She has also recently been elected president for the International Special Events Society, Middle East Chapter, the only trade association of its kind in the GCC. She will work closely with her board to grow ties with DTCM and the government in order to bring about much needed change in areas such as Health and Safety legislation, for which a task force is already underway.
“Hotel GMs can benefit by joining this important group in order to stay up to date on trends and developments, meet new trade partners and be exposed to business opportunities as we edge towards 2020,” says Wilson.
Vinayak Mahtani, CEO, Unique Precise International, highlights 2020 as a turning point for the industry, and says that increased competition in the lead-up to this will be a challenge.
| Advertisement |
“I think we are now going to enter a phase where the high increases in RevPAR and occupancy will be harder to earn. Double-digit growth may be a thing of the past, which means that hotels will need to be more efficient to continue growing,” says Mahtani.
His company too is adapting, with a new projects division recently launched, “which specialises in and will be responsible only for pre-openings”.
A similar approach is true for fellow sponsor Restonic, with sales director MEA Sameer Ahmed revealing that the bedding specialist will “expand its infrastructure by adding more machinery and skilled work force”. Business is certainly out there, he says; revealing project orders of more than AED 10 million (US $2.7 mn) secured by Q2 2014.
This is backed up by Gavin Dodd, managing director of A. Ronai, who identifies a host of upcoming hotel projects, and general managers of those hotels are being invited to both speak at and attend the GM Debate.
“As always the UAE is expanding at a rapid rate with the opening of some fantastic new properties expected this year. New hotels such as Four Seasons, InterContinental Dubai Marina and the Habtoor City to name just a few of the significant developments, only serve to increase the excitement and prospects for this year,” says Dodd.
“As a loyal ambassador to Hotelier Middle East events, A. Ronai LLC is extremely happy to support the debate for this year. We very much believe in supporting the great industry that we are a part of and events as professional as this are a great way of achieving our aim.
With the expected increase in properties as well as the number of visitors to Dubai in the coming years it’s important for all related companies to stay ahead of the game, building and retaining crucial relationships with hospitality industry professionals,” says Dodd.
Hotelier Middle East Great GM Debate essential information
Date: September 2, 2014
Venue: Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai
Format: One-day event with live interviews, panel debates, case studies, presentations, workshops, and metworking opportunities
Attendance: By invitation only and is free to hotel general managers. Please register your interest with Amanda.Elisha@itp.com
Speaker opportunities: Please contact Louby.Maktari@itp.com or call +971 4 444 3578
Sponsorship opportunities: Please contact Charlotte.Ringrose@itp.com or Nick.Clowes@itp.com
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
