Director of sales and marketing Jan Siddiqi tells Hotelier Middle East that the property offers several distinguishing features: “We are an upscale property that caters to business and leisure guests. Digital is the backbone for many businesses around the world. And we have centred most of this property’s strategy on social media and digital. But, at the same time, we do not want to overdo it. As a group, Wyndham also invests in ensuring its staff and associates have the right digital tools at their disposal.”
Siddiqi shares a few insights into the benefits of efficient planning: “The sales campaign of a hotel’s pre-opening phase spans anywhere between six to nine months. But, thanks to the expertise here, the pre-opening phase lasted just three to four months. Obviously, we did face a few challenges along the way. Some of the challenges we faced had to do with legal paperwork, staffing and hiring.”
He adds: “The short pre-opening period was down to the reactiveness of the owning company and Wyndham group’s efforts. They worked and planned things well. The pre-opening team that was assembled was well versed and had strong experience. Between us all there was a wealth of pre-opening experience.”
However, understanding the staff’s work ethic came as a bit of a shock when Hurkmans first stepped into his role as GM. He found it odd to be “copied in every single email that was sent by HODs”.
He explains the Western work ethic and his plans of replicating them in Dubai: “In Europe, the department heads are running their unit and take ownership of it. They go to a general manager when there is an important decision to be made, but they do so with a plan in mind along with an alternative. However, the objectives of the company are clear and everyone follows them working with their balance scorecards and respective teams.”
Realising Hurkmans’ philosophy will mean every staff right from the topmost rung downwards will have to be in sync, and the 486-key property will look for like-minded personnel. “We are currently a team of around 200 staff, and following the summer months we are looking to raise that number to 300. We want a good balance of staff from Europe, Asia and Africa.”
The hotel has ensured it has diversity in every department, and Hurkmans explains the hotel’s HR strategy: “It’s crucial to ensure that there is diversity within each department. There is also an inclination to recruit people directly from Europe because we are looking at applying the philosophy and for that to be executed out as well. Then there are some staff from our managed property, along with those from other Wyndham properties from around the world that have joined the team here. Then obviously we have looked at a varied language speaking options amongst them as well.”
Diversity is also sought in its clients; Siddiqi says that his team will target the clientele from regular feeder markets. “Dubai continues to grow despite new inventory coming in. The only challenging part of it is the ADR and RevPAR values. The Russian and CIS tourists have obviously slowed down but they have not stopped coming to this part of the world. We, meanwhile, continue to look to Germany, UK and of course the Chinese and Indian market. Besides, we follow the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and their efforts wherever they go including niche markets or altogether new source markets.”
Hurkmans adds: “We look at the same markets as DTCM, and would step in to markets that are less developed because we are the first Wyndham hotel in the UAE. But it’s not going to be easy due to several factors — the Russian economy crisis, the economic conditions throughout the world, and the dwindling price of oil are all affecting us.”
Hurkmans has set occupancy targets at “around 10% lesser than what Dubai is experiencing” for the first few months of operation. He explains: “We need to be realistic and cannot directly cope with occupancy that hotels around us achieve. Simultaneously, we do not want to drop our rates in order to get business and eventually not able to raise our rates anymore because we have set low standards.”
Wyndham’s pipeline is healthy, with three more properties planned for the emirate. The next Wyndham will be in Tecom that will open in 2017, whereas Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Village Circle will have a property each open their doors in 2018. “All of these properties will be classified as four-star, keeping in tune with the directives by His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and ruler of Dubai that there need to be more affordable hotels in the emirate,” Hurkmans concludes.
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