Alex Kyriakidis, president, Middle East & Africa, Marriott International shares his expectations for the year ahead
What is your hero hotel opening in 2015?
We have several key openings in 2015:
- Courtyard by Marriott World Trade Center, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Constantine Marriott Hotel, Algeria
- Makkah Marriott Hotel, KSA
- Marriott Executive Apartments Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Protea Hotel Kigali , Rwanda
How will the recruitment landscape evolve in the Middle East hotel industry in 2015?
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The recruitment landscape in the Middle East is one of the most diverse thanks to the large number of expats that call the region home. In the UAE alone they account for 85% of the total population, each offering different skill sets and experience as a result of their different backgrounds.
Our focus for 2015 and beyond will be to keep investing in each of our associates and to build on that home-away-from-home environment which has given us such excellent staff retention rates. As Mr Marriott himself says, “take care of your associates, they will take care of our customers and the customers will come back.”
Marriott International is one of the world’s most highly awarded hospitality companies when it comes to ‘best places to work’ – one of our latest accolades was being recognised as one of the 7th best multinational workplaces globally. We are fortunate in this sense as it is this type of recognition which ensures we attract a high calibre of talent.
When it comes to enticing new talent, I believe that this industry needs to build awareness surrounding the career opportunities within the hospitality sector. At Marriott International we believe it is vital to have training schemes in place to attract fresh talent. It is also important to be reputed as an employer that offers its staff industry best practices so that candidates are encouraged to apply to join your company.
In 2014, the onslaught of competition, balancing stakeholder requirements, and the decline in traditional markets such as CIS have been reported as major challenges for GMs. What will be the major challenges for GMs in 2015?
The challenge for GMs during the coming year will be developing a focused strategy which targets Millennials, and how to create experiences and loyalty among this savvy consumer segment that expects to be communicated to and experience travel in a different way.
Deloitte research states that around the world, 70% of tomorrow’s future leaders might ‘reject’ what a current business has to offer due to a lack of digital connectivity and integration. In response to this research Marriott is reinventing guest technology and lobby experiences, which GMs across the region are having to embrace.
An example of this is our newly launched mobile check-in service where guests can gain access to their hotel rooms using a mobile app which allows them to collect their key on arrival. Additionally we also offer free Wi-Fi to all our Marriott Rewards members throughout all our hotels to keep everyone connected at all times.
Interview continues on next page...
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