GM Interview: Samir Arora

Samir Arora was promoted to cluster general manager of R Hotels at the start of this year, moving up from his previous role as GM of the Ramada Downtown Dubai.

His remit now includes the Ramada, along with the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham Jumeirah Beach Residence Dubai. “Given the location of the property, I always knew that it has got very good potential. It has still not realised its true potential. I think that’s why this change happened,” Arora says of his promotion.

He speaks about a few of the property’s stand-out features: “We are the only property to have the maximum inventory of one-bedroom units. No other hotel has such a large inventory of [73 units]. Also, the size of the rooms, as you can see the room we are sitting in [two-bedroom] is 150m2. The one-bedroom units are about 100m2.” Arora is proud of the styling of the rooms and points to their different elements while he sips on a shot of coffee. “The interiors are very minimalistic: the in-room furnishing is kept to a minimum, which renders a spacious feel to the room.”

Arora quickly identified areas of the hotel which needed work, and has wasted little time implementing change. “We thought of taking advantage of the one-bedrooms and introduced the sofa-beds. That helps us get an advantage and position the property suited for two [adults] + two [kids].”

The addition of the sofa-beds has helped position and sell the rooms differently, according to Arora. “For those people who find $544.49 (AED 2,000) to be a high price point [for a two bedroom], they can rent our one-bedroom for about $381-$408 (AED 1,400-1,500) per night, which is better than a two-bedroom rate. It is however more expensive than the initial price we used to sell our one-bedrooms at.”

Arora expects a lot from the JBR-based property and gives a breakdown of where the property stands in comparison to the market standard. “We are still behind the market by about 20% in terms of the [room] rate and also on the occupancy front, by about 15%-20%,” he comments.

He continues: “The other thing is that whatever results I have seen in the last few months, we have managed to mitigate our slide compared to the market. At the moment we are stagnant and not sliding and that is the most positive result.”

Arora, however, says Dubai’s tourism has grown as compared to the rest of the world. “The way I see it is the supply and demand imbalance... iDubai as a market is still very resilient having grown at 7%-8% in the last couple of years, whereas the world grew by only 3%-4%,” he says.

Arora cites the financial crunch in Europe and Russia as one of the factors affecting market conditions. “It is to do with the rouble and euro. But I see this sorting by mid-2017. I don’t predict a pre-2008 level, but definitely the market improving than the present day. Demand will catch up with supply from next year, I think there are quite a few rooms coming online this year, but not as many in 2017.”

Market conditions aside, Arora points out to internal reasons as to why the property has not achieved its full potential. “It has to do with the staffing levels, the standard, the systems and procedures. They have been there but they have been very inconsistent. So, it’s just a matter of retraining the team and making sure the systems and procedures are sorted and are 100% intimated on ground.”

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Addressing this, the upper-level management realised that the existing number of staff was not enough and are on “a massive recruitment drive” to attract high quality talent.

Arora has moved swiftly on this front and brought in a few of the key number twos from his other property, the Ramada Downtown Dubai. “For example, housekeeping, which is still not there and we still need to go places. But, we have sorted out many basics in operation. These things take time, the change we are trying to bring out,” he says.

Arora comes across as a perfectionist in his approach to hotel management, as is apparent in his style of running the hotel. He demands nothing but the best from his team and is quick to spot, and send back, an orange-carrot juice saying “it is not up to the mark”.

He explains: “If I had to put it bluntly, we were not at par with the market offerings, ever since this property was opened. There are certain aspects which are considered a given today, services that are expected of you as a property. Hence, the immediate requirement is to be in line with what is on offer around my vicinity. My restaurant, for example, is not only competing with the five-star hotels, it is also competing with the Pauls and Eggspectations in the area.”

Arora is candid about his expectations and philosophy. “It’s all about change, and for me, change is a good thing. I always say it is never easy to change the hand you wear your wrist watch on. You have to take some hard decisions. I allow people ample time to change, and to adapt. If there is still no reaction then ...” He continues: “I manage my business by KPIs and MBOs, which helps them perform. So when people are not able to perform… KPIs are transparent and I am asking you to show results, which are not personal. If you are not able to hit those KPIs, either you have to change drastically [in order to achieve them] or ship out. That’s the beauty about managing your business through KPIs because it tells you where you stand.

“A lot of processes and systems get very personal, and that is why I stick to dealing with my leaders purely on that piece of paper. Change is not always good, and sometimes you have to influence things, which calls for some very unpopular decisions which you have to take.”

Arora gives his straightforward opinion on the food and beverage offerings as well. “The F&B offerings so far have been basic; our immediate focus is to bring our all-day dining up to what the market has to offer. Not just in terms of the food and beverage offerings, but the entire look and feel of the operations. We are in the process of changing the little bits such as the cutlery, crockery and the props. Even the interiors in the restaurants, uniforms, chef’s offerings and presentations. We have space for a coffee shop and we are in the process to partner with the right coffee partner. The coffee shop will be branded like an independent coffee shop.”

The management has also appointed a new pastry chef and is going to produce its bakery items in-house. “Along with the pastry and bakery services, we are also in the process of getting a new pool bar. For this we are partnering with a company that specialises in mocktails, smoothies and breezer blends. We have also recruited a few bartenders, who might not be mixing alcohol but they will mix mocktails. We are enhancing all the furniture as well.”

For the long term Arora says a new F&B outlet could be in the offing, along with exploring MICE opportunities.

“There are very good locations within the property that face the Dubai Marina, which we want to transform into a food and beverage outlet. We haven’t even scratched the surface on MICE, we have some meeting spaces which are not being utilised at the moment. They have not been sold, and so there is a proper plan to enhance that side of the business.”

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Arora wants both short- and long-term plans to be implemented soon: “We have to show significant results this year itself.” While the entire project might seem overwhelming, Arora has been there and done that. “I did the exact same thing when I arrived at Ramada Downtown. It was two years ago, with the same issues and exactly the same approach [I had to go with]. And we were able to turn that building around. In terms of customer satisfaction, we sat at 210 on Tripadvisor, today we sit at 63. Staff turnover was close to 40%; last year it was 18%, which is good compared to the market.”

He explains: “Yes the market went backwards, but we did not go by that much. The overall market was down 12%, and we were behind by 7%, these KPIs give you an idea of Ramada Downtown. It needs to be the same in this property, undoubtedly.”

There are some fundamental aspects of the property, however, that would need to be reinvented. The Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham’s arrival experience is not as swanky as some of its competitors, he says frankly. “The whole property needs to be looked at in terms of its look and feel. The arrival experience is the biggest challenge.”

“We are going to transform the entire parking lot, which sits in front of our reception,” Arora says.

In the next six months Arora is confident the parking space will transform into a piece of art. “I have told my interior [designer] that we need to come up with something that the person wants to take a selfie next to. We have also bought a few bicycles that we have branded and will be available for guests to borrow. This will enable them to travel around JBR and Marina. So these are a few ideas we have to alter our parking experience.”

He hopes that these alterations will effect a positive change in guest reviews and feedback, and staff involvement in the property. “[in the initial days] it does involve a bit of micro-management, but generally I am not one to [micro-manage].” Arora has a simple approach to hotel management and signs off by stating: “[My aim is to get the] GOP in line and customer service up to mark.”

Staff quality and service feedback

Samir Arora, cluster general manager, says: “A prime focus is to get the right leadership on board. So, we are evaluating the leadership in each and every area. We have taken some hard calls to determine whether the people are suited to the roles they are in.”

He says: “My only trusted system is my customer feedback, spending quality time reviewing each and every guest comment. So, we pro-actively solicit feedback by picking up the phone and reviewing performance. Each department is supposed to get five feedbacks per day. We scrutinise all the feedback from social media through a software that collates from all websites.”

Arora states an example that he picked up on one of the customer reviews: “A customer complained we do not have wine openers. Yes we are a dry hotel, but guests are allowed to bring wine in their rooms. We did have wine openers but they went missing because we do not have a procedure to get them back. Now we need to get more wine openers in the rooms and have a proper procedure to collect them from our guests. This is an example, of how we can improve [on feedback].”