How is Fairmont going to avoid a potential cannibalism between the brands that will be in the Makkah Tower?
The great thing about Makkah is there is almost a built in source of demand with the visas that are offered by the Saudi government to various countries.
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I think there is almost an unlimited demand of potential Muslims coming in to Makkah and between the Haj and Ramadan.
As you know, every Muslim at some point in their life is supposed to go to Makkah for the Haj and so it’s almost a situation where I think high end properties there today – of which there are very few - run in the high 70s at very high average rates and the quality of product is not that good.
So here we are going to have a world class product, arguably in the most unique location possible in Makkah in that it’s overlooking the Mosque and it’s a property with about 800 rooms and 600 residences and a clock on top of it – a prayer clock that can be seen 30 km away.
This isn`t just an ordinary project - projects of this magnitude and of this iconic stature just aren’t built every day.
What’s exciting for us is it really represents almost a beacon for us in the Muslim community.
So overnight, Fairmont is going to be seen as a very important brand in the Muslim community and I think Muslims represent something like 25 % of the world’s population.
Will there be a situation whereby the brands within the company are actively competing with each other or is there going to be product cohesion?
Yes, there will definitely be some cohesion.
One of the things is physical cohesion and these three towers are built on the same podium so we will be sharing various things like receiving, purchasing and security etc so there is integration at that level, but at the customer end our products and brands are quite distinct.
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