Managing director of Premier Inn Middle East, Darroch Crawford, talks to Hotelier Middle East about why there is room for more than one limited service brand at Dubai airport – but why Premier Inn has the edge.
HME: The Holiday Inn Express opened next door to you this week – how do you feel about having another limited service hotel so close by?
We’ve known about the hotel for a long time — I think they started to build it well over a year before we did, so we’ve known about it from day one and I think both companies have probably always felt that there is sufficient demand for branded affordable hotels here. The demand for accommodation in that area in enormous and previously there wasn’t a supply of our nature in that location so I think there is room for both of us.
| Advertisement |
HME: Do you think that Premier Inn has an edge over the Holiday Inn Express?
We are very fortunate in that our room is at the top end of the limited service sector in terms of size and facilities. Our room is 24m², I think Holiday Inn Express’ is 21m² (it is 22m²), and we have bath, shower and bidet as opposed to just a shower, so we have a 281 lovely rooms and they can comfortably accommodate a family of up to four at the same price. For a lot of people our products have the edge and we’re glad about that.
HME: Being so close to the airport, do you find you mostly cater for business people or do you have a range of guests?
What we’ve found so far is that the market is incredibly mixed. We have lots of families, we have lots of business people, lots of transit passengers, sporting groups, aircraft engineers. It’s just amazing how mixed the market it but that’s actually very typical of our hotels in the UK. The difference I think between our airport hotels and our other two hotels in Dubai is that the other two are much more business orientated and this one is much more balanced if you like.
HME: What are your room rates? Have they changed since you opened?
The room rate is AED 375 (US $ 102.2) including tax and service charge. That’s been the price since day one. We work on a very simple pricing policy — we have one price basically. That’s been the price since we opened and that will be the price we remain at, at least for the foreseeable future.
HME: What is your star rating? Do you think that star ratings are important?
We are a three-star hotel. I actually don’t like star ratings; I think star ratings are a real problem for the limited service industry as a whole because three-star in Dubai conjures up an image of an unbranded, not very reliable hotel in Deira or Bur Dubai perhaps, and of course that’s not what we’re about at all. So we’d prefer not to have a star rating if the truth be told, but we must have one so we’re pleased to have a three-star rather than two. What we like to say is that we offer a four-star room at a two-star price. So I think star rating does more to confuse than it does to inform.
HME: Can you tell me anything about Premier Inn’s planned future developments?
We’ve got a hotel under construction in Abu Dhabi, next to Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. I’m actually in Abu Dhabi at the moment and we’re about to finalise a second property. I’m afraid I can’t tell you about that until the deal is signed, but it’s a very exciting location in Abu Dhabi — as good as it could possibly be! We hope to be able to announce that within the next month. We’re also working on projects in Doha in Riyadh and in Jeddah. Our aim is to be represented in all the major cities in the GCC as quickly as we can.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
