Emirates Palace, Leading Luxury Hotel in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi’s economy is projected to grow by 8.2% this year and by 30% over the coming years according to the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. What is the role of tourism in this growth and the major pushing factors?

I think the Abu Dhabi government has concentrated a lot on developing tourism in all aspects over the past few years. It is not only about having a hotel here but it is also the infrastructure and what comes with it. Abu Dhabi itself is going to be in further position as a culture hub. There are old and different museums coming up in Saadiyat Island. This definitely attracts a lot of tourism especially those who are more interested in culture. Abu Dhabi itself is still an adventure because you have the local culture which is very much promoted. So you can explore the desert and everything that it offers in addition. Abu Dhabi has wonderful coastlines and watersport activities. So absolutely everything has been delivered. Another big factor of improving tourism here is that Abu Dhabi airport and Etihad Airways which is opening one destination after the other is a great market to attract tourism e.g. especially from Europe you can fly 5,5 to 6 hours to get here. In addition on top of all this is the whole development here. If you look at all the different island, the evolution of Islam in Abu Dhabi and the development of residential area and commerce but also all the different hotels that are going to be set up in the next 5 to 6 years, that will help Abu Dhabi to grow naturally.

How confident are you about travel demand in 2008 and 2009 while there is a global economic slow down?

Abu Dhabi is an area which has so much potential to the development, e.g. the Formula 1 in November 2009 takes place here. So that in itself beside Bahrain will definitely help to promote Abu Dhabi. I am very confident that the growth and demand especially in this part of the world compared to other parts of the world will grow double-digit.

Abu Dhabi has instituted itself as one of the world’s favourite tourism destination and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority is projecting to attract 2.7 million tourists by the end of 2012, which is 12,5 % more than initially predicted. However this reminds weakly of Dubai’s plan to attract 15 million tourists by 2015. In your opinion what areas should be improved to equalise this difference between these 2 Emirates?

Dubai has been on the map for quite some time. But I call Abu Dhabi a sleeping beauty. It has woken up over the last few years and I think the potential of Abu Dhabi is coming on the surface more and more. Abu Dhabi can learn and has learnt a lot. Maybe certain mistakes have been done in Dubai. It has gone tremendously fast. Here it is going in a smoother way. As I early pointed out, to become a culture hub here in the UAE is one kind of business we want to attract, the Formula 1 another kind of business. A lot of things have been preserved in terms of natural evidence. Abu Dhabi tries to keep green. Abu Dhabi is also very fortunate that there are also a lot of natural islands around that will attract a different kind of tourism. An important point is that the infrastructure is very much sort of and we think off how to cope with this demand and the growth of this part of the world. All the development coming online that requires a lot of infrastructure challenges, so as streets, hospitals, schools, shopping, residential areas, and of course that helps. The whole planning about the future in the next 5,6,10 or 12 years has been very much sort of . I do not think Abu Dhabi has the aim to compete with Dubai in terms of figures: they have 15 million, we have 2.3 million. Abu Dhabi wants to do it settled, in a very structured way and I think that will bring a kind of tourism which also fits in this environment here.

But on the other hand all the Emirates try to attract as many tourists as possible. And Abu Dhabi, the capital naturally attracts more tourism. Is Abu Dhabi ready for this influx you are going through steadily?

As I said earlier Abu Dhabi is very settled. It definitely has to concentrate on the infrastructure and whatever comes with it. People travel between the 7 Emirates from one area to the other, so I think everybody will benefit from each other, which makes the UAE a very unique destination. You can go from Abu Dhabi to Dubai in 1,5 hour, you can go to Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah Ajman, wherever you want in a very easy way. Every destination in the UAE will benefit from each other. So it is actually good for us.

How would you describe the Emirates Palace performance in 2007 and the first half of 2008. What are your priorities you are working onwards?

The Emirates Palace is a palace, it is a hotel. It has taken 3 years to be built up. It is just an icon, it is so unique that you cannot find anywhere else around the world. Advertising Abu Dhabi throughout the world naturally the Emirates Palace is used as the icon of Abu Dhabi. That helps of course the performance. We have opened for 3,5 years and every year we see a substantial growth. Actually in double digits from year to year in terms of occupancy in terms of rates in terms of visitors. If we look at 2007 which has been a very successful year we will double digit of surpassing the performance of 2007 and 2008. So the first 6 month have been extraordinary good not only for the Emirates palace but for Abu Dhabi itself. There is still a lack of supply for rooms, not enough hotels ,but which are coming down the road over the next few years. People who come out here being able to experience the Emirates Palace, having the functions here having their meetings here and staying here is such a unique experience for them that we experience now that almost 60% of our clients are return customers.

Who would you identify as your benchmarks and how would you compare your results to those of them? How are you going to accomplish these targets of benchmark institutions?

It is always our aim to be the best. The image of the Emirates Palace is absolutely our focus point. It reflexes Abu Dhabi. It is not only about the portrait side but also on the service side. We do not want to be called arrogant but the Emirates Palace is unique. It has the investment as you see the palace is just outstanding. Upkeeping the property is definitely one of our biggest challenge: we want to deliver a constant challenge on the highest end because the expectations are so high. And to deliver that in 365 days in a consistent basis is actually our biggest challenge. We compare ourselves with some international players. There is a certain kind of clientele who expect to stay in 6 and 7 star properties. So we compare ourselves with the rest of the world to see how they are doing. So this is for us the benchmark, where those clients are going. In addition, it is very important for us not to be the follower. We try to be the leader in terms of product improvement and service improvement. And this requires quite a number of institutions to work with us. We work very close with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority; we work very close with the local carrier Etihad Airways. Wherever there are tradeshows wherever there are promotions we try to be present. Whoever we want to attract to come over here we want to be the partner, and we are the partner. The Abu Dhabi government is also extremely active of promoting Abu Dhabi and now we are having here in the palace the biggest Picasso exhibition outside any museum every shown anywhere in the world. We have 186 masterpieces to be exhibited here for the next 4 month. This is extraordinary and there is definitely a huge price track behind but by doing so the Abu Dhabi government will show the world that we are not only developing houses and apartment but there is also a culture aspect to it. Abu Dhabi wants to bring that to people from the Middle East and international art collectors so that they come over here and explore that.

You mentioned that you are market leader and trend-setters. What are the trend you are setting for the industry?

For sure one of our trends is to be the best in terms of products, and our product is absolutely unique. Look at the layout of the palace, you have to be quite fit to go from one end to the other. Our beach consists of a private beach of 1.3 kilometres. The surrounding of the Emirates Palace is one million square metre. We have dedicated pool areas for children as well as for adults, heated and cold in summer and winter. The property consists of a state of the art conference centre as well as an auditorium, the hotel consists of a huge and very dedicated palace suites and rooms. Normal rooms have the seize of 55 square metres. We have 49 different nationalities speaking almost over 60 different languages. Out of 394 rooms we are talking about a workforce of 16 000. Over the last 6 month we have been hosting over 16 state visits of presidents, kings and queens. We had culture and rock concerts on the beach with performers of Elton John, Bon Jovi and Justin Timberlake. At the same time we have the exhibition of art galleries like Picasso. In all our auditoriums we have classical concerts like the London philharmonic we have international well-known artists and singers. By having constantly something happening in the Emirates Palace, this makes us alone very unique because we are very fortunate we have a) the facility, b) the government which is extremely active to help and the Tourism Authority. But we also have the Culture and Heritage Authority which works very close with us anything on the culture side. So we have film festivals , we have fashion shows and unique conference. We have incentives here who come and use the Emirates Palace as a new experience. We have the demand in all different levels that shows that the Emirates Palace is very much appreciated and recognised.

When asked: “What do you hope to achieve in terms of international recognition in 2009“, you said: “Our aim is to ensure that the whole world knows about Abu Dhabi as a destination and the Emirates Palace as a leading icon of Abu Dhabi and the UAE as a whole. In your opinion, has this been done? What do you think needs to be further improved to move the Emirates Palace to this position?

I think it has been done extremely well over the last 3,5 years since the opening. Our partners pointed out before that Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and the government pushing very much Abu Dhabi as a destination and at the same time the Emirates Palace as the icon. Another point is that the Emirates Palace has been operated by Kempinski Hotels and Resort, a very established hotel company. At present we have 59 hotels around the world and in the next 2 years we will open another 40. With the network Kempinski we promote the Emirates Palace in our portfolio, plus with all our partners and that in itself is a great deal. I think the destination is much better known then before. Naturally with the destination comes the Emirates Palace. What we are going to do in the future is that we continue to work with all the partners in making sure that not only in the establishment destination but in some new destination we are recognised. Etihad early this year opened a new direct road to Beijing. The Chinese market for us is a market with a lot of potential for the destination and for sure for the Emirates Palace. Etihad opens a lot of offices throughout China. That naturally helps us and we are working closely together. So I hope in the next few years we will see a tremendous growth from the Chinese market. Hopefully we will be better known than now as a destination and the Palace itself.

Let´s move to the private and public sector together. How do you feel the public sector is helping you as a private player on the market? How do you contribute to the creation of the image of Abu Dhabi?

Very much. I think the government is quite on top of what is happening in Abu Dhabi. They learn from certain developments in Dubai. I think they learn from eachother very well. You can see that the government is very much involved in the development as a public sector, the infrastructure, the security service as well as the whole development. At the same time the private sector is encouraged to come to Abu Dhabi due to the fact that it is laid out very easy for developers to invest in Abu Dhabi. The bureaucracy is very limited. You can open your business very smoothly and in a very friendly way. And it is very competitive to any other destination in the Middle East. I think that there is a very good understanding between the public and the private sector. And that makes this destination unique.

You have an excessive experience, 35 years. You come from Germany. You appointed 6 month ago. What kind of experience do you think you can contribute to enhance the operation of the Emirates Palace?

Naturally in a hotel you work in different environments and you learn and gain something. With the experience I have gained in Asia, Europe and the Middle East I think I can contribute a lot to the success and future of the Emirates Palace. Especially when it comes to service improvement we try to be the best so we are not aiming for gold but platinum. The image is a very important part, as I mentioned earlier. As soon as our customers hear Emirates Palace their expectations are really high. So with my experience and my team, very knowledgeable employees and executives, we try to become and continue to be the best.

Emirates Palace initially positioned itself as a hotel with suites and the reception people had initially was that they did not have rooms. I think you have achieved to move to the exact image of what you can offer to clients. Now you have the exact image of what you would like to have.

As far as I know the Emirates Palace has never been marketed as a hotel which only offers suites. It was always quite clear that it is a hotel and a palace. We are a guest house of the government for state visits, dignities and VIPs that the government invites or they come for official visits out here. And we need a venue which delivers the service that international delegations expect. At the same time we have the hotel part, we have the east wing and the west wing. It is quite interesting to compete the Emirates Palace operation or market to any normal hotel operation. Usually a normal hotel chain are catering in their destination maybe to two or 3 different markets. We have almost every market. Try to find a hotel which has the government business in that state that we are. Basically whoever comes to Abu Dhabi stays in the Emirates Palace. We have state visits, presidents, kings and royal families that are coming and staying here. That alone requires a completely skilled workface in terms of acting in a very short time to the different demands those clients have. And then we also have the corporate client like in other hotels. But here we usually have the CEO, the manager directors, the chairmen of companies. So we are talking about the high end corporate business. Every corporation would love to hold their meeting here in the Emirates Palace. So we have this side as well. Then we experience a tremendous incentive programme. Our incentive market is quite unique. So the destination Abu Dhabi offers a lot of programmes that attracts incentives. Especially those who come from Europe or the GCC countries. At the same time we have the group market but mainly the high end group market. The main areas are the German speaking ones, from the UK and the Middle East. Then the individual leisure, you have the 35 to 50 year old couples with young children contemporary want to spend money but really want to have the luxury as well. And then you have the high end who have really explored the world and maybe retired and have a disposable income and would really like to travel to unique areas like Abu Dhabi and the Emirates Palace. So by putting it together we have the governmental business, the leisure business, the group business, the corporate business and meeting, the incentives. But at the same time we hold rock concerts here and all sort of classical events, exhibitions, sport events. We have a cricket pitch here which is like the Harlem Blog Trotter of basketball. But we are a lot working on other events. We will possibly have a beach cricket here which is first time ever shown. We are talking about the squash championship on the beach where we are building a class squash courts. So we position ourselves as an extremely unique of each different markets. But there are so many markets coming here that we can not say that we concentrate on one single market because we have the whole decoration facility. Try to find another hotel which has that. We have a perfect relationship with the Embassy bar which is just wonderful. Try to find another property which has a 1.3 km private beach, dedicated pool areas, 2 fitness centres. But at the same time we take care of children. We have a children programme: children who arrive at the reception with their parents receive goodies and a little flower bouquet. Even the bathroom is children friendly and the children menus are quite unique. So these are our future clients. If they like it they will make their parents come back. So it is not only about suites. We have 92 suites in total out of 42 palace suites which is the palace part and these are more for the official delegations. All the other guests will not feel any disturbance when those state visits are in the hotel. The product itself offers the unique accessibility of having dignities, Royal and state visitors coming into a separate entrance and being basically for themselves without disturbing our hotels guests or customers.