GM Interview: Marcus Sutton

Marcus Sutton is nearing a year at the helm of the Crowne Plaza — The Business Park Doha. And, while he has overseen operations at the hotel in what he describes as a “challenging 2016”, work is on in full swing to open the Holiday Inn next door.

“We are nearing the completion of the project directly next door, which is the Holiday Inn Doha The Business Park — positioned in the four-star space. These hotels will be managed in a cluster format, where we will have one leadership team, one general manager and a lot of the services will be shared in order to find better synergies to work between the properties,” Sutton tells Hotelier Qatar.

He confirms: “I will be in charge of both properties, as we are in the process of setting up a separate leadership team at a senior level which will be responsible for them.”

Sutton has spent 17 years in the hospitality industry, and believes every bit of his experience will be useful. “I have worked in everything from a 52-room boutique hotel in London, up to a 3000-key convention hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, and everything in between. That journey has prepared me for the kind of role I find myself at the moment.”

Sutton looks back on his journey stating: “I’m very happy with the way my career has progressed because I am one of the youngest GMs in the company, and also in Doha at the moment. But, I also feel that I did not get here by chance. There was a lot of hard work and being involved with multi-national hospitality companies in a lot of international locations. I looked at maximising my opportunities in different countries across different brands and also in different styles of property.”

His experience at the cluster of IHG properties at the Dubai Festival City was a crucial step ahead of his move to Doha. Sutton explains: “In Dubai we had four different business units — The Intercontinental Dubai Festival City, The InterContinental Residences and Suites, Crowne Plaza and a golf course. A cluster setup is vastly different from a standalone one. The expectation of having a cluster is to have synergies.”

“It is also important to provide a different kind of service across both brands because it is challenge for one leader to wear both brands. Within IHG we talk about a brand promise and we really believe in living and breathing that brand promise,” he says.

Trust in leadership is important says Sutton, as he admits juggling both properties has been an challenging. “It’s been busy because 2016 has obviously been as challenging year for Doha, and we have had to focus on maximising returns for the Crowne Plaza. At the same time, we had to keep a close watch on the development of the new hotel. My biggest priority has been to make sure I have the right people in the right positions, and to build a leadership team that is self-motivated, trustworthy and capable of taking care of their responsibilities.”

Revealing more, Sutton says the Holiday Inn The Business Park Doha is designed to have a modern contemporary four-star feel to it, “with lots of unique design features within the hotel”. He continues: “The hotel will have 307 rooms and a pillar-less ballroom that will be able to seat 850 people, which is one of the largest on this side of town. We will also have signature dining destinations and meeting space,” he says.

Sutton justifies the need for a new hotel in the area, despite 2016 witnessing a room rate drop of 25% across the country. “IHG and our owners have a strong relationship and through discussions there was an agreement between the two parties that there was a strong need for a four-star property. With projects coming up in the Msheireb area, which is going to be the new financial district, scheduled to open in the mid- to end-2017, it’s all about providing our guests with options, and making the Business Park a destination in itself.

“We see it as an opportunity [to offer our guests something new]. Sure, we expect there will be some dilution of business from the Crowne Plaza, especially in the beginning because people always like to experience new thing. The two hotels are also part of the IHG Rewards programme, so people don’t mind trying out a new property as long as it’s within the same company,” he says.

Sutton is well aware of the competition the new hotel will pose to the existing Crowne Plaza and is not interested in poaching business. “The challenge is to not simply shift business from one hotel to the next. We will need to go out and tap into new business segments and this where being a four-star hotel opens up a lot of opportunities.”

In fact, he sees the new hotel taking off rather well in the wake of corporates cutting spending. “Some companies have decided not to utilise five-star properties anymore [for whom the Holiday Inn will make perfect sense]. The four-star hotel even targets those companies who could previously not afford the Crowne Plaza room rates.”

Sutton is also in early discussions with the owners to secure funds for renovation of the Crowne Plaza. “With the Holiday Inn opening, we are already in discussion with our owners for a potential soft refurbishment over the coming year. We are lucky that the hotel when built was of very high quality. Therefore, the condition of the hotel is good.”

A few F&B concepts will also get the refurb treatment at the Crowne Plaza, given the Holiday Inn will have its own set of outlets which Sutton wants to “complement rather than compete”. “There will be a focus on our food and beverage outlets and look into possibly refreshing some of the existing concepts, and drive some change to make sure there is a clear differentiating factor between them. We don’t want the hotels to compete with each other from a room’s perspective or from a food and beverage perspective,” he tells Hotelier Qatar.

With the FIFA World Cup less than six years away, Sutton believes he is working towards the next phase of his career. “It is the first time I have worked in a FIFA World Cup organising city and it would be interesting to see how far out they start the planning. We already have members from the world governing body visit the hotel, and the city in general, to take stock of all the infrastructure.”

Sutton signs off with some advice for those in hospitality who harbour hopes of running their own property someday. “You need to have a good work ethic in hospitality. The hours are long and it requires a lot of commitment but at the same time it is a rewarding job. Integrity is key for me; you need to make sure that you will do things in the right way, that includes everything from liaising with owners to managing the hotel, and most importantly, looking after your colleagues.”

“A lot of people work in the same hotel their entire career, but I will encourage people to travel and work in different countries and hotels, which will kind of give you a broader perspective and experience,” he concludes.