Atlantis buoyed by GCC focus

A strategy of focusing on both regional and international markets has helped Atlantis enjoy an ‘extremely pleasing’ introduction, claimed the hotel’s senior VP of sales, Brett Armitage.

While the UK has been the hotel’s largest source market since its glitzy opening last November, Armitage claimed the strategy of developing its local sales network helped keep Atlantis’ occupancy rates at healthy levels throughout the summer.

“When we were going through the [pre-opening] planning process, we very much had a focus on the Gulf,” he said during an exclusive interview with HME.com.

“In many instances I think the GCC has been neglected a little bit by many of the properties in the region, but we really tried to develop a very strong network across the region.

“This obviously paid dividends during the summer months.”

While local patronage provided Atlantis with a valuable boost in occupancy, Europe remained its largest source market.

Armitage said the hotel’s sales team had targeted a diverse mix of travellers in its opening year, with the hotel also proving popular with travellers from Russia and India.

He said one of the reasons for the hotel’s success in the UK, was a close working relationship with Emirates Airlines.

“We’re really leveraging the relationship we have with them, obviously because of the distribution that they have across the UK.”