Hotels have become more price conscious, according to one supplier that Hotelier Middle East spoke to at The Hotel Show Dubai 2016 this week.
Procurio sales executive Michael Jasko reported: "Everyone is more price conservative. There is a balance between quality and price but it seems like [concerns over] quality has taken a bit of a dip – the first thing people ask you now is what is the price, rather than asking about the product.”
He explained that this development goes hand in hand with another emerging trend: “I have noticed that some owning companies have no experience in hotels but they’re trying to get to the hotel game in the UAE and they just look at numbers."
"It’s difficult to try to take on those projects when they have no experience in the hotel industry. We’re lucky that we have quite well-known brands and we have some products in, pretty much, every five-star hotel in the UAE.”
He added that there are “more players now” with companies trying to make the most of commercial opportunities surrounding Expo 2020.
“Everything is gearing towards 2020. There are some projects we’re working on now that it’s the first time they’ve ever opened a hotel and they just look at the bottom line, and they don’t know what’s what. And, also, every year there are more and more suppliers that are coming into the market.”
In terms of other trends, Jasko told Hotelier that hotels are increasingly outsourcing their procurement activities.
"There are four or five big procurement companies who act like the middle man to do all the work for hotels. Some hotels like doing procurement themselves but it seems like a trend now that they don’t want the hassle – it’s too much for them to do – so they give it to a procurement company and then they work with companies like ours, and other suppliers. That seems to be a trend,” he shared.
The three-day show, now in its 17th year, took place across three days from September 17-19 at Dubai World Trade Centre.
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