What is the general standard of technology products and service suppliers in the Middle East?
MB: Most fail to do their homework. They say that ‘we offer wireless internet in the rooms’ and I say ‘if you checked you would see we’ve had that for five years’.
MN: Suppliers are not committed.
MB: They are not committed because they are handling too many projects at the same time.
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Is that because there not enough suppliers in this region?
MN: There is a monopoly here. We don’t have any other option than to use what they are giving to us. If we say we need something today, they might give it us after two weeks.
RT: I agree, and for that reason we are looking to suppliers outside the UAE.
SE: It’s a very premature market in this region. The vendor’s sales manager will spend hours with you when they’re trying to close the deal, but once they’ve sold it to you, you won’t see them again. The follow up is not approached systematically, there isn’t the ongoing support there.
MB: We’re paying a lot of money for suppliers to come and maintain the systems, but when we need them they are usually not there.
RT: We have openings all over the UAE, but everything we requested for our Yas Island hotels was delivered on time and from the second I made the order, I received a reply. That’s because Yas Island is part of the development of the UAE and has a lot of support from the government. Suppliers will pick and choose the projects they want, they choose their priorities.
SE: With Fairmont it’s different. I’ve been here for 12 months. I have a list of reliable suppliers and we are on their priority list, Fairmont comes first. I request the service and it is delivered, but maybe not on time.
MB: The service they provide should not depend on what hotel they are dealing with, suppliers should be responsible for all customers.
RT: We need more competition in the supplier market.
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