GM interview: Philippe Anric, Hamad Airport Hotel

The Airport Hotel opened at Hamad International Airport in June 2014 as part of Qatar Airways’ recently announced hospitality arm, Dhiafatina Hotels. According to general manager Philippe Anric, who joined the pre-opening team in March last year, the main USP for the hotel is its airside location.

“When I did my research, I realised there are only 16 or 18 airside hotels in the world. There are plenty of hotels located very close to the airport, or attached to an airport, but airside hotels are very limited,” Anric says.

The location also brought its own set of unique challenges, including security clearances from the Ministry of Interior (MOI) during the pre-opening phase.

“When you are airside, all the goods and manpower you want to bring inside the hotel has to go through the Ministry of Interior (MOI). Just like a passenger when you are travelling, you have to go through immigration and several security checks and processes to ensure that you and all your passengers in the area are safe.

“So opening a hotel airside was quite challenging considering the volume of goods we had to carry from landside to airside. We were doing this during Ramadan, so the working hours were limited and there was a lot of heat. We received a lot of our deliveries between May and June and it was very hot.”

The Airport Hotel currently operates 100 rooms in the South Wing, with another 100 rooms set to come online by Q2 of 2016 in the North Wing of the airport, which is due to open this year.

“We are operating 100 rooms with very high occupancy — every single day we close at 100%. We give passengers the chance to book their room in advance or as walk-in guests for a certain number of hours. We have different hourly packages to suit the clients’ needs, which gives us the opportunity to run at 100% daily,” Anric explains.

Room rates begin at approximately QR 650 (US $179) for five to eight hours for a classic room, with rates increasing for longer hours or premium rooms.

“It might not look like a big operation, but having 100 rooms with multiple turn-downs makes it a very heavy operation,” Anric says.

And while he admits the rates tend to fall on the higher end of the spectrum for airport hotels, Anric points to various ways in which guests save time and money when they choose to stay within the airport.

“We cannot compare our pricing strategy with what the hotels in the city are doing because it’s a premium location and is located five to 15 minutes from their boarding gate, which saves a lot of time and money. They don’t have to buy an exit visa to go to the city, and they are saving on transportation as well. It is a little expensive for such a hotel, but when you consider all the potential savings for the passenger, a lot of people choose to use it, especially corporate guests,” he explains.

In addition, with oncoming hotel supply causing a number of challenges to existing operators in Qatar, the airside location of the hotel offers an enviable position, he explains.

“We do not have competition, which is a huge advantage. We are the only hotel inside the airport for the time being and we are keeping an eye on the market in the city to check what hotels are doing when it comes to rates, and seeing if there are any changes in trends.

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“The other advantage is you always have traffic in Hamad International Airport. The airport is open 24/7, which means we have the opportunity to catch guests at any point, and provide different kinds of services. The best example is Vitality [the hotel’s fitness and wellness centre] — we provide spa treatments, massages at 2am even, which you wouldn’t be able to offer if you were in the city. That’s why we have very heavy traffic at Vitality too.”

Being part of Dhiafatina Hotels, the hotel works closely with the various divisions within Qatar Airways in order to “create a synergy”.

“We want to take full advantage of all the subsidiaries and divisions within the group. It’s very important for us to get the support from our colleagues, and support them when they need us.

“We are working very closely with the sales department, the marketing division, corporate communications, and the procurement division is supporting us a lot. We are also working very closely with Qatar Duty Free,” he says.

And while Qatar Airways only recently revealed its intentions to branch into hospitality, Anric reveals it had implemented a structure well before he joined; however, the details are still being fine tuned.

For instance, when Dhiafatina was introduced at the Arabian Travel Market in May, Qatar Airways CEO Akber Al Baker had said all hotels would operate under the Oryx brand.

However, when asked about a rebrand, Anric says such decisions are at the “discretion of executive management inside Qatar Airways, so I can’t say whether it will happen or not”.

“Changing the name of a hotel is very sensitive because there are a lot of legal matters. It might happen; but for the time being I have not been asked to prepare for any change. We’ll see in the future if we will be the Oryx Airport Hotel.”

Anric is resolute in his belief, however, that the structure the group is putting in place will support it as it expands.

“Dhiafatina is a very young entity; it has been announced very recently. We receive a lot of financial advice regarding the way forward to maximise the revenue and profitability of the hotel.

“The structure, as of today, is quite delicate, but the full plan has been presented to the management of Qatar Airways in order to enlarge the manning and the structure of Dhiafatina so that the company is able to support all the new hotels that are going to increase the portfolio of the division,” he explains.