Premier Inn has new hotels coming to the GCC over the next three years, including properties set to open in Dubai and Doha.
Measuring progress became a large part of Premier Inn’s strategy long ago, and is a key factor in ensuring the brand is a success in Sharjah. “Feedback is a gift – good or bad,” Soubra says. Early in 2006 Premier Inn implemented a guest recommend survey provided by ORC International. By the end of 2015 over 400,000 guests’ responses were recorded and over one million guests contacted with feedback across the group. The survey provides each hotel with real insights into what their guests think of the service and standards. It focuses on every aspect of the guests stay, from arrival, to the bedroom, the team and food and beverage. Furthermore, each hotel has access to this data via an internet portal which is updated every 24 hours. “We also signed up for ReviewPro that allows us to monitor unsolicited guest feedback across an array of online channels to benchmark ourselves in our local markets. With both tools we collate all the feedback and try and find and implement a solution.” Feedback is logged on a centralised feedback system, and site specific feedback is acted upon by each individual hotel general manger. “We implement changes on a regular basis when guest feedback comments need action, like adding additional lighting in the rooms and installing international multi-purpose sockets to make it hassle free for guests with international electronics.” Additionally all Premier Inn team members are actively encouraged to deviate from company policy, if in doing so they can enhance the guest’s stay. “All team members are authorised to provide customers with a full refund should they not be happy with any part of their stay.” This empowerment means that every team member can deal with customer dissatisfaction without having to call a supervisor, says Soubra. “We feel that drives the obsession with guest care and a high level of standards that are subsequently delivered.”
Soubra continues to explain the difference between ‘hardlines’ and ‘guidelines’ with regards to guest experience. From day one into the job, Soubra’s team members are trained on the brand standards, it is explained to them very clearly that they are simply standards to deliver what our guests expect every time they visit, and to keep them coming back time and time again. “Hardlines are our basic operational standards; for example rooms cleaned every day, the check-in process, reading back the booking details to the guest at the point of reservation,” he begins. “Guidelines are a bit more flexible and are aimed to create ‘magic moments’ for our guests. For example acknowledging a child’s birthday, or providing information on local attractions,” he continues.
Soubra sums up this philosophy with a recent example of guest feedback at the Premier Inn Sharjah: “My father is 93 years old. He missed his flight. He was alone. The general manager called me in Switzerland. He took care of him like his own father. They let him sleep in a very good room with a very good lunch. The most wonderful part was that the team paid for a nurse to stay with him for a whole day. The manager sent me four or five SMS messages throughout the day in order to inform me about my father’s health.”
While SCTDA continues their focus on promoting the emirate as an attractive destination for tourists, and with industry accounting for one-third of the UAE’s manufacturing output, there continues to be a clear need for both business and leisure hospitality in Sharjah. Soubra acknowledges this potential, indicating a strong pipeline of new hotels coming into the GCC over the next three years, including properties in Dubai (Ibn Battuta Mall, Dragon City, Al Jadaf and Al Maktoum International Airport) and in Doha Education City.
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