Wilson comments that 2016 was a good year for the property, which, he says, grew in all aspects including occupancy, rate, and profitability, all indexes. “Out of our competitive set, we increased the RevPAR the highest. So it was a promising year for us last year, and this year started off with a strong first quarter,” he adds.
Last year was all about refining product and service; this year, it’s about growth in food and beverage as well as rooms. “The market is still good but we don’t want to be over-optimistic. A lot of our work that we’re doing now is focusing on service delivery, continuing to work on evolving products, and bringing in new ideas in for the guests.”
He admits that it has been challenging because Dubai has a lot of luxury product offering. “There is a lot of competition and the key is about differentiating yourself in the approach that you take. And it’s just evolving the identity of the hotel. Especially on the Palm, we have the benefit of the room size. We are just 319 rooms, which is a really ideal size which allows us to create personalised service. If the hotel is too large it tends to become impersonal and no matter how hard you try, you really won’t get that personal engagement with the guest.”
Coming back full circle to personal engagement, Wilson notes: “The most important things have been driving the focus on the personal attention to our guests and using the Waldorf Astoria personal concierge, which is a great initiative. Rather than having guest services who deal with a guest once they arrive, our personal concierge connects with the guest prior to arrival and takes them all the way through the stay. A lot of what I’m really proud of is the amount of empowerment we’ve given to the team members to interact with the guest, and we have seen success through all of these things.
“We are now running at number 12 in Dubai [on TripAdvisor], we were 47 in August 2015. I’m really proud that it’s because of our team members. When you read the reviews, you see what really made a difference was our guests’ interaction with the team members. They mention their names, they talk about our team members who create a great experience for them.”
He adds: “The key was to develop that service delivery system that would allow them to do it — so that the team members are almost telling you what they’re going to do for the guest rather than you telling them what they should do for the guest. When that happens, it’s very powerful because it has its own energy in creating that passion.
“And one of the most important things we can do as leaders is lead with passion, and share that passion with the team members and get them engaged with what they’re doing.”
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