Former accountant and 2008 Hotelier Middle East GM of the year Elaine Watson talks about the challenges of running the Courtyard by Marriott in the blossoming Green Community.
How long have you worked at the Courtyard by Marriot, and what were you doing before then?
I was assigned to the Courtyard and Marriott Executive Apartments, Green Community, project in February 2003. Prior to this I was general manager of the Marriott Executive Apartments, Dubai, Creek where I’d been since pre-opening of the project. This was my first assignment in Dubai for Marriott. I’ve worked with Marriott both in franchised hotels and Marriott International hotels for the past 20 years.
What have you observed to be its strengths and weaknesses?
This has been a particularly interesting project as what was our inherent weakness in the beginning, namely our location, has really turned out to be our biggest strength. We’ve gone from being in what many would have termed as a remote location far away from everything to really being in the midst of the new developments in New Dubai.
We’re a business hotel and this has evidently led to many people working on the projects in the neighbourhood seeking accommodation nearby their place of work.
We’re also very much the social focal point of the Green Community and many of our regular guests are also our neighbours and we focus on building a great relationship with them and also listening to what it is they want to see us doing for them.
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What kind of facilities do you have at the Courtyard?
Here at the Courtyard by Marriott, Green Community we have 165 spacious guest rooms including 10 suites. Many of our guest rooms enjoy fantastic views of the lake.
We have three food and beverage outlets – the signature restaurant, Cucina, specialising in Italian trattoria cuisine, the Pine Grill restaurant which is our three meal restaurant catering to both our in-house guests and our conference delegates and the Rendezvous lounge which is our 24 hour lobby coffee shop.
We also have great conference and banqueting facilities which compromise a ballroom and three additional meeting rooms.
Have you faced any particular challenges in getting the hotel up and running?
The main challenges we faced getting the hotel up and running was our location and the lack of signage and the lack of infrastructure in the immediate neighbourhood.
However to be honest given the fact that this project had complexities i.e. the lake in front of the hotel, the connecting Marriott Executive Apartments and the main entrance to the hotel that was always being moved to allow road improvements in the surrounding area – the challenges were really minimal. We had great support from both Marriott International and our owning company Properties Investments which made a huge difference to the immediate success of this project.
We had our first sell-out night ten days following opening which I believe was probably something of a record. Guess this does not really qualify as a soft opening!
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