Are third-party branded outlets a necessary component in a hotel’s F&B offering in the Middle East?

Sadettin: I think the question is a bit more about the Dubai market and then you go to other parts of the world, like when I was in Asia where the third-party operators are not that much in demand but in Dubai because of the market, because of the type of clientele we are catering for, people are expecting more and more brands they have heard of.

I think the question here is whether hotels need to go into third-party partnerships, or if they need to look at how they operate, how they look at the market and change their ways, and find ways to compete, or to create alternatives to these third-parties as well.

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Naim: I think the statement my colleague made about Dubai wanting brands is true, but it was true about two years ago. We have proven that it’s not the only way forward.

Marc: But in this part of the world we sometimes have more F&B revenue than we have in rooms and that totally changes the equation. That’s where F&B is a key element to drive the hotel as a whole, and I think it should be a good mix between a traditional hotel operation and a trendy, fancy and efficient restaurant, whether that be an internal brand or an external brand.

Sascha: With Atlantis as a resort you are trying to keep guests within [the complex] so you try to use the influence of your global brands, which you must do to a certain point.

What lessons can hoteliers learn from third-party operators when devising in-house F&B concepts?

Naim: We should never compare our hotel restaurants with third-party leased or franchised F&B outlets — they are totally different businesses and I think what we should be looking at is how you find a vacuum and how you find the right business model for that vacuum. A GM is always concerned with average rate, RevPAR and occupancy levels. In his KPIs he’s never asked ‘how’s the restaurant doing by the way?’ Half the time he actually wouldn’t know. So I think as industry leaders we need to push the industry more and more to say ‘ok give your restaurants to a restaurant specialists and let the GMs look after the hotel’.

Marc: We have to change the way we see operations from an F&B perspective and learn from a company like Naim’s or other brands like Zuma — they are more attractive, more aggressive with marketing, they don’t rely only on in-house guests and so there are a lot of projects we’re working on for in the region in terms of Hilton. We need to stop thinking we get in-house guests so we’re fine and we don’t have to do anything, but really look at the competition and be more proactive on our service standards, our products and our communication, in social media, ecommerce — all of those elements have to be taken into account.

Sascha: What makes a third party successful? Is it that you have the beautiful hostesses there, the ambience, the whole décor, it’s not boring, it’s not stiff, you come in, the music is there. People are relaxed, people get paid more than they would in hotels so you get more skilled people in operations, especially from the front-of-house. Obviously they have a certain budget when they’re hiring more skillful people.

Sadettin: In Dubai, trends are set by standalone restaurants, not by hotels. We as hoteliers are trying to learn from them and understand why their business models are so successful. We actually all know why. You look at the whole hotel operation as one business model, but it has to be separate. GMs are only measured by their ADR, and actually when it’s about ADR and your bottom line, your F&B operation is an issue because you are running a business with higher costs compared to rooms. You don’t always have to bring in international brands, but we need to learn from them and invest to create your own.

Alban Daubenton: On the other hand, I think like anyone, at first you are always attached to a brand. You buy a smartphone and you go for Apple because you like it. Whenever you travel around the world you need your Mac. You need to know what restaurant you will go to if you go to Shanghai — you will go to a brand that you know, you will not go to a place where you don’t know the quality.

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