“They opened Dubai Mall and launched the metro and opened Burj Khalifa in the middle of the crisis, so this city is here to stay. A lot of professionals are still to come and stay before Expo 2020 so we’re about to see a burst of expertise coming, and it’s survival of the fittest.”
With this in mind, during his yearlong tenure as GM of the hotel, Gharib has spearheaded the overhaul two of the hotel’s F&B outlets. Fire & Ice steakhouse, an in-house concept, became third-party managed Solo Italian restaurant in December 2014, and so far the outlet has been receiving two-and-a-half times the volume of guests that it previously welcomed.
“If you look at the number of steakhouses in Dubai, it’s a lot — I counted around 47. How many of those are full? I wouldn’t say none, but it’s competitive,” says Gharib, explaining Italian food is generally more female-friendly and more widely popular.
| Advertisement |
Heading up the kitchen is chef and owning partner, Corrado Pani, an Italian national who has been in the region for more than 15 years and has Starwood, Marriott and Rotana on his CV.
“We didn’t want a celebrity chef coming from outside because it’s not a guaranteed formula for success as we’ve seen in other restaurants in Dubai. I wanted someone with local expertise, so that’s why we chose Corrado,” explains Gharib.
Raffles Garden was also refurbished and now features 10 cabanas that can each accommodate eight to 10 guests. The restaurant serves an Arabic menu and shisha and the large lawn has the capacity to host events for up to 600 guests for parties, or banquet set-ups seating up to 350 guests, which Gharbib describes as “a major revenue stream”.
Technological upgrades to the hotel’s 252 rooms have also recently been completed, and renovation plans are being discussed for the spa.
Outside of the property, Gharib is also confident that Healthcare City will re-emerge again in the future, and with recent additions to the area such as trendy Arabic eater Qbara and another French outlet La Residence opening soon, he is seeing the area evolve into a destination. The hotel’s night venue People by Crystal also attracts up to 1500 people each Friday night.
“Having more restaurants open in the Wafi area is better for us. Today it’s about having a destination and competition is always healthy. It’s not purely dollar-related and capturing dollar within this premises; Dubai is pretty dynamic.”
The hotel shares it database with Wafi Mall and vice-versa, and the hotel promotes some of the mall’s activities. “We’re not shy about telling people what’s happening in the complex because that makes us richer,” he says.
Additionally there are a number of hospital spas rumoured for the Healthcare City area, reflecting a burgeoning medical tourism sector. However Gharib believes it will take government support to make this happen.
“We will definitely need the support of different government bodies. It should be tempting for those entities to come from abroad and invest in Dubai.
Article continues on next page ...
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
