, says Derbas: “Our expenses when we opened were crazy, now we start taking all the fat out without impacting the guest experience, so we have become more experienced in what we spend and how we need to spend it.”
Strategies have included centralisation of food purchasing under one executive chef, and a pre-booking system for annual flights for the staff of 55 nationalities.
With business stabilising and an empowered team, Derbas is confident of continued growth for St. Regis Doha and the city itself.
“Each brand will create his own market,” he says of the pipeline, which according to Viability stands at 41 hotels. “I think the cake will be enough for everybody in the next five years, trust me. The golden years for Doha are from this year until 2020.
“You need to go to those emerging markets and try to source business,” he continues.
“For example; we secured a group from Argentina. They came during Ramadan; until now I don’t know why they came in August, its flaming hot outside, there is no alcohol service, they came and they just wanted to sit on the beach. They had a blast and they are coming again this Ramadan. There is business there, you just need to fish where the fish are.”
Stat attack
- 67% Occupancy in Q1
- 92 Weddings on the books
- #2 In comp set for RevPAR
- 336 rooms
- 700 Staff
- 55 Nationalities