Five leaders in the Middle East's mid-market hospitality industry convened at the Rove Trade Centre in Dubai to discuss relevant issues facing the sector, with the hoteliers' insights helping to set the 2017 Hotelier Express Summit agenda.
How are mid-scale hoteliers adapting offerings to cater to guests looking for an ‘authentic’ experience?
Paul Bridger: At Rove Hotels, your authentic travel experience to Dubai begins when you enter the hotel, because we feature local artists from the neigbourhood as design features in the hotel. We hope that encourages you to get out and explore the local neighbourhood and get to know the city. We’re also about to launch our new Rove app in a couple of weeks and that’s very much about the local community, places and restaurants recommended by Rove, by the hotel management and the team.
Remmie de Graaf: I absolutely agree that experiences are what guests want to have nowadays. I also feel that the experiences are offered actually by our people, the team members who are creating experiences for our guests. It always goes a long way, the little touches that people remember. At the end of the day, the experience for a guest is what they remember from that stay in that hotel. It can be an attraction but it can also be an experience of something they did not expect to get while staying in that hotel. Especially in the mid-scale segment, it is the team members who are on the floor who can deliver this type of experience because they are the ones dealing with the guests directly. For most of us in the mid-scale, a concierge is not part of the structure. So basically everyone in the hotel needs to know what is going on. You can start with people who are at the front desk or at the lobby but it applies as well to people who are working at the breakfast or at the bar. They need to be the concierge as well.
Bridger: People are likely to be asking the lifeguard or the attendant in your room about the local community because they’re the people who have the time. It’s very important that all our 'Rovesters' experience the local community because it’s part of our attraction.
How are mid-market hotels using the increase in leisure and entertainment attractions to their advantage?
De Graaf: Overall, the key to having information about these attractions is experiencing it firsthand. The staff needs to experience themselves whatever it is that they are telling the guests. In Ras Al Khaimah, it is relatively easy because it’s not as big as Dubai so each time something new comes up, the tourism authority reaches out to the hotels straightaway for them to experience it. That goes for activities in the mountains, historical attraction.
Bridger: Across the UAE, there’s some great new attractions happening and opportunities for mid-scale hoteliers to partner with them and offer a value-added experience. For example, this summer across all Rove Hotels, for a small supplement to your room, you can get free tickets to Dubai Parks. The important thing to remember with attractions and entertainment, people who are staying in mid-scale hotels now are not necessarily people who don’t have any money to spend. They’re often people who have money to spend but choose not to spend it on their accommodation because they want to have the experience. So they spend a small part of their overall travel budget on the room itself because they want to go to all these great places.
Pawel Guminski: I agree, absolutely. Premier Inn as a brand is a very family oriented. So providing the experience for families, such as family rooms, the big breakfast, amenities for kids, is very important to us.
How are mid-scale hotels targeting specific niche audiences?
Bridger: We just recently opened Rove Healthcare City so we’re able to offer accommodation for people coming for medical tourism or for people visiting their families who are in hospital facilities.
De Graaf: Whereas for us in Ras Al Khaimah, with a location close to the mountains, we can tap into the more adventurous traveller. We’ve extended now activities into the creek, which is right in front of us, to tap into the more sporty, more adventurous type of traveller. If you’ve got a location close to major shopping areas, you probably can attract a different type of clientele.
Ghada Mahgoub: The current Time Hotel we are opening is very close to the mall whereas in my old hotel, we were very close to hospitals so we offered packages and special deals in partnership with the hospitals.
More insights and recommendations from the Summit 2017 advisory panel will be revealed in the September 2017 issue of Hotelier Express.
Hotelier Express would like to thank the members of the Summit Advisory Panel 2017:
Time Asma Hotel, Dubai general manager Ghada Mahgoub
Rove Hotels director of operations Paul Bridger
Hilton Garden Inn Ras Al Khaimah general manager Remmie de Graaf
Premier Inn Dubai International Airport Hotel & Premier Inn Al Jaddaf general manager Pawel Guminski
Smartotels Hospitality International chief operating officer Siegfried Poppe
EVENT INFORMATION
Hotelier Express Summit 2017
Wednesday, 22nd November
Grosvenor House, Dubai, UAE
A one-of-a-kind event that brings together hospitality professionals from across the Middle East’s midlevel, budget and serviced apartment market to discuss and debate the unique challenges and opportunities this sector possesses. The Hotelier Express Middle East Summit provides the ideal forum for hoteliers to step back and reflect on how they are going to tackle key operational challenges, meet customer expectations and boost their bottom line.
CONTACT DETAILS:
For event registration or speaking opportunities, contact Louby Maktari, conference producer:
Email: louby.maktari@itp.com
Tel: +971 4 444 3578
For event sponsorship opportunities, contact Stephen Price, group sales director:
Email: stephen.price@itp.com
Tel: +971 4 444 3246
| Advertisement |
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
