“We started our Facebook page a few months before the hotel opened up and started posting reviews — not for our property, but for Deira — because if we can attract people to the location then the customers will come to us,” says Vohra.
“Leisure travellers decide first where they want to go, then they choose a hotel. You think ‘I’ve decided where I’m going, now I can look for flights and hotels,” he adds.
The team has been determined in their Deira-focused marketing, as Mehra observes. “What do people think of when they come to Dubai? They think of the Palm, Sheikh Zayed Road, even Barsha. They don’t think of Deira unless they’re doing business here,” he says.
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As part of the inventive marketing strategy, the sales team went out in the neighbourhood one day and took pictures of it, and promoted these online to show off Deira and what it offers.
“We wanted to educate people about this great neighbourhood!” says Vohra.
Baniyas Square is a stand-out in the neighbourhood — which is dominated by small, older hotels — with its distinctive, red-brick, city-slick image and its rectangular shape. The inside is bright, modern, fuss-free and feels akin to the trendy boutique hotels cropping up all over New York City.
Mehra said that the design is one of his favourite aspects of the hotel: “It’s a compact rectangle that still gives you this impression of a wide open space. It has literally everything a guest needs, all within easy reach, without feeling small or cramped.”
Firmly between the four- and five-star segments, Hyatt Place Dubai/Baniyas Square is an upscale select service hotel and is comparable to a city hotel brand such as Yotel or Europe’s popular-with-the-hip-crowd Citizen M.
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