Monarch Dubai Hotel

The hotel industry is booming in the region and there are more and more hotels being constructed. Do you think that the demand will meet the supply in the future?

I think these businesses have a way of leveling out supply and demand over time. Consistently, demand is increasing and new supply is coming onto the market. It has the dynamics to even itself out so I think we will reach stability.

Many say that Dubai’s market is like a reverse pyramid; you have many five star properties but there is nothing in the middle.

Well, this is largely due to the fact that most travelers in this region require this level of hotels and this type of operations. So it is true that there are many more five star hotels than anything else but there are different types of five star hotels as well leading to a variety of hotels.

What are the main challenges in the region for a five star hotel business?

Differentiation is an issue. Also, determining how to place your brand within a very competitive and crowded market is challenging. It’s difficult to be different and it’s even more difficult to remain different because of the competitive environment and when people notice what others are doing that is very good, they try to copy it very quickly. So, our main objective is to make sure that we are creating a different image, not only physically but also on a subliminal level.

You have mentioned that this property is the crown jewel of the group. Could you give us an opinion on that?

Well, our group has 14 different brands and the Monarch brand is the high end brand, it is a five star deluxe property. That speaks to a very different clientele than our other brands speak to.

What is your clientele?

Our clientele is the type of traveler for whom it is difficult to distinguish between leisure and business, the type of people who do both at the same time. The very well-travelled, very sophisticated traveler who looks for a particular place in the key cities where he travels that understands his needs. So, we provide service to this level of people who do require the various different types of services, whatever it takes, and not the kind of individual who enjoys corporate environment as such, but that simply wants a room to stay in overnight.

What specific clientele have you been able to attract? What nationalities?

Very different nationalities, pretty much from all over the world, like everybody else in Dubai. There’s not any particular nationality that dominates. Because of the suite products that we have and the surrounding facilities, we’ve been able to attract a lot of government representatives, for example, that are looking a very unique place to stay and to be looked after.

Is there any nationality or market in particular that you are looking to approach?

There’s not really one particular nationality, it’s more the type of clients and this client seems to be the level of client that is in every nation and every country. Naturally, because this is a regional capital, it will be strongly influenced by GCC travelers. However, we are represented equally in Europe or in America or in the GCC.

What can you offer to these travelers? How do you differentiate from the other places? What is your competitive advantage?

We start taking care of our customers as soon as they step off the plane. We have meet and greet services like coming off the airplane, we transfer every customer in with our limousines back to the airport, and we have 24 hour butler service. People tend to arrive here all hours of the day, it’s not like in Europe where you check in before six o’clock and you’re checking out before twelve o’clock in the morning. That’s just not the type of business that is here. So, we have a round the clock care package. We look after our customers as if they were our guests in our home. That’s the feeling we are trying to create and that’s the ethos, which we are supporting in our operations.

There’s currently a big challenge in the tourist industry, in particular in Dubai, there is going to be a shortage of qualified staff. How are you going to meet this challenge? Also, the turnover rates are really high.

Well, first of all, we start by selecting the right kind of individual to come and work with us. So, we take great care and pay a lot of attention to making sure we identify the right individual. Those people may not be the ones that have all the skills but they may be the ones that are adapted or have the right mindsets to work in the industry. Then, most importantly, once you have invested and secured these individuals, you keep investing in their training and development and make sure you create the right environment for them to work in. It’s natural that people will move on so we look very carefully at the reasons why people would want to move on. We treat our employees as an asset because that’s what they are, they’re such an important element of us achieving what we set out to achieve.

You opened just recently, how do you assess the first month of your operations?

Very positively. We are assessing it by looking at customer feedback and employee feedback. There are two really good aspects and we feel that as long as we get those two things right, business success will automatically follow.

Are there any particular successes, like your occupancy rate?

We are still in the property development stage at the moment; we have not yet launched a property, which will be in May. We are still putting the finishing touches on much of our restaurant and facilities. So, we would not necessarily look at occupancy rates at the moment. I think occupancy, business and so on, are automatically going to happen if you’re looking after your customers and your people properly. For us, as a completely new brand in this market, we are also being cautious; we do not want to raise expectations in the market without having a completed product. We believe that going out and not being completely ready has a detrimental effect on people who come in and see that all the restaurants may not be finished, there’s still construction going on, and so on. For the kind of clientele we are speaking about, that would be unforgiveable. If you say you’re ready, that means you’re ready, it doesn’t mean you’re half ready, or part of it is ready. So, for us, occupancy is not really an issue at the moment, for us it’s what we deliver in terms of the service product and the people that we are attracting.

I can imagine one of your challenges is going to be the brand management because Monarch hotel is newly established in terms of the group. How are you going to build brand awareness?

First of all, there are many various elements. Without going too far into detail, I think firstly, you have to make sure that you have a product to talk about; it’s ok to have a name out there but it’s not very good if you don’t have a product to back it up. As I said before, a product is two elements, it’s a service aspect – the software – and it’s the hardware. The company has invested wisely and significant amounts in order to establish beautiful hardware, which is about 95% ready now. We, as the operator, have paid particular attention to make sure that the software aspect is flawless. Once you have this together, then it really comes down to how you communicate what you are doing. There’s really no special recipe, it’s just about advertising, public relations, and most importantly it is through word of mouth; what people talk about once they have experienced the product. That’s the stage that we are at at the moment.

Regarding communication, are you going to be targeting certain markets or is it going to be in terms of specific clientele?

It’s mainstream; we are targeting a broad spectrum of markets but we are targeting international clientele so we are focusing on North America, Europe, Eastern Europe and the GCC. Also, within those markets we are targeting a select type of clientele. We are not a very big hotel, we will have 236 suites by the time we are ready. So, naturally, we are not looking at the mass market or the tourist industry, and that dictates clearly what level of clients we are seeking. So, within those various markets, a slice out of the entire sector is what we are really looking at.

You have the Fairmont hotel next door, which is a spectacular property. They also won the Meeting Hotel of the Year 2007. You also developed your hotel to be a meeting place for international conferences and this brings you into competition with them. So, how are you going to compete?

Well, I think no hotel lives in isolation, and I think every hotel in a city compete for part of the market with other competitive hotels. So, it’s not only the one you mentioned but there are other hotels around and everybody is trying to get a slice of the cake. I think our product itself; the quality, the type of room, the amenities, the service and everything that comes with it, put it in a slightly different bracket. We are not a convention hotel and we’re obviously not a big meeting hotel: we have a beautiful ballroom, which can accommodate up to 500 guests, we have some very exclusive meeting rooms and we pay a lot of attention to detail. There will be clients who will enjoy this higher end hospitality, in terms of meetings, and for others who are looking more to accommodate lots of people this is not the place to be.

What are some particular events that are going to happen here throughout 2008?

I can tell you a little bit about the ones that have happened already, rather than about those that are coming. We accommodated the Leaders in Dubai event, which was at the end of last year and it was one of our first events when we started out. We also had a number of other high end events. We had the Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, launching his new charity here, as well as presidential visits and dinners that have taken place. This is the type of business we will continue to pursue in the future.

What was the feedback? Was it successful? Did it help your brand?

Absolutely. It was very positive. It prompted us to have many more questions for the guests to be accommodated in these events.

You have very rich experience; you started in Germany. What kind of experience are you going to bring to this hotel?

In my past, I have looked at high end hotels on an international level. I think bringing this to Dubai, to a multinational workforce and creating something unique, having seen how business behaves in various markets, that is something I can contribute to this hotel’s success overall. However, in the end, I am simply the conductor, I am not making the music; the music is left to the orchestra, which is the people who work with us in this hotel. So, it’s not one person who can make this.