Doha is beginning to attract more leisure visitors, although hoteliers say more attractions are needed.
Hotelier Middle East finds out what key trends need to be addressed and discussed at the Qatar Hospitality Summit and how the industry is progressing amid major developments in the country
On April 22, hoteliers from across Qatar, as well as industry leaders, will gather in Doha for the latest edition of the annual Hotelier Middle East Qatar Hospitality Summit.
Taking place at Grand Hyatt Doha, the event is set to provide a forum for hoteliers from every department to step back and reflect on how they are going to tackle key operational challenges, meet customer expectations and boost their bottom lines over the coming year.
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It comes on the back of a year during which the country launched its Qatar National Tourism Sector Strategy 2030, and a push to promote ‘Destination Qatar’.
Ahead of the event, Hotelier formed an advisory panel to find out what key trends should be on the agenda, and to get a better idea of the lay of the land in the hospitality sector of Qatar.
Since the last summit, the flow of new hotels and rooms into the market had continued, with the beginning of 2015 alone seeing the opening of a number of high-profile properties, including Banana Island Resort by Anantara (see p50) and Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl — Doha.
Ray McShane is the pre-opening general manager of Mondrian Doha, which is set to open in the second quarter of this year. He believes the increased competition will be healthy for the market.
“It pushes innovation, motivates hotels and their employees to improve their services and most importantly, provides the consumer with a wider choice, which in turn, stimulates growth,” he explains.
However, as TRI Consulting senior consultant Christopher Hewett points out, the performance of existing supply could be affected. The question of how established hotels can continue to compete will therefore undoubtedly be discussed.
“A number of older properties in Doha are embarking on renovation and refurbishment programmes in order to improve their overall product offering and remain competitive against the new hotels entering the market,” Hewett explains.
One of those established properties is Grand Hyatt Doha, where the event will take place, and general manager Christophe Franzen feels he still has an advantage over newcomers. “We know the market better than the newcomers, we know the likes and dislikes of the resident clientele and can cater to it; we are able to fine-tune any and all offerings we put out into the market, be it rooms or F&B,” he comments.
“The biggest benefit for our rooms business is probably the fact that we are recognised for personalised service, resulting in many guests returning to the Grand Hyatt.”
Looking back on 2014, Franzen reflects on a year that started slowly, yet still proved to be productive for his hotel.
“Q1 in 2014 was weaker for us, it was the second, third and fourth quarters that really turned the tide around,” he says. “We had a lot more leisure guests; probably also because of the hard work of Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), who did concentrate more on selling the destination during the leaner months.
“It was clearly also due to special one-off events that took place in the city, such as the global IATA conference.”
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