Just 12 months after opening its first Hyatt Place in the Middle East - Hyatt Place Al Rigga in Deira - Hyatt Hotels has launched another property under the upscale brand, just a 12 minute drive away from the site of the original property.
Hotelier Middle East was invited for a sneak peek of the 126-room hotel which officially opened on July 23 across from Baniyas metro station — and talked to the opening team, who just happen to be some of Deira’s biggest fans.
It may seem an odd strategy to have two properties of the same brand open within a year of each other, and in the same location to boot, but the Hyatt team is confident that this is the right move for its aggressive expansion strategy. “In Dubai, there’s a market for every property — the more the merrier,” says general manager Vishal Mehra. “Though the properties are close to each other, they cater for different audiences. It actually benefits both properties to open close to each other in time, distance and with the same brand, because we’re able to share management, ideas and so on. So in this case, proximity is good.”
Pranav Vohra, director of sales and marketing agrees, adding: “It’s actually a brilliant strategy, because we were able to work out the kinks of the Hyatt Place brand in Dubai generally, and Deira in particular, via the Al Rigga property, which means at Baniyas Square we’ve been able to incorporate all of the lessons learned, and the feedback, which gives us a good advantage.” Another benefit of this setup is the shared management team, which allows for a consistent brand strategy, as well as knowledge sharing. Several key members of staff, including Mehra, Vohra, and executive chef Anthony Rattigan have dual responsibility on both properties. Finance and other back-of-house operations are also shared.
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With its young, millennial-friendly brand, Hyatt Place Dubai/Baniyas Square is focused on the business customer segment, particularly the traders which frequent the souqs for their business. The property is part of the government’s vision to open more hotels within this segment, and the Baniyas Square neighbourhood, ahead of 2020.
Mehra says: “With the initiatives of the government and DTCM to revitalise Deira and the historic district, exciting things are happening and we’re fortunate to have the leadership we have in this country, which invests so much into the infrastructure. They don’t just focus on the new Dubai, but also this area.”
The hotel has already begun taking bookings and management expects a lot of interest from business traders, the majority of whom are attracted to the location from “the ‘stans’ — Kirgizstan Pakistan, Kazakhstan — as well as Iran and India and smaller GCC countries like Oman and Bahrain”, says Mehra. To cater to business and leisure guests alike, the hotel offers property-wide free Wi-Fi and free breakfast. For business guests, the flat fee business lunch is suitable, since most of Deira keeps traditional Arabic trading hours, suspending this between 1-4pm. And while management is expecting most of its guests to come from the business and trading sector, it also wants to be competitive in the leisure market. For the opening team, the biggest focus wasn’t just on promoting the hotel — they see themselves as ambassadors for Deira.
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