HOTEL PREFERENCES

Just as Hotelier asks general managers which hotel companies they would most and least like to work with in the annual Hotelier Middle East GM Survey, it was only fair for suppliers to have their say on the same topic.

Suppliers were asked to select up to three hotel companies they would least like to work with based on prior experience or reputation, and also asked which companies they would most like to work with. The full results are displayed on these pages.

The companies that suppliers said they would least like to work with were very varied.

The company with the highest number of votes was Nakheel Hotels, with 30.2% of respondents saying they would not like to work with the firm.

Companies also receiving nominations were Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, Dusit International, Habtoor Hotels, Jumeirah Group and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Reasons cited for not wanting to work with hotel companies varied. For some, it was because they were seen as too difficult to access because of pre-existing supplier relationships.

For others, the suppliers cited “low budgets”, “delayed payments”, “choices made for the wrong reasons or kickbacks to consultants”, “no scale”, “having to chase payments” and an “unprofessional” manner.

On the other hand, the hotel firms that suppliers were the most keen to work with were Aldar Hotels and Hospitality and Jumeirah Group.Also popular were Accor, Hyatt, Marriott, Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts, Rotana, Starwood and The Address Hotels and Resorts.

This reflects a split between large multi-nationals, home-grown companies and very new brands.

Suppliers were attracted to their preferred companies for a variety of reasons. For several, it was simply because these companies had “more projects”, that they had been working with them worldwide, or conversely, that they had not yet worked with them and wanted to!

Others cited “good market standing and reputation”, “payment guarantee”, “no compromise on inferior products to save costs”, and the fact they were “strong new hotel chains with capital that wish to grow” as their reasons for wanting to do business with these companies.

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FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES

Although the hotel market in the Middle East has showed signs of diversification recently, as a result in part due to the economic crisis, the majority of suppliers responding to the Hotelier Middle East Supplier Survey identified the luxury market as the hospitality sector which provided the most opportunity for their company to grow.

More than a third of suppliers identified the luxury market; 12.5% identified standalone F&B outlets as a growth area; and 14.6% said the economy market was the sector in which they predicted most growth.

BOOM TIME

Thirty-nine of the respondents to the Hotelier Middle East Supplier Survey answered the question ‘What city in the Middle East do you think we will see the next hotel boom in?’. The most popular responses were Abu Dhabi and Doha/Qatar. Only two respondents said Dubai and one said Beirut.