Edwin Wijkhuijs is a Starwood and Marriott veteran. The Dutch native spent 23 years of his career with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, but began his career with Marriott International. “In a way, it’s a bit of a homecoming,” he says, as we make our way to one of the terraces of the Sheraton Sharjah.
“I have been with Starwood for about 23 years, but pre-Starwood I actually started my career in hospitality with Marriott. My Starwood-Marriott career combined is about 26 years now. I was only outside of the two companies [which are now one] for two-and-a-half years,” he explains.
The Sheraton Sharjah was abuzz with guests, mainly families, on a sunny December morning when Hotelier Middle East visited the property. “I was with the hotel a year before it opened, starting from a port-a-cabin to where we are today, which is a nice feeling,” Wijkhuijs tells Hotelier.
He adds: “We made a conscious effort to open the hotel before the season began [the hotel opened in November 2015]. Considering we had a few challenges along the way — from whether the kitchens would be ready on time, or the restaurants would be ready for opening, or, for that matter, having room inventory to suit the demands of the travel agencies — we managed to achieve our target.”
The hotel opened with 70% of its rooms, we find out. “We opened the hotel as a whole with the exception of two restaurants and the spa — which opened in the summer [2016]. Opening the rooms was done block by block,” he says, pointing to the structures.
Wijkhuijs followed a systematic pre-opening strategy, one that leaves him satisfied when he looks back. “We not only managed to have a successful season, but overall 2016 was a good year for us. To begin with we concentrated on a few key segments. Following Ramadan and Eid we went all out to target the different markets — Middle East, GCC et cetera. We built the hotel up step by step, and this has worked to our favour, and where we find ourselves today is a result of that.”
In the past, the emirate of Sharjah relied on Russian and CIS tourists; Wijkhuijs tells Hotelier how the property had to focus its attention elsewhere because of the declining rouble. “In the past, Sharjah has focused heavily on the CIS market — pre-rouble devaluation. Since we opened in 2015, we had not much choice — there was no CIS market.
“We were, hence, forced to look at other markets. We shifted focus to Western Europe, Far East, GCC and some of the African countries. Now, the visa-free travel means it’s lucrative to get Chinese tourists in as well. A few people in our sales team have a Western European resort sales background and that helped us. The strategy that we followed was quite successful in making sure we get people coming through the doors and not focusing on one particular segment.”
But one of the main challenges for Wijkhuijs is attracting first-time visitors to Sharjah. He explains: “What you do notice in Sharjah, despite what some people say, is an interesting market for people in-the-know. It may not particularly be the first-choice destination for European tourists, but [it appeals to them] after they have been to Dubai or Abu Dhabi a couple of times. This is because they know the country and want to see something different, they stay in Sharjah to see the museums and what’s on offer here. Sharjah also gives easy access to the Northern Emirates and yet we are not too far away from Dubai.”
He adds: “Guests from Germany, France and Denmark constantly affirm this trend and they also felt confident [to visit and stay in Sharjah] when they heard that the Sheraton brand was opening up here.”
Wijkhuijs and his sales & marketing team are not willing to accept the “second-choice” perception — when compared to Dubai and Abu Dhabi — that tourists have when it comes to Sharjah. “With the aid of travel agents and partners we are making a push to attract first-time UAE visitors to Sharjah. Marriott’s corporate office is also making a strong push, and of course we have contacts with many agents and DMCs. We get them on familiarisation trips, for example.”
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