Is he happy with this? “No, of course not! I want more,” says Casson. “I have an ambitious owner who’s invested a lot of money to create something nice. And the moment you stop wanting more, you will immediately get less.”
Casson continues: “Having opened hotels around the world, and spending the last three decades with Four Seasons, I’m very familiar with what hotels in their first year tend to produce. And what Four Seasons Dubai has produced in its first year is among the most successful of any Four Seasons hotel in terms of the cash it’s generated in year one.
“But am I happy with it? No. I think the business has much more potential, and my goal is to make sure we’re squeezing that potential out of it.”
The hospitality market in the last year has seen its fair share of setbacks. Casson says it depends on perspective. “If you’re looking at it from the competitive market environment, we made it worse for everyone else. Because in a market that’s experiencing some contraction, additional high-end five-star supply makes it more challenging.
“From our perspective, when you don’t have anything to compare against in terms of prior history, there’s nothing to be disappointed about.”
He says the Dubai hotel market has had “bountiful years” and “has been very fortunate to have had several years of enhanced occupancies and rates, and I don’t see it as anywhere near a crisis”.
He says: “It’s a natural correction that comes with increasing supply on the micro level, and then macro-economically with the low oil price, you have a crisis in the Russian/CIS markets and you have some currency issues.” This is only to be expected when external factors come into play, he highlights.
“There will be a road through rather than anything more significant, and the reason I say that with confidence is because Dubai, from an infrastructure point of view, is still growing. This is still a destination that’s well in progress. And that means there’s more attraction for tourists, there’s more infrastructure and interest, and support growth.”
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