11:10am Conference hall packed again as Stewart Selbie, area manager at Starwood Hotels Abu Dhabi and general manager at The St. Regis Saadiyat Island takes to the stage. He is explaining why it is people that make the difference. Emotional intelligence significantly more important than IQ, he believes.
10:30am Delegates taking a break after a lively start to the day, Already plenty of numbers to digest from the opening presentation - which we have pulled together HERE.
10:15am Rupprecht Queitsch, CEO & senior partner of INHOCO Group explaining what he is aiming to achieve with his new consulting firm. Good to have the former GM of the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai Hotel here. "Vision without execution is hallucination," he says.
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10:05am UAE and and Saudi Arabia propping up the Middle East market, says Wooler. But Egypt could be coming back up.
09:55am Up to owners and operators to decide how to apportion service charge, says Wooler. Clearly an emotive subject when it comes to benchmarks. Only way to have a true benchmark, says Voivenel, is to have regulations. Descrozaille would rather have no benchmarks than have added regulation!
09:40am First panel session looking at beating benchmarks, with Philip Wooler, area director Middle East & Africa, STR Global, Laurent A. Voivenel, CEO, HMH Hotel Group, and Marc Descrozaille, regional director - UAE, Egypt, Jordan & Oman, The Rezidor Hotel Group. Moderated by TRI's Chris Hewett.
09:30am In Abu Dhabi, attractions wil help to drive the market. New malls will bring Saudi visitors, while Louvre and Guggenheim will attract more Europeans, explains Hewett. Lot of people also looking at spending more days in Abu Dhabi becuase of more competitive prices than Dubai.
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