(From L-R) Siddhartha Sattanathan, General Manager, Radisson Blu Hotel Ajman; Omar Souab, General Manager, Fairmont Fujairah Beach Resort; Patria Puyat, General Manager, Holiday Inn Dubai Festival City; Andreas Plum, General Manager, Aloft Al Ain; Samir Arora, General Manager, The Retreat Palm Dubai MGallery by Sofitel and Olivier R. Harnisch, Chief Executive Officer, Emaar Hospitality Group.
HOTELIER: What about the industry’s mergers and acquisitions? How has that affected the business landscape and operations?
OMAR: When AccorHotels acquired FRHI and then Mövenpick, you do feel the change. I’m sure Marriott and Starwood also noticed. The approach by Sébastien Bazin has been amazing.
ANDREAS: The market is big enough to absorb the change though. We’re changing in terms of two cultures coming together, sometimes creating a third culture. There’s a lot of systems integration and standards.
SIDDHARTHA: AccorHotels handled it very well, they did not rush it.
OMAR: We are very happy with the renegotiation of certain contracts. Today we are paying a lot less because of the strength of being part of a large group.
OLIVIER: What about owners? Because they are certainly asking themselves how do they benefit from these mega mergers? Some will see benefits, others will not. That’s an interesting thing to watch, and what is happening here in the UAE where owners are becoming more assertive towards branded operators is an interesting evolution.
SIDDHARTHA: All these mergers are going to leverage advantages of scale whether it’s lowering distribution cost or purchasing costs.
OLIVIER: One of the challenges of the mega operator is the ability to focus on individual hotels. It comes down to the GM. This is where smaller operators have it easier.
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