The Wyndham Dubai Marina opened its doors to the public in February 2016, becoming the first Wyndham-branded property in the UAE.
General manager Rogier Hurkmans tells Hotelier Middle East: “I have been with the Wyndham Marina since pre-opening and oversaw the inauguration of it as well.” The pre-opening process began in October last year and The First Group-owned hotel opened in February 2016.
This marks his first GCC role. “I come from Europe, where I spent the majority of my career. I last worked in Brussels with a different brand; my Middle Eastern experience is rather limited having only worked in Turkey.”
The Wyndham Dubai Marina is a four-star property located across the Marina Walk, nestled on a patch of land not as densely populated as the rest of JBR and Marina. “We have 486 rooms, which is by no means a small hotel, four F&B outlets, and not too much on the MICE front. We are located in Dubai Marina, but this area is more or less secluded from the busier area of the community. We are very close to JBR, The Walk and Jebel Ali, which would help us capture local business,” Hurkmans says.
The Wyndham brand has a robust fan base in its native USA and in the Far East in China; Hurkmans sheds some insight into how the Dubai property is positioned: “Majority of the hotels located in the JBR area are five-star, whereas we are a four-star property. I can say, however, that the fit-out matches that of many five-star hotels I have seen. We want to position ourselves as a not-too-expensive hotel that targets not only individuals, but large groups as well.”
Hurkmans brings valuable experience from Europe, where competition between operators is high. In turn this reflects on low ADRs and RevPAR in cities such as Paris and London. “The hotels have always done well in Dubai;
occupancy has always been on the higher side as compared to Europe, where you have lower occupancy and ADR. So hotels shift focus on training and empowering staff to get a decent GOP. I feel that the focus is not geared towards productivity (in this market) and in turn the hotel’s positioning. This is where I want to bring in my European proficiency, and it is also the reason why the owner group decided to go with someone from Europe,” he says.
“What you see here (different from other markets) is that there is a lot of staff, but a lot more can be done in terms of training. People are extremely friendly, but I want to ensure that I bring efficiency and productivity in the operations as well.”
As part of ensuring the hotel offers efficiency and consistency, the property will feature a distinctive new position: a loyalty manager. Anna Ficeto, who fills this role, has previously worked with the Premier Inn Group in the UK, and says her role ties into the strategy of the hotel. “There are two ways we drive loyalty, one is through our Wyndham Rewards loyalty programme. There are 7,700-odd hotels that participate in the programme from all over the world with 44 million members registered,” Ficeto says.
The role of a loyalty manager is not as common in the region as compared to other markets, and it requires other departments to co-operate with Ficeto. “I will be working very closely with the training manager to drive that level of culture amongst our colleagues in the hotel. For me, it’s about the quality of stay for guests at a hotel. I do not directly focus on the profitability of the hotel, although I do work in coordination with sales, assisting them with leads.”
“For instance one of my direct involvement with sales is when the sales department meets large corporate clients. I introduce different ways on how we can help them earn reward points. We will also be introducing the ‘go meet’ programme which enables the booker to earn Wyndham reward points,” she explains.
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