A generational shift is causing a rethink among luxury hotel brands about the presentation of services, as traditionalists and baby boomers give way to generations X, Y (Millennials) and Z (Centennials).
What felt smart and sophisticated for yesteryear’s guests can feel stuffy and restrictive for today’s travellers.
It is a challenge being met head-on in Doha by the hotel that carries the 113-year-old St. Regis brand synonymous with high society, butlers, red carpets and rituals, including afternoon tea, Bloody Marys and champagne sabering.
The GM at the 336-key The St. Regis Doha, Tareq Derbas (also area general manager for Starwood Hotels & Resorts covering Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq) recalls that the guest experience could often be daunting. “For our welcome in reception, we had the red carpet with three butlers on each side. It looked like we were waiting for a head of state,” he jokes. “So we’ve softened that.”
He adds that when he launched his GM cocktail reception on Wednesday evenings, formal invitations hand-delivered by the butlers would make guests think they needed to buy a tuxedo to attend. “So we have made that a more casual, personalised invite,” says Derbas.
“Some people think butlers are just for the rich and famous. But we ask our butlers to go off the script, to just be themselves and tell guests ‘I am here for you’, and explain the services they offer.”
Derbas says that the worldwide St. Regis brand advisory board, on which he sits, is planning to make changes to the butler uniform to make it more fresh and dynamic,“with a nice suit and tie, rather than appearing as a servant”.
“Our clientele is changing so we are injecting more lifestyle elements into the brand,” he adds. “It was very stiff St. Regis New York-style and some people were intimidated by that. So in the past two or three years, we have started to soften the brand and create lifestyle relevance.”
Regarding F&B, for example, (and with 12 outlets, including Hakkasan, Opal by Gordon Ramsay and Al Sultan Brahim, a 750-person brunch venue and a 50:50 rooms/food revenue split, Derbas claims The St. Regis Doha is second to none) he notes that people are not into fine dining anymore. Now it is about casual dining, even for the corporate CEOs who frequent the hotel.
That is not to say that the rituals for which St. Regis has become known are no longer important. It is simply about knowing your guests, insists Derbas. “From Sunday to Thursday, we have corporate guests, and they have no time. But on the weekend and during holidays, our guests have all the time in the world, and the rituals — the Bloody Marys, champagne sabering, afternoon tea — and stories of Doha are something they look forward to.”
He continues: “At any given time over the weekend, we have 4,000 guests inside the building. So on the weekend, we change the atmosphere, and the way we come across to the guests. You’ll see us in suits during the week, but on Thursday we take the ties and jackets off. We have a kids’ station in the lobby with candy; and activities on the beach for the kids and teenagers.
“We take it easy — people all come in their shorts, so if we are wearing suits it doesn’t mesh well.
“Luxury doesn’t have to be stuffy,” Derbas insists.
There is nothing stuffy about The Rooftop, the hotel’s ‘urban terrace and lounge’ that “brings to Doha the urban chic of New York, Beirut and London”.
With resident and visiting DJs from the Ibiza club scene, “it is definitely for generation Y”, says Derbas. “Last weekend. we had French DJ Bob Sinclar, and 450 people on The Rooftop. It was a great buzz and lots of our neighbours complained!” he adds with a sense of pride. “That’s how you soften the brand.
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