Prominent Dubai hoteliers face a challenge to satisfy the whims of increasingly demanding customers, as guests expect luxury perks at even mid-market hotels.
Speaking on the opening day of The Hotel Show in the emirate yesterday, senior management at well-known hotel firms warned steps must be taken to temper the expectations of guests who have come to expect everything from free Wi-Fi to flat screen televisions in even budget rooms.
While Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has reported that average hotel occupancy levels in the first three months of 2011 are up to 79 per cent, industry experts yesterday warned the average daily rate (ADR) at many hotels was actually static or down compared with last year. With budgets tight, guests must understand luxury comes at a price.
“Ten years ago having a wonderful bed was luxury, now you go into a four-star hotel with 400 thread count bedsheets,” said Marc Dardenne, chief executive officer of Emaar Hotels & Resorts. “They expect flatscreen TVs, they expect larger rooms, they expect all the amenities that you get in a five-star hotel,” added Wilson Joseph, chief operating officer at Dubai-based Lotus Hospitality.
But with 8,000 new hotel rooms added to Dubai’s stock in the last year, some firms feel they have to cater to the upmarket tastes of guests or risk losing them to rivals, or a negative write-up on influential hotel review websites.
“You need to facilitate the requirements they expect from home,” said Jumeirah Group’s vice president of global sales Thomas Grunder.
“Indians love to watch their soaps in the afternoons and the evenings - if you don’t have them then they are going to choose a hotel that has them,” he claimed.
But Sami Al Ansari, CEO of Ishraq Gulf real estate holding, which develops mid-market hotels, said there are limits to what such hotels can offer.
“I am all for free internet, but at the same time it is not logical for mid-market budget hotel brands to be able to offer it,” he said at the dmg events show.
