Building a presence
With teams and training in place, Elwahidi’s priorities are now on operations and building the hotel’s presence in the market. As a new property, the sales team is supported by the regional office when working with the travel trade and promoting the property. While he can’t reveal details about occupancy at the hotel, Elwahidi is keen to assure us that he’s happy with the way numbers have been growing.
“We have the support of the regional office and the regional sales team who prepared the grounds for the hotel before it went on the market. There’s also the side channel of the Hilton HHonors loyalty programme members, so that is an additional database with maximum outreach globally,” he explains.
| Advertisement |
“There are different levels of how the hotel promotes itself. We have our own sales team and then we tap into the resources available on a regional level.”
Being an all-suite property, with the smallest one-bedroom unit offering a generous 112m2 of space, the hotel generally attracts families and guests who stay longer than average. A fully equipped kitchen in at least half of the rooms is another feature that draws in long-stay guests.
“Most of our guests say we have some of the biggest hotel rooms they’ve ever experienced. Another popular feature is that half of the hotels in our inventory have fully-furnished kitchens. So if you’re six people in a three-bedroom suite for a week, you can cook your own food,” Elwahidi observes.
Add to that the hotel’s private beach and location along a shopping strip — The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence — and the source markets are generally holidaymakers from Europe and the UK, with visitors from the Gulf booking rooms depending on the time of year.
“During the Eid period you have people from the Gulf and during October to November, you have people from Europe… it varies according to the period, but we have a mix of clientele. So now [in November] the occupancy is mainly driven by Europeans on vacation.”
To record information on guests and manage bookings, staff use Hilton’s ‘OnQ’ system, a one-stop shop for guest management, reservations, check in and check out.
“Requests are logged on the CRM system, so if you check the reservations or guest details, you can get all the information about their preferences.
“For instance, if they want a room that’s away from the elevator, or on a high floor, we can accommodate their requests,” Elwahidi explains.
Additionally, feedback from guests is relayed during team briefings and TripAdvisor reviews are printed and shared at morning meetings so that service standards can be monitored accordingly.
“We tell our team members to look at the big picture first and then pay attention to all the little details,” he asserts.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
