From L-R standing: Thomas Van Opstal, Marcus Ptok and director of marketing Jeremie Lannoy. Sitting (from L-R) Mai Nassar and Neeraj Pyaneeandee.
Following the refurb, the hotel has 230 rooms, including 27 suites. It also offers 14 junior suites, nine studio suites, two executive suites, one diplomatic suite and one royal suite. Opstal comments: “We are not yet 100% complete, we still have a bit of construction going on; three of our meeting rooms are not ready, because we are building this fancy staircase, so the entire convention place has yet to come together.”
The management is confident of the hotel’s MICE potential, a direction in which the Oman Tourism Authority has steered its efforts in as well.
Nassar says: “We lead with MICE as our strategy because we have the biggest ballroom in Muscat, and 11 breakout/board rooms. We have all the infrastructure in place for large conferences, product and car launches, and we are the most suitable even for private functions. More so, we are based in the heart of the city.”
In the few months that the hotel has been open, Opstal says the inquiries and uptake of the hotel’s convention facilities has been heartening.
He reveals to Hotelier Middle East: “We are getting enquiries from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. And we are pleased because in just a few months people have noticed not just in Oman but across the GCC as well.”
Nassar ranks corporate guests and leisure, in that order, as the hotel’s priority segments. “After corporate the local market is the next most important sector for us. We have spa facilities and the biggest indoor swimming pool, where we have launched women-only swimming classes exclusively for Omani ladies, three days a week. We are probably the only hotel to do it in the city.
“Leisure is also on our cards, and we are aware that our location is not beach -centric, and so we provide a shuttle service from the hotel to the beach, and the tour operators are well informed about this,” says Nassar, who adds that the beach is a private enclosure with branded Sheraton standards, sun beds, towels and water provided to the guests.
Germany is one of the biggest feeder markets in terms of leisure tourists in Oman, and “it will continue to be so for our property”, Nassar says. “The UK is the next biggest source market and we are in talks to finalise one or two big deals. Then the Indian market has a lot of opportunity as well, along with the Italian and Spanish markets. We will be joining roadshows either by the ministry of tourism or Marriott International [to boost our chances].”
However, Nassar feels the Omani authorities could do a little more to aid visa-free travel for more nationalities. “[Visa-free travel] makes it easier for nationalities that are travelling in large numbers. Something needs to be done about the Chinese tourists for example. The UAE already had a lot of Chinese tourists visiting the country, yet they enabled visa-free travel for Chinese nationals. That only makes it better for the destination,” says Nassar, who spent nearly a decade in Abu Dhabi working for the Sheraton and Le Royal Méridien hotels in the UAE’s capital.
With two operational F&B outlets — Asado and Courtyard — food and beverage is a strong facet of the hotel’s offering, according to Opstal. “We are still in the process of opening three F&B venues and I would like to see at least one of them opening as soon as possible. We are currently at two outlets and we need a bit more, for sure. Guests say they like what we have, not just on Tripadvisor, but also when they meet us face to face in the property.”
The duo of Marcus Ptok and Neeraj Pyaneeandee are at the helm of F&B affairs at the hotel and plan to raise the stakes (and the steaks, no doubt). Between Ptok, the hotel’s director of F&B, and Pyaneeandee, the versatile executive chef, the duo are well travelled and have worked in some of the biggest restaurants, associated with the biggest names, in the culinary industry.
Pyaneeandee spent a couple of years at the L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon and a little over a year at The Ivy in London, following which he spent the next nine years at two of Emaar’s properties in Dubai, three of those as executive chef of the The Address Montgomerie in Dubai.
On a cool winter evening, the duo treated socialites and members of the press to a seven-course paired dinner. Pyaneeandee provided the theatrics with the food as Ptok paired each course with a rare wine (and in one case a champagne) that matched the complexity and flavours of each dish. The evening showcased a “true culinary experience”, one which Pyaneeandee feels Oman is more than ready for.
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