Hospitality Business ME

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'FBUVSF DTCM’s Shaikha Ebrahim AlMutawa discusses future plans to improve the hospitality industry’s green credientials *OUFSWJFX Gloria Hotel’s President Antoine Sayegh reveals his bid for Middle Eastern expansion with the dry brand 2 " How will hoteliers and recruitment consultants solve the staffing shortfall in the UAE?

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5SFOET Spa solutions from the region’s top suppliers; HP launches new POS system; ex-Gordon Ramsay headhunter arrives 5FOEFST 20 new tenders inside this issue

GLOBAL HOTEL INDEX: Asia Pacific 65.5% - Americas 63.4% - Europe 70.5% - Middle East/ Africa 60.4% (Average room occupancy June 2012)

4645"*/"#*-*5: 4"7&4 .0/&: With more ways to go green than ever, what are leading brands doing operationally that really works?

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Publication licensed by IMPZ

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CONTENTS

20 26

32

04

EDITOR’S LETTER

06

NEWS SHARE PERFORMANCES, NEW OPENINGS AND THE LATEST TOURIST FIGURES

10

DATA WATCH STR GLOBAL AND ERNST & YOUNG SHARE THEIR REPORTS

13

TENDERS DETAILS ON THE MOST UP TO DATE HOSPITALITY PROJECTS

18

OPENING SOON COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL, BARSHA

20

COVER STORY THREE HOTEL CHAINS SHARE HOW THEIR SUSTAINABILITY POLICIES ARE PRODUCING REAL-TIME REAL SAVINGS

26

WOMAN ON A MISSION DTCM’S SHAIKHA EBRAHIM ALMUTAWA’S GREEN EFFORTS KNOW NO BOUNDS

28

INTERVIEW GLORIA HOTEL’S PRESIDENT ANTOINE SAYEGH PLANS TO EXPAND THE DRY BRAND

30

ON CLOUD NINE HABTOOR HOTELS MOVE TO CLOUD HAS HELPED IT CUT COSTS

32

Q&A HOW DO OUR EXPERTS PLAN TO ADDRESS THE STAFFING SHORTFALL IN THE REGION?

40

DU COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS FROM THE SUPPLIER

47

TREND WATCH THIS MONTH’S BOLDEST AND BEST IDEAS AND PRODUCTS

28 47

64

cpidubai.com

AUGUST 2012

COMMENT A TALE OF TWO CITIES: ABU DHABI AND DUBAI

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 1

COMMENT / EDITOR’S LETTER

Editor’s letter It’s not just the T large hospitality

This region is more than equipped to deal with global challenges

his month is all about solving problems. We were inspired by the hotel chains in our cover story, who have embraced the issues of climate change and sustainability. They are making both large and small changes in their infrastructure, operating procedures and personnel to make differences in both the short term and the long term to reduce environmental waste, CO2 emissions and overall costs. Discover how they’re doing this on page 20. And it’s not just the large hospitality corporations striving for change but progress can be made by individual people too, such as DTCM’s Shaikha Ebrahim AlMutawa, whose passion for going green is leading the way for regional change on page 26.

There are a lot of issues out there in the expanding marketplace, but it’s encouraging to see hoteliers, operators and suppliers working together to find solutions. Our experts in recruitment have sat alongside HR managers this month and discussed how to overcome the looming staffing shortfall on page 32 whilst Du offers its own ideas on how to satisfy your guests with its collaborative solutions on page 40.

And from suppliers, we investigate

corporations striving for change but progress can be made by individual people too the largest challenges to the spa industry and how different companies address them (page 54), talk to HP about the future of POS systems (page 50) and look into how Habtoor Hotels has found solutions up in the cloud (page 30). We also go behind the scenes to see how art work is chosen for large scale projects, with an art consultant (page 60).

So, solutions? We’re full of them! We hope you also find some inspiration in this issue.

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHERS Alex Bendiouis Carol Owen Georgina Wilson-Powell EDITORIAL Group Editor: Georgina Wilson-Powell georginawp@cpidubai.com / +971 50 574 2884 Contributors: Dave Reeder, Ben Rossi Senior Designer: Christopher Howlett Photography: Cris Mejorada ADVERTISING Antony Crabb antony@cpidubai.com / +971 55 338 7639 Alex Bendiouis alex@cpidubai.com / +971 50 458 9204 Carol Owen carol@cpidubai.com / +971 55 880 3817 Rekha D’Souza rekha@cpidubai.com MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Marizel Salvador marizel@cpidubai.com WEB DEVELOPER Louie Alma PRODUCTION Production manager: Devaprakash DISTRIBUTION Rochelle Almeida SUBSCRIPTIONS www.cpievents.net/mag/magazine.php PRINTED BY Printwell Printing Press LLC, Dubai, UAE PUBLISHED BY

Ramadan Kareem Head Office, PO Box 13700, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409 Group Office, Dubai Media City Building 4, Office G08, Dubai, UAE

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A publication licensed by IMPZ © Copyright 2012 CPI. All rights reserved.

While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

4 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

“The Glion Online MBA is my key to seizing opportunities and adapting to change” Mark Jones is Senior Director, Hotel Development EMEA for World Hotels and a current Glion online MBA student.

Glion Institute of Higher Education’s 100% online programs are dedicated to developing executive talent for the global hospitality and wider services industry.

As a market leader in international hospitality management education and with close ties to the industry, Glion offers tailor-made online programs for corporate partners.

Email: inquiry@gliononline.com Website: www.gliononline.com

NEWS WATCH

$932 UAE NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEF RADISSON BLU SHARJAH GETS A MAKEOVER The Radisson Blu Sharjah will see a soft refurbishment of all 212 rooms and suites this summer. Updates will include new mini bar, flat screen TVs and furniture.

The hotel will also introduce new watersports activities through Al Loalah Marina Services. Renovation is happening in stages, with completion expected in October 2012.

AVERAGE RATE OF DUBAI HOTELS FIRST HALF 2012 (Jones Lang LaSalle)

Etihad Airways and Starwood Hotels & Resorts team up Etihad Airways and Starwood Hotels & Resorts have partnered up to offer their respective loyalty scheme customers rewards. Etihad Guest members can earn Guest Miles when staying at Starwood properties, whilst Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) subscribers can convert their Starpoints into Etihad Guest Miles (one point, one mile). Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief

Commercial Officer, said: “The Etihad Guest programme is proud to extend our partner base to include Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Starwood shares many of the same guest experience values that we have at Etihad Airways and we believe this partnership will be warmly welcomed by members of the Etihad Guest and Starwood Preferred Guest programmes.”

RITZ-CARLTON ABU DHABI, GRAND CANAL OPENS SEPTEMBER 2012 Abu Dhabi will see its own Ritz-Carlton open as of September. The property will feature 447 rooms and suites as well as 85 private villas. The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi, Grand Canal sits in 57 acres featuring landscaped gardens, a private beach, 10 stately buildings, 1,550-sq m ballroom and 14 meeting rooms.

ABU DHABI TO HOST 20 MORE HOTELS OVER NEXT THREE YEARS The capital will become home to around 20 more hotels between now and 2015. These will include two properties by Marriott and an Edition hotel.

ABU DHABI OCCUPANCY UP 14% YEAR ON YEAR Up on the first half of 2011, Abu Dhabi saw nearly 1.19 million guests check into the capital, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) has revealed.

The emirate saw a rise in various source markets, including a nine per cent increase from Oman, an 84 per cent from China, 81 per cent from Russia, 44 per cent from Germany and 31 per cent from India.

DUBAI LAUNCHES FIRST SPORTS DESTINATIONS MAP Over 100 destinations for sporting activities have been drafted onto a map with GPS and contact details along with Metro information for visitors by Dubai’s Sports Council. The map will be available to buy in print and as an electronic version.

6 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

Al Manzil and the Qamardeen hotel are now operated by EHG

Emaar expands its Downtown portfolio Emaar Hospitality Group has taken over operations of Al Manzil and Qamardeen hotels in Downtown Dubai, from Southern Sun Hotel Group. Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, said, “Our expansion to hospitality is in line with our growth strategy of creating long-term value for our stakeholders, while also contributing to Dubai’s economic growth.

With Emaar Hospitality Group

assuming the management of Al Manzil and Qamardeen, we are looking at introducing the homegrown capabilities achieved by our hospitality subsidiary and offer a differential lifestyle experience for our guests.”

Emaar’s hospitality & leisure business contributed Dhs1.22 billion to the company’s annual revenues in 2011, and Dhs403 million during Q1 2012.

cpidubai.com

NEWS WATCH

4-5%

DUBAI’S ECONOMY EXPANSION IN 2012 (Jones Long LeSalle)

Tourism in Egypt rises 40 per cent in 2012 The extensive new Radisson property in Doha

Radisson Blu opens in Doha Radisson Blu has taken over operations of the Ramada in Doha, Qatar. The city centre hotel is four kilometres from the airport, has 583 keys and 12 F&B outlets, some of which have won recent awards in Doha. “We are delighted to be present in Qatar. It offers excellent opportunities for growth”, commented Kurt Ritter, President & CEO of Rezidor.

Egypt’s tourism economy seems to be recovering, with a 40 per cent rise on last year, picking up dramatically after President Mohammed Morsy took office. Sharm Al-Sheikh and Cairo are both improving in time for the Eid-Al-Fitr celebrations. This year has seen a 48 per cent increase in Arab tourists.

Tourists return to discover Egypt’s treasures

Al Faisaliah, Riyadh enters Conde Nast Traveller Gold List The ultra-luxurious Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was become the first hotel in the Kingdom to be placed on the prestigious annual list. The Rosewood operated property was rated an overall score of 93.6, thanks to unique design, a 24 hour

personal butler service, state of the art technology and fine dining restaurants. The hotels chosen for the list are based on data collated through the annual Readers’ Choice Survey which is a collective result of some eight million votes cast by a savvy group of travellers.

NEWS IN BRIEF JORDAN TOURISM UP 19% ON 2011 In the first half of 2012, Jordan saw its tourism revenue increase by nearly 20 per cent, bringing in JD1.2 billion before the end of June, up on 2011’s JD1 billion for the same period. The country saw increased visitor numbers from Libya, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Iraq.

MENA NEWS

RAS AL KHAIMAH HAS $500M BUDGET FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENTS With rising visitor numbers, 2012 Year to May saw just over half a million tourists who generated US75.5m, Ras Al Khaimah’s Tourism Development Authority will spend $500m on government approved tourism projects before the end of 2013.

The emirate is also looking at expanding charter flights and has a goal of attracting 1.2 million tourists before 2013 and a hotel inventory of 10,000 by 2016.

TOURISM PROJECTS AROUND THE DEAD SEA CREATE 1,500 JOBS The Development Zones Commission in Jordan have announced that tourism projects due to come to fruition this year will create 1,500 jobs as JD300 million has been invested.

PARK INN, MUSCAT TO BE OPERATED

BY INTERIOR HOTELS Rezidor-Carlson Group, which owns the Park Inn chain, has sold its Muscat property to Interior Hotels which also manages the Golden Tulip Nizwa. The hotel is located near Muscat International Airport and previously was named ‘Leading Hotel in Responsible Business’ amongst the group’s 1,300 hotels.

TOURISM NUMBERS RISE THROUGH OMAN’S INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS International arrival passengers through Muscat International Airport rose 23 per cent year to June, compared to the same period in 2011. Salalah Airport has also reported a rise, that of 25 per cent in its arrivals traffic compared to the same period last year.

Al Faisaliah Hotel’s gold list style surroundings

cpidubai.com

AUGUST 2012

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 7

NEWS WATCH

11,307 APPLE TO LAUNCH ITRAVEL Apple could be venturing in to the world of travel bookings, with iTravel, an app which lets you store all pertinent travel data, facilitate check ins and possibly hotel reservations.

ABSOLUTE SHARE PRICE PERFORMANCE: 23-27 JULY 2012 Hospitality consultants, HVS, impart with us the most recent actitvity in

share prices for the leading global hotel brands in the market. source: HVS Middle East (hvs.com)

UPS

ROOMS IN DUBAI’S HOTEL PIPELINE (STR Global)

8

The Middle East is four per cent behind the global growth in 2012, one per cent ahead of where it was Q1 2011 according to UNWTO figures.

ABU DHABI REVPAR FALLS The June 2012 figures from STR Global has confirmed that Abu Dhabi saw the largest decrease in RevPAR in the Middle East with a drop of 15.4 per cent to $66.13.

DOWNS

-4

HYATT HOTELS

REZDIOR HOTEL GROUP

WHITBREAD

MILLENIUM & COPTHORNE

1% GROWTH IN INTERNATIONAL TOURISTS

-2

ACCOR

With a record 20 per cent increase on rooms coming online this year, taking Doha’s supply from 10,000 to 12,000, GMs are unsure what will happen to their ADR.

0 STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS

QATAR HOTELS NERVOUS OF NEW ADDITIONS

2

MELIA HOTELS INTERNATIONAL

The UAE’s competitive economy is third after Qatar and Saudi Arabia and comes in globally at number 33, out of 183, up two places on 2011 according to the World Economic Forum.

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP

UAE ECONOMY RANKED 3RD

4

HH HOTLES

May 2012 saw hotels in Jeddah reach 82.9 per cent occupancy while RevPAR rose by over 25 per cent, according to TRI Hospitality Consulting.

PPHE HOTELS

6

JEDDAH HOTELS HIT THREE YEAR HIGH

-5 Thursday

52 - Week

Closing share price as at:

27-July-2012

High

Low

Accor (Euro)

25.7

32.0

17.0

Hyatt Hotels (US Dollar)

33.6

44.5

29.2

Intercontinental Hotels Group PLC (British Pound)

15.5

15.8

9.4

Marriott International (Euro)

36.1

40.4

24.0

Melia Hotels International

4.9

7.5

3.5

Millenium & Copthorne (pp)

490.0

526.0

368.6

NH Hotesl (Euro)

2.0

4.5

1.7

PPHE Hotel Group (British Pound)

2.1

2.6

1.9

Rezidor Hotel Group (KR)

22.5

34.0

16.3

Starwood Hotels & Resorts (US Dollar)

52.7

60.8

35.8

Whitbread PLC (British Pound)

20.9

21.3

13.4

Source: Reuters

8 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

cpidubai.com

DATA WATCH

Data watch Global hotel data review for June 2012 from STR Global JUNE 2012 VS JUNE 2011 KEY FIGURES

7.3%

INCREASE IN REVPAR IN JUNE 2012

ASIA PACIFIC OCC%

ADR

PERCENTAGE CHANGE FROM JUNE 2011

2012

2011

2012

2011

OCC

ADR

REVPAR

66.2

65.0

136.87

129.88

1.8

5.4

7.3

REVPAR

90.66 84.52 2012

2011

AMERICAS

8.6%

IINCREASE IN REVPAR IN JUNE 2012

-8.4%

INCREASE IN REVPAR IN JUNE 2012

OCC%

ADR

PERCENTAGE CHANGE FROM JUNE 2011

2012

2011

2012

2011

OCC

ADR

REVPAR

70.0

67.2

109.41

104.91

4.1

4.3

8.6

REVPAR

76.54 70.50 2012

2011

EUROPE OCC%

ADR

PERCENTAGE CHANGE FROM JUNE 2011

2012

2011

2012

2011

OCC

ADR

REVPAR

73.3

73.8

140.80

151.15

-0.6

-6.8

-8.4

REVPAR

103.25 111.47 2012

2011

MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA

8.7%

INCREASE IN OCCUPANCY IN JUNE 2012

REVPAR

OCC%

ADR

PERCENTAGE CHANGE FROM JUNE 2011

2012

2011

2012

2011

OCC

ADR

REVPAR

58.2

53.5

136.16

138.66

8.7

-1.8

6.8

10 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

79.22 74.20 2012

2011

cpidubai.com

DATA WATCH

The hotel benchmark The Earnst & Young hotel benchmark report provides a monthly performance overview of leading hotels in the Middle East. It includes five star and four star international branded and operated properties DUBAI OVERALL MONTHLY PERFORMANCE KEY FIGURES

Occupancy %

% OCCUPANCY DUBAI - OVERALL HOTELS Occupancy % May 2011 - May 2012

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

78.8

75.9

82.3

80.8

87.4

83

87.9

87.7

89.3

85.7 78.8

74.1

AVERAGE OCCUPANCY IN DUBAI MAY 2012

52.6

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

78.8%

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

274

268

Mar

Apr

280

290

May

AVERAGE ROOM RATE DUBAI - OVERALL HOTELS (US$) Average Room Rate May 2011 - May 2012 350

Average Room Rate

300 254

255

250 200

217

204 156

150

204

189 158

147

Dhs204 AVERAGE ROOM RATE IN DUBAI IN MAY 2012

100 50 0

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

241

235

Mar

Apr

250

249

May

REV PAR IN DUBAI - OVERALL HOTLES(US$) Room Yield May2011 - May2012 300

Room Yield

250 210

200 150

161 119

100

211 189 161

140

128

Dhs161 AVERAGE ROOM YIELD IN DUBAI MAY 2012

77

50 0

cpidubai.com

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

AUGUST 2012

Apr

May

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 11

Tel: (+971) 2 634 8495 www.EmiratesTenders.com

NEW SUPPLY AND SERVICE TENDERS Project name: Ministry of Social Affairs & Labour City : Safat 13006 Postal/Zip Code: 563 Country : Kuwait Phone : (+965) 248 0000/ 246 4500 Name : Ministry of Social Affairs & Labour (Kuwait) Address : Al Morkab Street, Ministries Complex City : Safat 13006 Nature of work: Carrying out preparation and serving meals for a ministry.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 7,145 Last date of submission: August 14, 2012 Project name: Ministry of Social Development City : Muscat 113 Postal/Zip Code : 560 Country : Oman Phone : (+968) 2460 2444 Fax : (+968) 2469 9357 Nature of work: Preparing and serving hot meals and snacks to both male and female students in rehabilitation centre for a ministry.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 160 Last date of submission: August 20, 2012 Project name: Sultan Qaboos University (Oman) Address : Al Khod City : Muscat PC 123 Postal/Zip Code : 50 Country : Oman Phone : (+968) 2451 3333 / 2451 5081 Fax : (+968) 2451 3158 / 2451 3013 Website: www.squ.edu.om Nature of work: Provision of catering services for a university.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 465 Last date of submission: August 27, 2012

$180m BUDGET FOR MUSCAT CONVENTION CENTRE

Project name: Health Affairs Directorate (Saudi Arabia) City : Riyadh Country : Saudi Arabia Phone : (+966-1) 406 6695 Website: www.riyadhealth.med.sa Nature of work: Provision of catering services for hospitals.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 2,670 Last date of submission: September 2, 2012

Project name: Ambulatory Healthcare Services Address : 8th Floor, TDIC Building, Behind Ministry of Labour City : Salam Street, Abu Dhabi Postal/Zip Code : 111355

Tenders All the essential information on this month’s new and existing projects

Country : United Arab Emirates Phone : (+971-2) 811 3811 / 811 3403 Fax : (+971-2) 811 3911 eMail : info@ahs.ae Contact Person: Mr.Ahmed Nature of work: Provision of coffee shop services for a health authority.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 0 Last date of submission: August 8, 2012 Project name: Department of Economic Development - DED (Abu Dhabi) Address : Salam Street City : Abu Dhabi Postal/Zip Code : 12 Country : United Arab Emirates Phone : (+971-2) 672 7200 Fax : (+971-2) 672 7749 Website: www.adeconomy.ae Nature of work: Provision of hospitality and messaging/messenger services for a Government authority.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 275 Last date of submission: August 12, 2012 Project name: Public Authority for Minor Affairs

AUGUST 2012

Project name: Safat Country : Kuwait Phone : (+965) 245 6100 Fax : (+965) 245 8367 Nature of work: Provision of messenger and hospitality services for a Government authority.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 790 Last date of submission: September 4, 2012 Project name: Ministry of Tourism (Oman) Address : Al Ghubra North City : Muscat PC 115 Postal/Zip Code : 200 Country : Oman Phone : (+968) 2458 8700 Fax : (+968) 2458 8819 eMail : info@omantourism.gov.om Website: www.omantourism.gov.om Nature of work: Carrying out management and operation of coffee shops to a ministry.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 70 Last date of submission: August 25, 2012 Project name: Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) Address: Industrial Area City: Awali

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 13

TENDERS

Postal/Zip Code : 25555 Country : Bahrain Phone : (+973) 1770 4040 Fax : (+973) 1770 4070 eMail : info@bapco.net Website: www.bapco.com.bh Nature of work: Provision of cold rooms for a cafeteria to a petroleum company.

Cost of Tender Documents ($): 40 Last date of submission: August 12, 2012

Phone: (+966-1) 205 9911 Fax: (+966-1) 205 9922 Email: info@raid.com.sa Website: http://www.raid.com.sa Consultants: Infrastructure Consultant, Saudi Consulting Services (SaudConsult) - Saudi Arabia, KEO International Consultants (Saudi Arabia) Status: New Tender Last Updated: July 11, 2012 Tender Categories: Construction & Contracting, Hotels, Medical & Healthcare Project name: Omran (Oman) Remarks: This project is at Jeddah in Saudi Address : Building No. 3203, Way No. 3341, Arabia. Client has received prequalification entries City : Al Khuwair for an infrastructure package on the residential Postal/Zip Code : PO Box 991 scheme and is planning to issue tender documents Country : Oman for the contract by July 2012. Local office of Phone : (+968) 2439 1111 KEO International Consultants has been Fax : (+968) 2439 1112 appointed as the project manager on eMail : info@omran.om this development. Client has invited Website: www.omran.om contractors to submit bids for the Nature of work: Supply and instalfirst infrastructure and earthworks lation of custom laundry, kitchens BUDGET FOR JABAL package on this scheme. Client has and service stations for a tourism OMAR DEVELOPMENT, set a deadline of August 13, 2012 for SAUDI ARABIA development authority. the tender. Local Saud Consult has been Cost of Tender Documents ($): 135 appointed as the infrastructure consultant BU Last date of submission: August 6, 2012 on this scheme.

$51m

Project name: Ministry of Interior (Saudi Arabia) Address : General Diwan, Airport Road City : Riyadh 11134 Postal/Zip Code : 2933 Country : Saudi Arabia Phone : (+966-1) 401 1944 / 401 1111 Fax : (+966-1) 403 1125 Website: www.moi.gov.sa Nature of work: Provision of cooked food services for the Forces participating in Hajj works for the year 1433H. Cost of Tender Documents ($): 135 Last date of submission: August 6, 2012

NEW TENDERS Project Name: Mixed-Use Development Project Project Number: 56850 Territory: Obhur District Description: Design and construction of a 2.4 million square metre mixed-use development in Obhur, which includes (240 Nos.) residential towers, (1,200 Nos.) villas, a five-star hotel, hospital, clinics, mosques, commercial district, schools and municipal buildings.

Territory: Saudi Arabia Client Name: Company Name: Rayadah Investment Company (Saudi Arabia) City: Riyadh 11564 Country: Saudi Arabia

14 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

Project Name: Jabal Omar Area Development Project Number: 56968 Description: Development of Jabal Omar area involving construction of five-star hotels, residential towers, retail concourse and a car park.

Budget ($): 5100000000 Territory Saudi Arabia ClientCompany Name: Jabal Omar Development Company (Saudi Arabia) City: Makkah Country: Saudi Arabia Phone: (+966-2) 553 3898 Fax: (+966-2) 559 3395 Consultants: Design Consultant Associated Consultants Engineers (ACE) International (Saudi Arabia) Design Consultant-1: Hill International Middle East Ltd. (Saudi Arabia) Financial Consultant: Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation (Saudi Arabia) Master Plan Consultant: T.R. Hamzah & Yeang International (Malaysia) Project Manager: Hill International Middle East Ltd. (Saudi Arabia) Contractors: A/C, Chillers & Heating Systems Supplier, Saudi Tabreed (Saudi Arabia), Cement & Concrete Products Supplier, Saudi Readymix Concrete Company Ltd. (Saudi Arabia), Cement & Concrete

Products Supplier(1), Precast Manufacturing Co. PREMCO (Saudi Arabia) Main Contractor: Rio Trading & Contracting Company (Saudi Arabia) Main Contractor(1): Saudi Oger Limited (Saudi Arabia) Main Contractor(2): Saudi Binladin Group (Saudi Arabia) Main Contractor(3): Saudi Arabian Baytur Construction Company L.L.C (Saudi Arabia) Main Contractor(4): Azmeel Contracting & Construction Corporation (Saudi Arabia), Safety Products Supplier , Combisafe (UK) Status: Current Project Last Updated: July 22, 2012 Tender Categories: Prestige Buildings, Leisure & Entertainment, Hotels Remarks This project will be developed around the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah. To be built over 230,000 square metres, the scheme will entail construction of (40) hotels, (15 Nos.) 35-storey residential towers, a four-level retail concourse and a car park to accommodate (12,000) vehicles. The project also includes commercial developments, roads, gardens, schools, medical centres, airconditioned plazas for 100,000 worshippers and open courtyards for prayers. The scheme will be handled by a newly formed company, Jabal Omar Development Company, which is expected to soon issue a tender for the position of project and construction manager.

Malaysia’s TR Hamzah & Yeang has carried out the original master plan.

Project Name: Nile Towers Project Description: Construction of 22-storey Nile Towers consisting a five-star hotel tower and a residential tower.

Budget ($): 153000000 Territory: Egypt Client: Saudi Egyptian Construction Company: (SECON) - Egypt Address: Ganaklis City: Alexandria Country: Egypt Phone: (+22-03) 5820699/5827011 Main Contractors: Arabtec Construction L.L.C (Dubai) Main Contractor(1): SIAC Industrial Construction & Engineering Company (Egypt) Status: Current Project Last Updated: July 23, 2012 Tender Categories: Hotels, Leisure & Entertainment, Prestige Buildings Remarks: This project is in Egypt. The scheme will have a total built up area of 105,000 square metres.

cpidubai.com

TENDERS

First tower will be a fiver star hotel managed by Hilton International, with a total of (256) rooms and the second will be for residential use and will consist (114) hotel apartments. A joint venture of Dubai-based Arabtech Construction and local SIAC Industrial Construction & Engineering Company has been awarded the main construction contract on this scheme. Work is scheduled to commence in 2012 and completion expected in 2015.

Project Name: Muscat Convention & Exhibition Centre Project Number: 479 Description Construction of Muscat Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Budget ($): 1800000000 Territory: Oman Client: Company Name: Oman Tourism Development Company S.A.O.C (Omran) City: Muttrah PC 114 Country: Oman Phone: (+968) 2477 3700 Fax: (+968) 2479 3929 Email: enquiries@omran.om Website: http://www.omran.om Design Consultant: RMJM (UK) Environmental Consultant: Geo-Resources Consultancy (Oman) Main Consultant: RMJM (UK) Master Plan Consultant: WATG (UK) Project Manager: AEG Ogden (Australia) Quantity Surveyor: Hanscomb & Company L.L.C (Oman) Contractors: Foundations, Enabling & Piling Contractor Al-Awazi International L.L.C (Oman) Status: Current Project Last Updated: July 22, 2012 Tender Categories: Construction & Contracting, Hotels, Leisure & Entertainment Remarks: This project is in Oman. The convention centre will be located in Muscat, about 4 kilometres from the airport. The client has invited firms to submit proposals by June 04, 2007 for various consultancy contracts, which covers project management services, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, construction engineering and civil engineering. Bids have been submitted on July 16, 2012 for the packages 5.2, which include construction of a primary substation on this scheme.

Construction contract is expected to be awarded in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Project Name: Msheireb Downtown Doha Development Project Description: Development of Msheireb Downtown

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Diwan administrative centre on Doha corniche in Doha (Formerly Heart of Doha City) mixed-use Qatar covering a development area of 750,000 square scheme comprising several districts, including a metres. The development will contain hotel, retails, residential and mixed-use quarter, a retail quarter, a residential, mosques, culture, heritage, school and heritage quarter and a commercial area. government buildings ranging from 3 to 30 storeys.

Budget ($): 5500000000 More than 100 buildings will be constructed to Territory: Qatar offer housing, workspace, cultural and community Client: Company Name: Msheireb Properties (Qatar) facilities, while preserving key heritage buildings.

City: Doha The Mushiereb site is bordered by Al Rayyan Road Country: Qatar to the North, Jassim Bin Mohammed street to the Phone: (+974) 4459 0459 East, Musheireb Street to the south and Al Diwan Fax: (+974) 4421 6125 Street (part of Ring Road) to the West. The mixedEmail: info@msheireb.com use scheme includes an interchange for Doha’s Website: http://www.msheireb.com proposed metro system, a shopping mall, hotels Consultants: and a commercial district. The commercial area will Design Consultant: Aedas (Hong Kong) be called Headquarters Gateway. The client has Design Consultant-1: Burns & McDonnell invited contractors to pre-qualify for the building Engineering (USA) construction contract on this scheme. The estimated Design Consultant-2: Mossessian & Partners Ltd. $220 million package for which contractors are being (UK) invited to pre-qualify involves the construction of Main Architect: John McAslan & Partners (UK) a national archive building, an annex to the Diwan Main Consultant: Gensler Associates International Centre, and a building for the Emiri Guard, which is (USA) part of the country’s armed forces. All buildings are Main Consultant-1: HOK International (Qatar) designed according to environmentally sustainable Master Plan Consultant: Adjaye Associates (UK) building standards, with the aim of receiving a Master Plan Consultant-1: Allies & Morrison platinum rating, the highest available, from the Architects (UK) Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Project Manager : Turner Projacs (Qatar) rating system developed by the US’ Green Building Contractors: District Cooling Systems Supplier, Council. The total built-up area of the buildings is Drake & Scull International (Qatar), Foundations, about 144,000 square metres. An award for the Enabling & Piling Contractor, Bauer International main contract is expected by the end of this year L.L.C (Qatar), Foundations, Enabling & Piling and construction is expected to commence by Contractor(1), Ammico Contracting Company (Qatar), the first week of January 2010. US’ Turner Foundations, Enabling & Piling Contractor(2), Construction International is acting as Swissboring Overseas Corporation Ltd. the project manager.

(Qatar) It is understood that client has once Infrastructure Works Contractor: again extended the deadline to Contracting & Trading Company - CAT BUDGET FOR MIXED submit commercial bids for phase 2 (Qatar) USE DEVEELOPMENT on this scheme until July 30, 2012.

Main Contractor: Hyundai IN SHARJAH Engineering Corporation (South Korea) Project Name: Mixed-Use Development Main Contractor(1): HBK Contracting (Qatar) Project - Nad Al Qasimia Main Contractor(2): Carillion plc (UK) Description: Construction of a mixed-use developMain Contractor(3): Qatar Building Company ment including (2) residential towers, (1) office tower Media Contractor: Crystal Media (Qatar) and a hotel tower, each comprising (2) basement MEP Contractor: Drake & Scull International PJSC levels, a ground floor and (36) additional floors.

(Dubai) Budget: ($): 210000000 Raft Foundation Contractor: Redco International Territory: Sharjah (Qatar) Client: Company Name: Sheraton Four Points Hotel Waste Collection System Contractor: Envac (USA) W.L.L (Qatar) Address: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Group 1111, Status: Current Project Westchester Avenue, White Plains Last Updated: July 17, 2012 City: New York 10604 Tender Categories: Construction & Contracting, Country: United States of America Hotels, Industrial & Special Projects Phone: (+1-914) 640 8100 Remarks: This project will be located behind Emiri

$21m

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TENDERS

Email: fourpoints@fourpoints.com Address: 18th Floor, Tamouh Tower, 12 Marina Website: http://www.fourpoints.com Square, Reem Island Consultants: Design Consultant: QHC - Architects City: Abu Dhabi & Engineers L.L.C (Sharjah) Country: United Arab Emirates Main Consultant: QHC - Architects & Engineers Phone: (+971-2) 417 7777 L.L.C (Sharjah) Fax: (+971-2) 417 7700 MEP Consultant: QHC - Architects & Engineers L.L.C Email: info@tamouh.com (Sharjah) Website: http://www.tamouh.com Contractors: Aluminium Products Supplier, Al Fayha Consultants, Main Architect: GDP Architects Sdn Aluminium Factory (Dubai) Bhd (Malaysia) Elevators Supplier: Mitsubishi Electric (Dubai) Main Consultant: GDP Architects Sdn Bhd Elevators Supplier(1): ETA-MELCO Elevator Project Manager: Bovis Lend Lease International Company L.L.C (Dubai) Ltd. (Abu Dhabi) Main Contractor: Al Tharwaniah Building ContractProject Manager-1: Tamouh Investments (Abu ing (Sharjah) Dhabi) MEP Contractor: Technical Engineering Services Contractors: Foundations, Enabling & Piling (Dubai) Contractor Abu Dhabi Land (Abu Dhabi) Paints Supplier: Jotun UAE Limited L.L.C (Dubai) Main Contractor: IJM Construction (Middle East) Paints Supplier(1): National Paints Factories L.L.C (Dubai) Company Ltd. (Sharjah) Status: Current Project Safety Products Supplier: Combisafe Gulf FZE Last Updated: July 16, 2012 (Sharjah) Tender Categories: Prestige Buildings, Hotels Status: Current Project Remarks: This project will be situated in Marina Last Updated: July 17, 2012 Square on Al Reem Island development in Abu Dhabi.

Tender Categories: Hotels, Prestige Buildings, The hotel will also include a tennis court, spa, a kids Remarks: This project is at Nad Al Qasimia in club, playground, gymnasium and restaurant. A Sharjah. Dubai’s Four Point Sheraton is the ownerseparate building will also be built designated for operator. It will also include a shopping mall compris- serviced apartments. Client itself and UK’s Bovis Lend ing a ground floor and 2 additional floors. It offers Lease are the project management consultants.

(88) flats for each residential tower, (122) rooms for an office tower and the hotel will offer (187) rooms Project Name: Hotel Construction - New Dragon and (33) suites Amenities in the project include an Mart Expansion Project all-day dinning restaurant, fitness centre and outdoor Project Number: 17777 pool, four meeting rooms and a business centre.

Description: Construction of a hotel comprising Local Al Tharwaniah Building Contract(246) rooms at the new Dragon Mart ing has been awarded the main expansion project site. construction contract on this scheme.

Tender Cost ($): 545 Sharjah-based QHC Architects & Territory: Dubai BUDGET FOR GRAND Engineers is acting as the main, MEP Client: Company Name: Nakheel PJSC CONTINENTAL and design consultant. Piling works City: Dubai FLAMINGOO HOTEL PROJECT have been completed and 1st basement Country: United Arab Emirates floor structural works for all the towers are Phone: (+971-4) 390 3333 currently underway.

Fax: (+971-4) 390 3314 Email: info@nakheel.ae Project Name: Movenpick Hotel Project - Al-Reem Website: www.nakheel.ae Island Development Contractors: Main Contractor: Kele Contracting L.L.C Project Number:105507 Status: Current Project Description: Design and construction of 41-storey, Last Updated: July 11, 2012 five-star Movenpick Hotel comprising (406) rooms, Tender Categories: Construction & Contracting, including royal suites, executive suites, junior suites Tender No: N012-050-05 and standard rooms.

Remarks: This project will be located at International Budget ($): 150000000 City in Dubai. The modern hotel will comprise a Territory: Abu Dhabi ground floor plus seven floors high with enclosed Client: Company Name: Tamouh Investments atrium in the middle. The hotel will be directly

$145m

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linked to the New Dragon Mart expansion shopping area and the new Plaza. Tender documents can be obtained as of January 8, 2012 upon submission of the specified non-refundable tender fee and a copy of valid license as per the above requirement, from the following office: Document Management, Nakheel PJSC, Palm Jumeirah PMT Offices, Dubai, UAE Tel: (+971-4) 3759213 / 3633772 E-mail: SharedServices.DMS@nakheel.com Local Kele Contracting has been awarded the main construction contract on this scheme. Kele is responsible for full scope of work on the project and delivery. Project is scheduled to be completed in (13) months.

Project Name: Grand Continental Flamingo Hotel Project Number: 28080 Description: Construction of 5-star Grand Continental Flamingo Hotel comprising (5) basement levels, a ground floor, a mezzanine floor, (18) additional floors that will offer (150) apartments and a roof, including amenities such as restaurants, swimming pool, a sauna, a Jacuzzi, a gym, high speed elevators, 24-hours security.

Budget ($): 145000000 Territory: Abu Dhabi Client: Company Name: Grand Continental Flamingo Hotel (Abu Dhabi) City: Abu Dhabi Country: United Arab Emirates Phone: (+971-2) 626 2200 Fax: (+971-2) 626 4888 Consultants: Design Consultant: Syrconsult Consulting Engineers (Abu Dhabi) Main Consultant: Syrconsult Consulting Engineers MEP Consultant: Syrconsult Consulting Engineers Contractors: Aluminium Products Supplier, Arabian Industries LLC (Abu Dhabi), Cement & Concrete Products Supplier, Quick Mix Beton WLL (Abu Dhabi), Electrical Products Supplier, Tornado Technology Services (Abu Dhabi), Foundations, Enabling & Piling Contractor, National Services & Contracting Company Status: Current Project Last Updated: July 10, 2012 Tender Categories: Hotels, Leisure & Entertainment, Prestige Buildings Remarks: This project will be built on the Corniche Road in Abu Dhabi. Local Square General Contracting Company has been appointed as the main contractor on this project. Local Syrconsult Consulting Engineers is acting as the main, design and MEP consultant.

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Casualife outdoor furniture Proud to be the supplier to many 5 star projects in the Gulf

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OPENING SOON

W

hen people say there are not enough independent hotels in Dubai, they should head to Barsha, which is becoming a popular affordable choice for the four star market.

Owned by NCHH, a large construction and management company based in Abu Dhabi, it is the owners first foray into hospitality, but one they’re keen to get right, says Tony Saliba, the Managing Director of Cosmopolitan Hotel.

“We are not competing with any of the hotels nearby, I think we will become known as the finest four star hotel in Barsha. And I’m confident that people will appreciate that.

We have seen it over the last few weeks with GCC guests.

They come, they look around, they go off to see other hotels, and then they PROJECTED OCCUPANCY come back.”

FOR 2013 The hotel has put particular emphasis on quality furniture and design, with large open rooms, and modern room amenities (including microwaves) and sees this attention to detail as key to winning brand loyalty.

The four star hotel will target GCC guests until the end of the summer period, when it will attract more business from both corporate and European travellers.

“After October we will start to sign up with major tour operators from

Bustling Barsha Cosmopolitan Hotel is the latest addition to the built up area

85%

We are not competing with any of the hotels nearby, I think we will become known as the finest four star hotel in Al Barsha 18 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

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OPENING SOON

Eastern Europe and the CIS markets, and also some European ones. And the corporate trade will pick up because we’re so close to plenty of business areas like Knowledge Village and Media City. If all our plans fall into place we should have 60-65 per cent of Europeans in the hotel, 30-35 per cent from the GCC, after the summer,” explains Saliba.

The hotel is expecting to see an average occupancy by the end of the year of around 55 per cent but hopes the next year will bring an increase of around 30 per cent to take average occupancy to 80 or 85 per cent.

Cosmopolitan Hotel employs 62 staff, and there will be a few more additions, says Saliba.

“Apart from our massage therapists who are Thai, most of our staff were recruited from the Philippines and India, some had experience, and some didn’t. It’s important for us to be able to create our own brand and our own soul for the hotel. We didn’t want staff from another company who have been used to doing things a different way, so it’s easier to start new. We’re just about to sign a deal with a training company, who will take over all our training needs but it’s more important that they reflect our soul.”

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Target market

decorated with a modern, fresh style.

F&B OUTLETS

65% EUROPEAN

35% GCC

Building a new brand isn’t easy but expect to hear more from Cosmopolitan because it is already eyeing up a second location in Dubai.

ROOMS The Cosmopolitan Hotel has 114 rooms and 18 suites, some of which can be interconnected for larger families. The rooms range from around 28 to 38 sq m and have been

The hotel is dry but features: Social Café – a lobby space serving coffees and cakes All Day Dining – a la carte restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner Pool bar – serving juices and coffees

Main pic:: The exterior of the Cosmopolitan Hotel.

Above clockwise from top: The lobby; a hotel suite; the 24 hour gym.

FACILITIES The Cosmopolitan Hotel has an entire floor dedicated to health and wellness, which includes: A 15 metre temperature controlled rooftop pool Jacuzzi Large gym, which is open 24 hours and will have exercise classes in the near future Dedicated women’s beauty salon Extensive 24 hour massage centre, It also has: Business centre Travel desk Convenience store

Cosmopolitan Hotel Behind Sharaf DG Metro Station Al Barsha Tel: (+971) 4 376 22a22 www.dubaicosmopolitan.com

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COVER STORY

There’s a myriad of ways to reduce operational costs, CO2 emissions and become sustainable, but what are leading brands doing operationally to hit their targets?

W

hat does it actually mean to go green? And just how are different hotel chains achieving a greener future?

What policies are working for hoteliers and what are pipe dreams? How far are chains going in terms of CSR and staff development? We interviewed three different chains across the region to find out their reality of reducing energy, waste and water.

REZIDOR GROUP Rezidor Group (as part of CarlsonRezidor) has over 400 properties in the Middle East, all of which are Green Key certified, across its three brands (Park Inn, Radisson Blu, and Hotel Missoni).

Rezidor Group currently uses 600 million kWh/year, which is equivalent to all the domestic households in Iceland. It launched Think Planet this year, its mission across all Rezidor Group hotels, to reduce 25 per cent of its energy consumption in five years.

Splitting this into short term solutions with ROI of under two years for 2012 and focusing on new builds and major renovotations with a longer ROI from 2013 onwards, the group hopes to hit

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this ambitious target. Inge Hujbrechts, Director of Responsible Business, talks us through the group’s missions.

HBME: How important is having an external accreditation like Green Key or Green Globe to your group?

Inge Huijbrechts: We think it is very

waste saved across the group?

IH: We have had environmental KPIs since 2006 which are tracked within financial processes and every hotel’s monthly reports. Having launched the Think Planet policy this year we are continually pushing savings and believe that a baseline always needs to be there, along with with targets and constant assessment. Eco-labels are great but you need to have your own internal goals as well.

important. Responsible business is what Rezidor Group is about and we care about the health and safety of our guests, employees as well as the local communities and wider planet.

It’s our responsibility to minimise our footprint. We use Green Key because it’s specifically for the hospitality industry and non-profit.

HBME: How much is saving energy down to increased efficiency rather than additional investment?

IH: You need both of course but you

HBME: How do you keep track of energy/

can do a lot with operations. If your BMS is wrongly set or no one bothers

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COVER STORY

reused as grey water for example.

We’re launching a Think Planet blog too so each hotel can be inspired by what others are doing.

HBME: Do you have a sustainable procurement policy in place?

IH: We have a supplier code of conduct which any supplier at any level has to sign. For central or regional suppliers we have a CSR questionniare for them which then gets encorporated into a central system.

HBME: Do your green efforts make you a more attractive employer?

IH: Responsible business is part of our DNA and our values. All of our staff are trained on this and it’s our way of life which I believe staff want to remain involved with. We have competitions where employees can win bicycles and iPads to keep them engaged and every hotel has a Responsible Business Champion who works alongside the GM in a voluntary capacity to set up an action plan. Good ideas are rolled up to a regional area coordinator and then to me, where we can assess their potential for the group as a whole.

HBME: How does becoming more sustainable attract corporate clients?

IH: More and more corporate

clients want green hotels and their footprint information. We are part of International Tourism Parnership (ITP), along with 21 other global hotel chains to use a unified carbon footprint measurement tool, so we can all engage with corporate clients on the same level.

HBME: What feedback have you had from your guests?

IH: It’s hard to measure but in our guest satisfaction surveys guests communicate that they appreciate our green efforts, but we need to do more.

We need to keep setting ambitious targets and communicating that to guests in new ways. It’s not enough to have signs for towel replacement for example, we want to engage and reward our guests for being sustinable.

HBME: Are there any policies which are not working?

IH: As much as we would like a Carbon Offsetting scheme it’s too far away. Our Club Carlson members can donate their loyalty points to a carbon offsetting scheme but is more for companies who want to donate to charity. For individuals if it came in, it would only work in more advanced regulartory countries like the UK and it would have to be voluntary, but I don’t see it on the horizon.

IN NUMBERS

to check it’s effectiveness then you’re wasting money and energy. We have created tools and communication processs for all staff to encourage preventive maintenance across all our hotels to help with this. Of course CAPEX investment also helps, like LED lighting refits which is what we’re doing with Radisson Blu hotels.

400+ HOTELS 25% REDUCTION IN ENERGY USED BY 2017

HBME: How do you roll out or identify new technology that can assist in efficiency?

IH: We pilot promising technology in a couple of suitable hotels then roll it out where it’s suitable. The Middle East for example has different needs to Europe. Our Radisson Blu Media City is piloting air conditioning condensation water which can be

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100% HOTELS IN MIDDLE EAST GREEN KEY CERTIFIED 2017

Radisson Blu Doha, Qatar

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COVER STORY

SIX SENSES ZIGHY BAY Six Senses operates high end resorts and spas with seven locations in five countries. Six Senses Zighy Bay has won many awards for its strident eco-friendly approach to luxury. The resort has wide ranging environmental and social responsibility programmes, which include recycling waste, mineralising its own water, developing the local community and encorporating a two per cent carbon offset tax into each room stay. Monica Majors, PR and Media Coordinator, tells us more.

HBME: What are some of your more unusual policies and are they followed company wide?

Monica Majors: There are over 100 policies and procedures set up by the Social and Enivironmental Conscience of Six Senses Resorts and Spas, and Zighy Bay as a further 18 unique additions, such as creating our own waste management policy based on source segregation and coordination with refuse removal. We recycle and compost as much of our waste as possible and we’re hoping to reach out to The Change Intiative to send some of our refuse like scrap wood and metal to be transformed into artwork.

We also have a state of the art reverse osmosis and STP on site to

IN NUMBERS

7

HOTELS WORLDWIDE

118

ECO POLICIES AND PROCEDURES AT SIX SENSES ZIGHY BAY

Monica Majors, PR and Media Coordinator, Six Senses Zighy Bay

mineralise water. This services all of the fresh, grey and black water we need. We are fully self sufficient on water, never importing fresh or bottled water. We have a reed bed system for final purificiation from the STP and all our drinking water has a final filtration through a ‘crystal’ water plant.

Each property also has an onsite Social and Environmental Officer to measure our progress against the various systems.

HBME: What are your targets for reducing energy and water?

MM: As much as we can. We aim to be gold certified by Green Globe. We are currently bronze but reached silver standards two years ago. We have to maintain the level for another three years to be certified silver.

HBME: How did you develop your own carbon calculator?

MM: The Six Senses Resorts and Spas carbon calculator was developed by the Environmental Conscious Arnfinn Oines. It incorporates international benchmark standards from LEED and Green Globe as well as EPA standards on carbon emissions. We track all guest and host arrivals from their point of origin, guest and host transfers, all materials shipped from their point of origin (not just from the supplier), energy, water and waste. These monthly figures measure our carbon tonnage. We are then responsible to offset this carbon through decarbonising initiatives.

Company-wide we work with The Converging World building wind turbines in Tamil, India as well as Plant a Tree Today (PATT) reforesting northern Thailand. Currently at Six Senses Zighy Bay, we are searching for decarbonising projects in Oman.

We also have a semi-annual sustainability audit, based on standards from over 30 influences, including Rainforest Alliance, EPA water efficiency, Green Globe, Six Senses Resorts and Spas Best Practices, EIA inspections, and many others.

HBME: You have a two per cent carbon sense fund included into your booking price, how widely do you advertise this?

What reaction do you get from guests?

MM: It’s part of the fine print. We’re not

100%

WATER SOURCED ON SITE AT SIX SENSES ZIGHY BAY

Eco-tourism is the fastest growing sector for the tourism industry, expanding between 20 and 34 per cent a year and sustainable tourism will count for 25 per cent of the world’s travel market in 2012

Six Senses Zighy Bay, Musandam

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looking for a pat on the back, it’s not tacked onto the villa rate, technically it comes from our profits. Guests react

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COVER STORY

positively, there is a large movement in luxury to count for something larger and we make sure we educate our guests before they arrive on our brand standards. Eco-tourism is the fastest growing sector for the tourism industry, expanding between 20 and 34 per cent a year and sustainable tourism will count for 25 per cent of the world’s travel market in 2012.

HBME: Do you have a sustainable procurement policy?

MM: We have policies in place for ‘responsible purchasing’ and this selective criterion is for anything from certified organic eggs to elephant dung paper. We track all imported materials

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in our carbon calculator every month, from not just where our supplier is based but from the original point of each product.

HBME: What CSR do you undertake with your Social and Environment Responsibilities Fund (SERF)?

MM: The two per cent carbon sense fund is pooled here first before being used for decarbonising initiatives, as well as .05 per cent of total monthly revenue, 50 per cent of water revenue and all profits from our in villa plush toy goat sales. We can provide grants, as we have with Biosphere Expeditions, offer local donations, as we have with the Dibba Police

Department to assist in building a football field, host blood drives, as we have with the Dibba hospital, bring dentists to the Zighy village, and any other local initiatives that we find directly benefit our local environment and culture.

HBME: How do you keep staff involved?

MM: We have a volunteer ‘Green Team’ made up of hosts, they meet monthly to discuss what projects to undertake through SERF. We also have weekly beach clean ups, monthly community events like blood drives and participation in these events is part of their performance review.

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COVER STORY

IN NUMBERS

4400 HOTELS WORLDWIDE

100

MIDDLE EAST ACCOR HOTELS SIGNED UP TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHARTER

85%

HOTELS WILL RECYCLE THEIR WASTE BY 2015

Mercure Dahab Bay, Dacor

ACCOR Accor has 4,000 hotels across the globe, creating 40,000 new rooms every year. The multinational has launched PLANET 21, a set of 21 measurable commitments and goals to hit by 2015, that has 65 check points.

These goals cover health, nature, carbon, innovation, local, employment and dialogue verticals, and require all hotels take part. The group is also involved heavily in reforestation, with a Plant for the Planet scheme.

feel the need to work with one of the external verifiers?

Christophe Landais: PLANET 21 is not a label or accreditation. It promotes the actions taken in the hotels and incites customers to get involved.

Accor recommends environmental and societal certifications as these are a real guarantee of reliability and progress for the hotels. By 2015 40 per cent of our hotels will be ISO 14001 or Earth Check (Green Globe) certified, no matter whether they are leased, owned, managed or franchised.

HBME: You’re self accredited, do you not

Climate change is being felt and experienced by everyone, there is a high level of interest in the fight to save our planet. It has become our top priority Christophe Landais, Managing Director, Accor Middle East

HBME: What water, energy or electricity reduction measures have you put in place?

CL: We have various different intitatives including these: 100 per cent of our hotels measure energy consumption through our own web-based software called ‘OPEN’.

80 per cent have installed energy saving lightbulbs in areas that are lit 24 hours a day. 90 per cent have installed flow regulators on faucets and showers. 70 per cent recycle their cardboard and paper packaging.

HBME: How much energy and water was saved across the MENA region of your group last year?

CL: In the UAE energy consumption per room has dropped from

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72.05KWh to 43.86 KWh from 2008 to 2012 and water consumption per room has dropped from 0.85 M³ to 0.38 M³ in the same period.

HMBE: How difficult is it to implement your 21 new objectives across all of your franchises?

CL: Everyone is concerned about sustainability, our franchises are as committed as our subsidiaries. Climate change is being felt and experienced by everyone, there is a high level of interest in the fight to save our planet.

It has become our top priority.

HBME: What has been the feedback to PLANET 21 from owners and your other franchise holders?

CL: Our Accor Environmental Charter

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COVER STORY

is very much part of our commitment to owners and investors in the region. Globally 73 per cent of Accor franchised hotels apply the Charter but in the Middle East it is 100 per cent. We also work hand in hand with owners during the construction stage to propose tailor made rools and ecofriendly solutions which result in huge energy savings. We can also help with a ‘retrocom’ audit process to improve energy perfirmance that guarantees tangible, immediately-effective recommendations on reducing water and energy consumption that require no investment.

shows that individual guests are increasingly including sustainable development into their criteria.

Gloablly one in two guests claim to frequently take sustainability into account when choosing a hotel.

On the corporate side, we have developed unique tools that allow our corporate customers to know their exact impact and are able to provide them with results on their carbon footprint when they book a night or a meeting. Some pilot intiatives are also being tried out with carbon offesetting schemes in Australia with the Mercure brand.

HBME:How much new business has Accor won through it’s eco-policies?

CL: Our first guest tracking survey

HBME: Will this see you attract more MICE business?

CL: We recently unveiled a carbon

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optmiser to reduce meeeting and event carbon footprint, and we’re looking into ways of offering ‘green meetings’ with less paper, less bottled water and eco-mode lighting when rooms are not in use.

HBME: Do you think you have enough peformance indicators to help assess yout ROI? CL: ‘OPEN’ our environmental management tool, allows hotel general managers to publish and monitor their performance precisely in energy and water usage.

Moreover, Accor is included in six internationally recognised socially responsible investment indices or standards that are regularly auditing our results

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GREEN TOURISM

L

et’s get this straight. Shaikha Ebrahim AlMutawa is passionate about sustainability. Going green, investing in new energies, developing new strategies and looking around the world for processes and technologies that Dubai can harness to make itself more environmentallyfriendly, AlMutawa is a on very personal mission to reduce the hospitality industry’s CO2 emissions.

Inspired by her Emirati grandparents who lived without electricity, A/C and other modern comforts, she explains as they had to adapt to what was a hotter way of life, we must also adapt to save our valuable resources for the city’s future generations.

“Dubai can do this. We can bring out the best of different nationalities and countries and adapt it for future generations. We want to take inspiration from everywhere and use it to make Dubai a place to look up to.”

AlMutawa is responsible for the DTCM’s Business Development, especially focused in sustainability, and oversees the Green Tourism Awards which were started in 2009.

From 2011 these are now held every third year (2014 will be the next one) and they reward hard working hotels with some kind of acknowledgement for their green efforts. If 2009 was about awareness, 2011 cemented the department’s efforts in making sustainability a real part of the DTCM roadmap for Dubai’s 2015 vision.

But AlMutawa is trying to do more than reward, she has been setting her sights on engagement and inspiration.

June 2012 saw the first ‘Engagement Workshop’ attended by 180 hotels, where she oversaw a shared ambition between hoteliers, service providers and suppliers to solve 18 key environmental challenges for the hospitality industry.

“We created an eco-challenges pyramid for the basic needs of the hotel industry, it has everything they need to acquire to become a green hotel. While we are supportive of the hotels, we do need to ensure they have

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Dubai’s green vision is in safe hands with Shaikha Ebrahim AlMutawa

Challenges of the green journey as a pyramidal structure

5%

ECO TECHNOLOGIES

15%

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

20%

FINANCE & ROI

25%

AWARENESS/KNOWLEDGE

35%

RESOURCES & FACILITIES

targets and KPIs. You can’t just say you’re a green hotel and that’s it, what are you actually achieving?”

To this end, an environmental hotel criteria has been built into the new hotel classification scheme that the DTCM is undertaking and out of the

workshop, the DTCM has formed a ‘Green Team’ with hoteliers to come up with an action plan that will solve the afore-mentioned eco-challenges.

“We want to roll out this action plan next year and it will be applicable to all hotels. Going green isn’t just about standards and a building, it’s about human processes, so that’s what we aim to help foster,” she explains.

As much as the DTCM are bringing in KPIs and targets for hotels wanting to call themselves ‘green’, they also have huge targets themselves to hit by the end of 2012. A 30 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions and a 10 per cent reduction in waste is what AlMutawa and the department are aiming for.

“We hit a 20 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions last year, so we’re going bigger this year,” she says. “But also we’re asking all hotels to share their stats and show us what they can reduce. We are investing a lot in documenting how you save on waste.

Every hotel has waste, everything from cartridges to food, so the one thing we won’t accept is no change. If you have waste, you can save something.”

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GREEN TOURISM

We want to take inspiration from everywhere and use it to make Dubai a place to look up to

She admits, Dubai has got a long way to go, especially where food waste is concerned, but she is spending time investigating alternative uses for this. “Food is a huge waste challenge, whether you’re a two star hotel or a five star. We need to find a solution, even if it takes a long time. We’re looking into composting and how to turn waste food into energy.”

But Dubai’s Green Tourism initiatives don’t just stop at the trade programmes. The department under AlMutawa is also helping hotels to communicate their best green efforts to their guests. She has developed a ‘Dubai Green Calendar’ where hotels

can plug in any environmental activity they undertake, allowing visitors and hotels guests to volunteer and take part, all accessible through Dubai’s tourism website.

“It’s great for the hotels as it helps to show their customers what they’re doing to go green. It’s also different for the visitors to Dubai, they can learn about something new and get a better image of the city. When people have fun, they learn more, so it will really help to educate a broad range of people” she explains.

If last year was about implementing new projects and starting to gather statistics on the hospitality industry’s

goals, then the future is about human development says AlMutawa.

“2013 will be a significant year. As well as the action plan being rolled out from our ‘Engagement Workshops’, I want to focus on the training and development of people. Our main challenge is behaviourial change and modification. It’s making sure you change people’s day to day actions to ones that are sustainable. You can invest in the hardware, put recycling bins everywhere, but unless you encourage people to use them as part of their daily lives, you aren’t getting anywhere. That’s my challenge.”

She continues, “The leadership is there, the investment is there, people have eco-options, they just have to learn to use them; not to please a boss or hit a target but to please and develop themselves. So that’s my challenge for next year. I’ve been to the hotels, talked to the GMs, set up projects and objectives – they’re all little things. We need to do the big things now, change how we think and act. People make the place, the place doesn’t make the people.”

Objectives

2009

2011

Target

Result

Target

Result

1

Involvement of the hotel establishment in Dubai Award Tourism

70

79

100

104

2

Increase of awareness (No. of environmental training workshops)

5

6

7

8

3

Increase involvement of key decision makers in environment and best practises

450

500

570

600

4

Increase involvement of green teams in the hotel establishment

160

250

576

800

5

Reduction or electric consumption among the particapated hotel establishments

7%

10%

12%

20%

6

Reduction of water consumption among the participated establishments

12%

17%

20%

30%

Dubai Green Tourism objectives

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INTERVIEW

Clockwise from top: Gloria hotel from Sheikha Zayed Road; a spacious bedroom; the kids' play area

The secret’s out A Gloria hotel in every GCC capital city, that’s what President Antoine Sayegh wants, and the brand is getting there, with new hotels to come in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Madina and more

W

e are Sheikh Zayed Road’s best kept secret,” proclaims Antoine Sayegh, Gloria Hotels & Residence’s President. He has reason to be proud.

Gloria Hotel’s occupancy year to date 2012 has been sitting at 85 per cent, two per cent above the average of its four star deluxe competitors. Not bad when the hotel has 1,010 keys. “People think of Gloria as a building but we’re more like a city. On a busy night we have over 2,500 people sleeping here.”

This success is down to a few key strategic decisions, Sayegh says.

Antoine Sayegh, Gloria Hotels & Residence’s President

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AUGUST 2012

‘Filling up over 1,000 units is not an easy job unless you’re somewhere like London or near an airport, so we decided to make two licenses. One for long term hotel apartments and one is for the hotel itself.”

The Gloria Hotel is also very stridently a ‘family orientated’ hotel, something that Sayegh is passionate about promoting.

“This is another secret,” he says. “As well as good value for money we’re all about families. We’re not sharia compliant for Islamic reasons but we are a dry hotel because we want to

attract families. And it has brought us a lot of business. It’s the philosophy behind all Gloria hotels.”

The hotel offers a large nursery for five to 14 year olds with plenty of educational games, whilst it also hosts sports sessions, art lessons, singing, ballet and swimming lessons, to do more than just keep kids amused.

“With families, we don’t want to have bars and discos, there’s nothing wrong with them but sometimes it brings the wrong people. We want a safe environment where everyone can get a good night’s sleep, with no noise,” he explains.

His strategy is working. Gloria Hotel, when we meet, is overbooked.

Families mill round the lobby, kids tear about and the valet and butler teams are on the go constantly unpacking and packing suitcases from of a stream of cars and cabs. Over the summer, the Gloria Hotel attracts mostly GCC guests but Sayegh is targeting everyone.

“Gloria targets all markets: leisure, MICE trade, short stay, long stay and corporate accounts. We have an entire floor for business conferences which have separate elevators and we’re attracting the MICE business as we can host up to 1,000 people,” Sayegh says proudly.

The hotel also has impressive facilities, aimed at the longer stay market such as a supermarket (soon to be 24 hours), a 400 sq m health club, a 25 m pool and a large spa with 14 treatment rooms.

Despite seeing almost 100 per cent occupancy in Q1 this year, the team at the Gloria aren’t sitting on their laurels. After Eid, the operators will be opening their second property in Dubai, Yassat Hotel Apartments, which sits directly opposite Gloria Hotel in TECOM. It will bring a further 1,019 hotel apartments into the long stay market.

“Dubai is magic, it absorbs supply.

Any new hotel that opens up will find occupancy. It’s a strong market, and it will find new demand. The long stay market is doing well but the rates are

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INTERVIEW

Gloria is a small company but it is growing. Our strategy is to open a Gloria hotel in every major GCC city within the next five years Clockwise from top: the 'city' of Gloria Hotel; the large hotel apartments are roomy and homely.

Occupancy average

75% 85% 2011

2012 (YEAR TO DATE)

low, it’s a buyers’ market. However the occupancy is good, for Gloria Hotel we had 350 long stay tenants within the first five months,” Sayegh explains.

He expects to have similar success in Yassat, which is slightly more budget than the four star deluxe Gloria, thanks to a shortage of residential apartments in TECOM. But it’s not just within Dubai that Gloria is expanding.

“Gloria is a small company but it is growing. Our strategy is to open a Gloira hotel in every major GCC

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city within the next five years. We will open the Gloria Arabian Palace in Abu Dhabi in 2014, we’re bidding for a hotel in Muscat and another in Kuala Lumpur at the moment. We will also be opening a property in Madina, Saudia Arabia with the next few months,” he says. “We’re starting with the GCC because we’re a part of it and our philosophy blends in well but if opportunities pop up like Malaysia then that’s fine.”

The company is also targeting Sudan, and looking at Beirut, Amman

and Cairo for hotel apartments.

Sayegh has a clear formula for what works for the brand.

“We won’t take on anything less than a four star and we always impose our philosophies such as family orientated, dry and with large F&B outlets. Gloria is always good value for money. If you don’t give good value for money then your customers won’t come back again. When you eat in a restaurant, you only decide if you’re going to go back or not, when the bill comes!"

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SUPPLY SU UPP PPLYY FOC FOCUS O US U

Habtoor Hotels increased the stability and security of its email systems with a move to Google Apps. Ben Rossi explores the finer details

THE COST PER YEAR TO RUN A SYMANTEC AND A LOCAL LINUX POP3 SERVER...

H

abtoor Hotels has become the latest enterprise in the region to express its satisfaction with a move to the cloud.

Outsourcing its email hosting and security to Google Apps has cut its costs by 50 per cent.

Having been responsible for the first five star hotel in the region, the locally owned property group is expanding both within Dubai and outside it, with ambitious new projects. Having safe and secure IT systems is key to the its future success, but it took a move to the cloud to secure this says Mahmoud Kamal, group IT manager at Habtoor Hotels.

“It’s a 24 hour operation so you cannot imagine a situation where your server goes down or your internet connectivity goes down. The biggest challenge is whether to go with centralised servers and be dependent on connectivity from a UAE provider or to have our own servers on site. This is the question everybody is asking.” he says. “The best solution for now is to physically have a hybrid from our own data centre and if something goes wrong we could still work

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Dhs200,000

from another property,” he adds.

As a result of this, each hotel property has its own data centre, and each one is connected to the servers in Habtoor’s main site in Dubai, where it runs several centralised systems.

“If I have a problem with my back office system I don’t mind waiting one hour for an engineer to come down and fix it for me. But I can’t do that with the front of our system. So it had to be hybrid – a combination between local and cloud,” Kamal says.

Email hosting Habtoor’s main implementation recently has been the outsourcing of its email hosting and security with Google Apps.

The hotel chain originally used a combination between Symantec and a local Linux POP3 server and hosted the whole email server in its head office.

“We also had Exchange server for people with Blackberrys to sync with their devices. It was rather expensive.

Maintaining it was costing us around

Dhs200,000 or more every year. So cost cutting was one reason we wanted to change to Google Apps,” Kamal says. Aside from cost cutting, the other major reason for outsourcing Habtoor’s email hosting and security was because of the excessive spam and junk email it experienced.

“Regardless of how powerful your offline spam controller and firewalls are – spammers are very clever. No matter how clever the policeman is – the thief will always be one step ahead. Even in our business, all the spam control systems are physically updating their software systems but you don’t get the true power of online scanning. We had a Symantec spam control but it was not online,” Kamal says.

The decision Habtoor had to make was whether to go for a local spam filter and system or to go for a cloud implementation, in which it would opt for Google Apps and Postini.

“In the end it was simple. If you have three or four million using an email or spam control system and out

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TECHNOLOGY

THE NUMBER OF DAILY SPAMEMAILS PER DAY ON THE OLD SYSTEM WAS

“You need an online spam controlling system such as Postini. It reduced spam down to just two or three per day, which is a great success for us. It’s very easy to control two or three spam a day, as opposed to up to 100. That was a major key factor,” he adds.

the sync tool between Microsoft Outlook and Google,” Kamal says.

“It was a very straightforward process and my IT team has been able to carry it on by themselves in all units across our four major hotels in Dubai. We also had an engineer from Google on the first day just to ensure everything was fine,” he adds.

There are now over 500 people across Habtoor’s hotel sites in Dubai and Beirut using Google Apps. 90 per cent of the hotel staff uses Microsoft Outlook and the “beauty” of the solution was that this didn’t have to change, and therefore most of the staff didn’t even noticed a different email host was being used, other than they were receiving far less spam, Kamal says.

“Our main concern was to maintain the Outlook interface for our users.

Google’s web interface is great, but the resist to change is always very high and when people have Outlook memorised by heart it’s very difficult to ask them to move out. So we were able to keep Outlook and just have it syncing with Google Apps,” he says.

“With the help of Google Postini, they now use the sync tool while being able to use the interface they prefer for email, contacts, calendar and notes.

The new set-up is secure and reliable as well as cost saving,” he adds.

Kamal maintains it is the strong and focused support of Habtoor’s management to IT that has led to the hotel chain’s success.

“They understand it’s a new era and nobody can physically exist without having a strong IT infrastructure.

We’re changing computers on a regular basis, we’re using blade servers and everybody is equipped with a smartphone. The whole group is very focused towards IT. Without a stable IT operation you can’t have a successful front office, reservation operation or manage the hotel sufficiently,” he concludes This feature originally ran in the July issue of CNME (www.cnmeonline.com).

50-100

Success

Mahmoud Kamal, group IT manager at Habtoor Hotels.

of these millions of people there are 100 who report spam from one sender in half an hour, this email address will become blocked and blacklisted in the second hour on the system. That means the hacker will only succeed by hurting those people and the rest won’t feel it,” Kamal says.

“Having a powerful online spam control system was the other key reason why we went with Google Apps. Our users received a very large amount of spam daily and that raised fears of us being hacked through illegal sources. We also had insufficient bandwidth to manage our email and communications despite having a leased line for our email server,” he adds.

The decision to opt for Postini’s online spam control has paid dividends for Habtoor, with the amount of spam drastically reduced.

“The spam control of the partner of Google in that area, which is Postini, is marvellous. The average spam on the old system was anywhere between 50 and 100 per day,” Kamal says.

It was this success with Postini that was a major factor in Habtoor’s decision to opt for Google Apps, which was implemented through Google’s authorised Middle East partner, FVC. A year after the Google Apps implementation, Microsoft called Habtoor with an offer for its SkyDrive service that undercut what Habtoor was paying Google. However, despite the cheaper price, Kamal was happy enough with the results to stay with Google Apps.

“One of the main factors in our selection was the reputation of Google. They are a major leader in this field and were one of the first players in cloud email and solutions.

Also, its direct competitor, Microsoft, was not ready at the time. They came back around one year later with a reduced offer by around 10 per cent.

But I was not willing to change. I was happy with Google and it had proven to be very reliable and trustworthy,” Kamal says. He also very happy with the minimal knowledge transfer and training involved in the implementation.

“The migration to Google Apps was very smooth. The whole transition was completed within two days by FVC and its engineers, who briefed and instructed the IT managers how to set it up, providing step by step consultation. They were trained on how to work on the administrative account and how to add new accounts and install

500

PEOPLE ACROSS HABTOOR’S HOTEL SITES IN DUBAI AND BEIRUT WHO USE GOOGLE APPS

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Q&A

Staffing the shortfall With the huge influx of hotel properties coming online in the Middle East, how are hotels and hospitality recruiters coping with issues of poaching, recruiting and retaining staff?

W

ith 11,000 plus more rooms in Dubai's pipeline and with hotels like JW Marriot Marquis needing over 4,000 staff alone, there is a huge shortfall of trained and non trained hospitality staff. Add in rampant poaching, higher salary expectations and better job opportunities in many nationalities home countries and the hospitality industry looks to hit a perfect storm of challenges. Our experts discuss their strategies and options.

HBME: What do you estimate are your staffing needs for the next three years?

Aline Barhouche: We estimate our staffing needs to be around 2,000 employees over the next three years.

Vivek Singh: In order to keep up with the forecast for the coming years, we are planning ahead to meet

our staffing needs, but the overall requirement would vary based on the future business outlook. However, the need for the talented and skilled category of middle management specialists would be greater, given that the market faces the challenges of finding seasoned professionals with extensive experience.

Rachel Moosa: Currently, Fairmont is hiring across the MENA region for new and expanding properties. These include the Palm (hiring 650), Jaipur (hiring 400), Ajman (hiring 300), Fujairah (hiring 400), Riyadh (hiring 600), and Amman (hiring 800). Over the next three years Fairmont will continue to recruit and hire new staff to match our growth plans.

HBME: How will you fill the shortfall?

AB: We plan on going on recruitment

HR DIRECTOR PANEL

trips, hosting job fairs and career days to attract new employees.

VS: Carrying out stringent training processes for all our associates so that they can grow within the organisation is one of our key goals. This enables us to ensure that skilled, talented, and trained associates stay within the company. The use of social media and internal reference is a very good source for talent acquisition.

RM: We have been strategic in this region and focused on pooling our resources, for example we transferred close to 70 colleagues from the Fairmont Dubai, to the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, and we have also transferred colleagues to the Fairmont Nile City, Cairo, and the Makkah Clock Royal Tower. In addition, colleagues at the soon-toopen Jaipur have been in place in the region – enabling them to quickly adapt and train. These transfers not only provide developmental and learning opportunities for our existing colleagues, but also provide our new hotels with seasoned professionals from day one.

HBME: How does having to train high volumes of new staff affect operations?

AB: It requires optimal planning,

Aline Barhouche, Regional HR Manager MENA, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group Barhouche arrived at Rezidor last year after spending time at Abu Dhabi National Hotels and the InterContinental Hotel Group, where she looked after the MENA region.

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Vivek Singh, Cluster Director of Human Resources, The Address Hotels + Resorts Singh has been with The Address Group for over three years, promoted to look after the cluster of resorts last year.

He was previously at The Ritz-Carlton Group.

AUGUST 2012

Rachel Moosa, Regional Director of HR, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Moosa has been with the Fairmont Group for ten years and has overseen the launch of HR operations in several new properties in the Middle East and America, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

sometimes months in advance, in order to juggle all the training and continuing to run a smooth operation.

VS: The organisation’s focus is in its vision to provide its guests with personal, innovative, and memorable lifestyle experiences, and keeping this in mind, we make it mandatory for all entry-level individuals to undergo the required training and attend the specific learning programmes. By providing our associates with a 360 degree approach to learning upon

cpidubai.com

Q&AA Q&

the vision that unites us all, ultimately empowering our staff.

VS: Our new associates go through an intense learning process before they interact with our guests. We have designated ‘Learning Coaches,’ who partner with the new associates and guide them step-by-step to deliver exceptional service consistently. We also carry out regular quality checks, continuous assessment, and encourage guest feedback.

RM: Training is an integral part of the hiring process, with customer service always being the upmost priority at all of our hotels. Fairmont sets all new colleagues up for success with their comprehensive HBME: How do you maintain My Fairmont Training customer service when programme. Guidebooks employing new staff or specific to the colleague’s staffing new hotels?

APPLICATIONS TO role, information about AB: At Rezidor we have FAIRMONT THE PALM the hotel destination and used our effective ‘Yes I Can!’ the brand’s core beliefs and training programme since 1995 as a structured way of initiating staff to the five-part Fairmont Service Promise works in unison with the our unique service approach. All our employees undergo the training which colleagues’ own unique skill set to set them up as brand ambassadors. In focuses on our famous customer addition, Fairmont has a Leadership service ethos, ensuring everyone from Evaluation and Development (LEAD) the bellboy to the chef to the GM is programme that provides managers delivering the brand promise. We hire and supervisors with the tools they for attitude then train to skill. And Yes need to develop new colleagues.

I Can! is the attitude, the passion and joining, we can guarantee that the smooth operational process continues without any interruptions.

RM: At Fairmont, we hire for talent and train for technical – the role of training is crucial in terms of differentiating our service from other luxury hotels. As such, we developed the Fairmont Service Promise programme in 2009 which empowers our colleagues to create memories for our guests by treating each guest as an individual and be able to meet their needs. This is a programme that everyone participates in from our leaders to our front line.

19,000

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HBME: Do you have any policies to employ any more nationals in the UAE? AB: We are hoping to attract more UAE nationals to join us however, as yet, we do not have a policy.

VS: The Address Hotels + Resorts have clearly defined objectives that are aligned with the overall nationalisation policy, encouraging more UAE nationals to take up careers in hospitality. We continue to place significant emphasis on the development, learning, and integrations of nationals into the hotel operations.

RM: Fairmont recruits staff based on their talent and interest in the hospitality industry. We are always looking for new talent that can strengthen staff teams, regardless of gender or nationality.

HBME: Is poaching an issue for you? What is the damage of this?

AB: There is a war for talent; therefore poaching is part of this. We don’t see it as an issue for us here at Carlson Rezidor. 90 per cent of our GMs are home grown for example and we offer plentiful development opportunities within the group. With 1,300 hotels around the world the possibilities really are endless. In 2011 we had over

AUGUST 2012

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 33

Q&A

600 internal transfers alone.

VS: While associate turnover is a process that is ongoing in every industry, we don't look at it as a major deterrent. For organisations that face this issue, recruitment costs and budgets are higher, while manpower reduces and having a less smooth operational process due to the movement of people.

receptionist waiter bartender commis chef spa attendant housekeeping

HBME: How much does training cost per employee?

AB: Per staff member average training costs around $500-1,000 per year.

VS: We invest a great deal on training our associates. We have an extensive catalogue of learning programmes that caters to all of our associates. For instance, one of the many initiatives we have for our associates is through continual e-Learning.

HBME: How do you keep staff? What is the average length of employment in your MENA group?

AB: We have a broad average length, from one year to 50 years in the MENA region. The example is set right from the very top. Mr. Ritter, our President and CEO is the hospitality’s industry longest serving CEO. We have numerous training schemes and programmes that we actively encourage our staff to be involved in such as the Mentor Mentee programme. This programme is designed to identify and develop high potential talents to become General Managers of the Rezidor Hotel Group. Since the launch of the programme in 2000 we have promoted more than fifty General Managers from within.

VS: We focus on our associate engagement and work on various initiatives to drive their dedication towards the brand. These initiatives come in various forms i.e. learning journey, social calendar and internal opportunities to grow from within.

The average length of employment taking into consideration the market segmentation, seasonality and demand for specific nationalities approximately

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AUGUST 2012

ranges from 1.8 years to 2.5 years.

RM: Fairmont is dedicated to promoting and developing from within, and in 2011 approximately 65 percent of its management and leadership teams came from internal candidates who chose to grow their careers with the brand. For 2012, Fairmont was honored with the Gallup Great Workplace award, which recognises organisations throughout the world that lead the way in engaging their employees.

Fairmont continually improves as an employer by questioning colleagues via the Colleague Engagement Survey (CES), which provides insights into what drives a strong culture and engages their colleagues emotionally. Our 30,000 ‘service ambassadors’ are encouraged to grow their careers, and we drive leadership at every level. It is by empowering employees in this way and giving them these opportunities that we can make our employees proud to share our values and encourage them to have a long-tenure with the company.

HBME: What is the biggest issue facing recruitment for the hospitality industry in

the Middle East in your opinion?

AB: There is a war for talent and every competitor is facing the same challenge of attracting and retaining the best talent. However we’re not affected as much as those chains currently preparing for a launch of a hotel, where you have to source 600-1,000 staff, that’s when the hunt for quality and quantity can prove difficult to achieve.

VS: A key concern in the Middle East is the availability of quality trained staff at entry level. The growth and development of the hotels in Asia and Asia Pacific region has led to increased opportunities for overseas workers to remain in their home countries and work.

RM: There is much more competition for the best talent within the Middle East, because many more hotels are coming on line and projected future growth is tremendous in the region. However, our newest hotel, Fairmont The Palm, which is opening on Palm Island in Dubai, has had 19,000 applications to join. We believe that this number alone speaks volumes as to Fairmont being a preferred employer in the region.

cpidubai.com

Q&A

HBME: What are the biggest challenges with staffing in the Middle East hospitality industry?

Raj Bhatt: The biggest challenge is to get the right candidate. The salaries in other countries are the same as in the UAE and quality candidates will not travel easily to UAE for the salaries and benefits offered.

Eric Van Wijk: The biggest challenge is finding the right people for the right jobs, at all levels, but especially for operational positions such as receptionists, waiters/waitresses, bartenders, commis chefs, chefs de parties, head chefs, spa attendants, housekeeping and stewarding staff.

It has definitely become harder to find the right personalities with a passion for our industry. There is a global war to attract the right talent.

In addition, the right talent can also be more demanding, as they’re not only looking for competitive (international) salaries, but also for career development and upward mobility in a company.

Mike Kitchen: At the grass roots level it is certainly the expectations of skill and experience versus salaries and benefits offered.

2,000

HBME: How will hotels fill their regional shortfall?

RB: A lot of hotels recruit

locally by advertising in local media, have career fairs etc to attract a front line working population. A lot of hotels are also looking at promoting their staff at different levels and keeps the staff motivated.

EVW: Hotels will either be sourcing their talent, at all levels, from countries in Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe, or ‘poaching’ staff from competitors.

Some larger hotel chains will have intern and development programmes for talent that already works for their brand. There might be opportunities to attract staff from other industries or the retail sector, but the work conditions and salary levels in hotels are not that competitive, so it is

MORE STAFF NEEDED BY CARLSON REZIDOR IN NEXT THREE YEARS

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INDUSTRY CONSULTANTS PANEL

Raj Bhatt, Director of Hozpitality.com Bhatt is the Founder Director of Hozpitality.com, a hospitality jobs board and networking group for the Middle East.

Eric Van Wijk, Manging Director, The Hospitality Company Van Wirk has 25 years in the hospitality industry and has been running The Hospitality Company since 2002.

difficult to persuade people to make the move from another industry.

MK: Utilising outsource options will certainly assist as the recruitment process can be lengthy and financially demanding, especially in what is a fairly transient industry at the best of times. An outsource company that recruits high volumes of personnel will have greater efficiency and of course better economies of scale, especially if the initial sourcing and selection process of suitable staff takes place in their home nations. Then it is a case of ensuring that hotel requirements are clearly understood to enable the right candidates/teams to be deployed first time around.

HBME: How much is nationalising some roles, or introducing a quota a solution?

RB: A lot of companies have already started a local national programme and are pushing it strongly. We also promote local recruitment through our websites.

EVW: Unfortunately nationalising some roles or implementing a quota system is not an option at this point in time.

There are a lot of opportunities and there aren’t enough local candidates yet, such as students and managers, looking to pursue long term careers in hotels and the hospitality sector. It

Mike Kitchen, Head of FM Services, Transguard Group Kitchen has over 14 years’ experience managing and operating major facilities across a diverse range of industries.

would really be good to see Emiratis working at all levels in hotels and the hospitality sector.

MK: Nationalising roles and quota systems do not work in the long run, it simply restricts the hotel. However there are roles that Emiratis are capable of filling, such as management positions, sales, marketing and PR positions, human resources, accounts, purchasing and why not an Emirati GM? Emiratis run many successful family businesses here. However it would depend on salary and conditions, where hospitality doesn’t compare well with other sectors.

HBME: Will employing local staff at all levels ever be an option?

RB: Local staff are being employed in many departments already like PR, Government Relations, HR, Admin, Sales etc. Companies should look at involving locals for other positions.

EVW: Again, it would be fantastic to see Emirati nationals at all levels in hotels, but, it’s not a feasible option yet. Usually operational level positions such as commis or regular chefs, stewards, housekeeping attendants, spa attendants and beach and pool attendants are all positions that aren’t that appealing, as salary and benefit scales are not competitive and there

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Q&A QQ& &A

chefs de parties head chefs housekeeping stewarding staff are many better paid alternatives.

MK: I think it is unlikely, if only from a cost perspective. For example hotels can employ back of house staff either permanently or on a contract basis at a fraction of the cost that an Emirati (or European for that matter) would cost. And let’s not forget, tourism is a global marketplace, the UAE must be competitive with other destinations both near and far.

HBME: How do you make hospitality more attractive to a local population?

RB: Salaries and benefits should be looked at for line level staff. Regular training and motivation are key.

EVW: I think it starts with having enough of the right kind of hospitality schools, not only for management, but also for lower entry positions.

Young people need to be made aware of, and become enthusiastic about career opportunities in the hospitality industry. Graduates must then be challenged and allowed access to good career opportunities with strong promotion prospects. Emiratis would potentially be attracted to a culture of respect, which offers a good work/life

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balance. In addition, the remuneration packages must be competitive.

MK: There are a number of ways in which hotels can attract more nationals, such as improved rates of pay, regular office hours and fast-track career paths. However that is probably not economically viable for many hotels at the moment.

HBME: How does the staffing shortfall affect a property’s customer service levels and their overall business?

RB: The hospitality industry is customer focused and good staff is key. If a trained member of staff leaves a company it certainly has an effect on the service standards and it takes time for a new person to come in and learn.

EVW: This has a major impact. If you fail in your service commitment towards your guests you will not be successful, your brand image will be ‘hurt’ and your financial performance will ultimately suffer. Nowadays, guests will let you - and others know what they think about you.

More and more guests write reviews on travel websites like TripAdvisor.

Negative comments can very easily

influence future travel decisions.

Unsatisfied guests will usually not return, leaving you continually searching for new guests, whilst satisfied guests end up becoming your best brand ambassadors. But it isn’t only the shortfall of staff that affects a property’s success. It’s also the quality and type of staff they hire, the quality and delivery of guest service, and onthe-job training for new recruits. The types of development programmes they have in place are crucial to a hotel’s continued success.

MK: The main issue with having a short fall in staff is that whilst training and development may be a priority, there will always be the potential for poor customer experiences to occur due to the greater demand on the frontline staff. In such a competitive market, where differentiators between properties and brands can sometimes be minimal, one bad experience will lead to customers going ‘next door’ and possibly never to return.

HBME: What damage does poaching staff cause within the industry?

RB: Poaching does cause severe

AUGUST 2012

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 37

Q&A

damage within the industry as trained staff with local experience move and create a buffer….however it can be a good sign where new recruits get an opportunity to learn and grow.

EVW: Hotels that lose staff to poaching have the most to lose, as they often incur significant expenses when recruiting and training the employees that they bring to this region. If these employees leave within a year, the losses are significant.

High staff turnover is an indication that many hotels in this region are struggling with this issue. They need to investigate why staff members are leaving so quickly. For example, is there a proper employee focused culture in place, does the hotel lives up to its promises, is the culture fun and do employees feel part of the family?

Are they well paid, or is their direct competition offering much better packages? Are managers close to their employees, giving staff feedback on performance and are there possibilities for career development?

It’s in everyone’s best interest if hotel general managers could come to an understanding - and make it industry best practice - by agreeing to not poach staff for at least 18-24 months; not only for their own benefit, but also for that of the employee. The optimum solution for new hotel openings is still to recruit the majority of staff from overseas, because employees that are new to Dubai are motivated and eager to make a fresh start and work hard to build a future for themselves in challenging times.

MK: In this region, poaching experienced staff is widespread, with staff becoming accustomed to moving on from one brand or property to the next, it becomes a continual roundabout of talent from one property to another new opening.

Additional pressure is put on the operational management and human resources teams to adapt and cover the vacancies whilst training becomes a continual headache of induction and familiarisation and not focused on the development as ideally required.

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AUGUST 2012

There is a war for talent and every competitor is facing the same challenge of attracting and retaining the best talent Aline Barhouche

HBME: How does the large volume of new hotels opening in the UAE and in the region affect existing properties?

RB: They certainly affect the existing properties as they all look for trained candidates with local experience. New hotels bring the majority of their staff from various countries but they also recruit locally to create a balance.

EVW: It will have a big effect on existing hotels. Most new hotels think it’s cheaper to recruit locally.

It’s normal nowadays to organise ‘open days’, or advertise available positions on sites for a seemingly easy solution to the challenges of recruitment.

In the last month alone, there have been at least two major recruitment open days. New hotels that organise such events receive thousands of resumes – which are definitely not always the applicants that they’re looking for. Most local candidates are just looking to add that little bit of extra money to their salary by moving on. However, the candidate will more often than not be seduced by another offer the following year, and resign again because they haven’t developed a relationship with that particular brand. And so begins the recruitment vicious circle again.

HBME: What new avenues are being looked at to recruit staff?

RB: New markets are being explored like Myanmar, Indonesia, Brazil.

EVW: All hotels will eventually involve social media in their recruiting strategies, but only a few will get it right in my opinion. Hotels need to ask themselves what is the difference between their website and what they are posting on Facebook or a recruitment site? The key to social media lies in the title! For us, social media isn’t about immediate hires, but rather about building a future pool of talent and potential employees.

For line staff recruitment At The Hospitality Company we’re just starting recruitment tours to major cities in countries like Myanmar, Vietnam and South Africa; where we search for candidates with the right attitude to work in the industry.

We firmly believe that the skills like checking in a guest, pouring a drink or making a bed, can be learned quickly.

MK: Transguard are looking at developing a short term contract based resource for junior or middle management positions and skill based areas such as chefs. The idea would be to have candidates available to assist through peak periods and also provide cover for unexpected vacancies, long term leave, maternity etc.

HBME: What are the hardest hospitality jobs to recruit for?

RB: There are specialised positions which are hard to get, like well trained chefs, Revenue Managers, Reservation staff etc. Also getting good Front of House staff, especially females, is sometimes a challenge in this region.

LVW: As recruitment consultants we see the hardest jobs to recruit for are all kinds (and levels) of line staff, and with regards to management recruitment it is recruiting chefs on all levels, restaurant managers and supervisors and sales managers.

MK; It’s not so much about recruiting staff, retaining them is more the key issue

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Collaboration in hospitality How can you improve service, enhance guest satisfaction and increase revenue

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he hospitality industry, which consists of hotels, motels, and resorts, is a highly competitive industry. Customer service and a rewarding guest experience are critical to a company’s success and can be a major competitive differentiator. Customer loyalty is another key metric which is one reason for the abundance of frequent stay programmes.

Those companies that do the best job of delighting customers are often the most successful. But managing PXOWLSOH ORFDWLRQV KDQGOLQJ VSHFL¿F JXHVW UHTXLUHPHQWV and coordinating a highly dynamic workforce is no easy task. Communications – both on-property and between properties – will play a major role in determining the RSHUDWLRQDO HI¿FLHQFLHV DQG JXHVW VDWLVIDFWLRQ OHYHOV WKDW these companies expect.

At du, we recognise this need and work closely with our hospitality customers to create a differentiated experience by offering a variety of Hospitality Services. Our hospitality solutions make hospitality brands stand out, and create one of a kind, personalised experience for each guest.

The ability to provide high-class entertainment services, internet access, content, and voice communications, both over high speed wired networks and wireless networks, has become more important than ever before.

This white paper will show how our collaboration solutions – voice communications, video conferencing and wireless telephony – will help turn the challenges faced by hospitality companies today into key differentiators.

In summary, our collaboration solutions provide KRVSLWDOLW\ FRPSDQLHV ZLWK WKH IROORZLQJ EHQH¿WV ‡ Improved Guest Experiences ‡ 0RUH (I¿FLHQW (PSOR\HH 7UDLQLQJ ‡ (QKDQFHG &RPPXQLFDWLRQV ‡ 2SHUDWLRQDO (I¿FLHQFLHV

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The key manufacturing application areas in which FROODERUDWLRQ FDQ PDNH D PDMRU LPSDFW LQFOXGH ‡ 3URSHUW\ ZLGH &RPPXQLFDWLRQV ‡ (PSOR\HH 7UDLQLQJ 'LVWDQFH /HDUQLQJ ‡ &XVWRPHU 6HUYLFH .LRVN

Hospitality industry overview To best understand the challenges hospitality companies face, it is important to understand the industry’s trends, WDUJHW JXHVW SUR¿OHV DQG VHUYLFH RIIHULQJV SURYLGHG Increased Service Levels Competitive differentiation for hotels stems from RSHUDWLRQDO HI¿FLHQF\ DQG VHUYLFHV SURYLGHG &RRUGLQDWLRQ is required not only across a property, but also across the company. Reliable communication is essential to a service-oriented culture. +RWHOV JHQHUDOO\ ¿W LQWR WZR FDWHJRULHV IXOO VHUYLFH DQG limited service. While room revenue is always important, recurring conferences and meetings are a key source RI UHYHQXH 'LIIHUHQWLDWLRQ FRPHV WKURXJK KLJK VHUYLFH OHYHOV DQG DPHQLW\ RIIHULQJV /LPLWHG VHUYLFH KRWHOV GR QRW

depend as much on service with nearly all (95 percent) of their revenues coming from room sales. Emphasis is on room bookings, occupancy rates and quick turns. These hotels, and their guests, are often more price-oriented than their full service counterparts. Examples would LQFOXGH &RXUW\DUG E\ 0DUULRWW +LOWRQ *DUGHQ ,QQ DQG Candlewood Suites.

Customers often choose hotels based on these service offerings. But service ‘levels’ are what truly create competitive differentiation. Even a small, boutique hotel with limited service offerings but exceptional service levels can capture guest loyalty over a larger chain.

Hotels strive to provide guests with high-touch service OHYHOV WR HQFRXUDJH UHSHDW EXVLQHVV 3UREOHP UHVROXWLRQ times are a key factor in maintaining customer satisfaction and providing competitive differentiation. How quickly a hotel responds to a guest with a maintenance request or to a housekeeping service goes a long way to establishing a loyal client base.

Business travellers in particular expect amenities such as internet access, business centre services, and in some cases video conferencing. Customised meeting packages

and guest reward programmes are other incentives used to attract business travellers.

Global Growth 'HVSLWH DQ HFRQRPLF GRZQWXUQ WKH FRQVWUXFWLRQ RI new hotels continues to rise. According to a recent 3ULFHZDWHUKRXVH&RRSHUV UHSRUW URRP VXSSO\ ZDV expected to continue its rise, but supply is also expected to outpace demand - making the need for competitive differentiation even more important.

Since the majority of hotels are dispersed globally (either franchised or managed by the parent hotel company), the need for effective communications is critical.

Green Initiatives Companies in all industries, including hospitality, are becoming more environmentally conscious. The need to reduce carbon emissions is rapidly becoming a key corporate initiative.

With a variety of transportation options available – on the ground, in the air, over water – it is easy to

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move people around the globe, but this creates large environmental challenges. $ VLQJOH URXQGWULS DLUOLQH Ă&#x20AC;LJKW IURP 1HZ <RUN WR /RQGRQ IRU H[DPSOH JHQHUDWHV DSSUR[LPDWHO\ WRQV RI FDUERQ GLR[LGH HPLVVLRQV $ Ă&#x20AC;LJKW IURP /RV $QJHOHV WR Tokyo generates just over three tons of carbon emissions. %\ FRQWUDVW WKH DYHUDJH DXWRPRELOH SURGXFHV QHDUO\ ÂżYH tons pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

There clearly is a need to reduce the impact on the environment through travel reductions. But unless other options for face-to-face meetings are available, FRPSDQLHV PXVW FRQWLQXH WR GULYH Ă&#x20AC;\ DQG VDLO DURXQG WKH world to maintain business.

For hospitality companies, green initiatives are often implemented in a multi-fold approach. With dispersed hotel locations, travel reduction is an obvious area of focus. Hotel chains are also implementing environmental and carbon offset programmes, including less frequency of laundry operations; specialised lighting (e.g. motion detection) in guest rooms; new packaging of bathroom VXSSOLHV 0DNLQJ KRWHOV PRUH HQHUJ\ HIÂżFLHQW DQG environmentally aware can also help enhance a companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s corporate citizenship responsibility, while reducing its environmental impact.

42

The need for collaboration solutions The challenges faced by hospitality companies today are SULPDULO\ IRFXVHG RQ RSHUDWLRQDO HIÂżFLHQFLHV WKDW OHDG WR service differentiation.

By using voice and video conferencing, and collaborative solutions, such as the ones we provide, hospitality companies have the solutions, applications and tools to become more responsive to customer needs, PRUH HIÂżFLHQW LQ WKHLU RSHUDWLRQV DQG PRUH VXFFHVVIXO LQ the long run.

Voice solutions Voice communication is a given in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business world â&#x20AC;&#x201C; telephones are everywhere. Recent enhancements to voice technology have created a number of new products and solutions that make audio communications more lifelike and more productive.

In-Building, Premise-Wide Wireless Phones The proliferation and adoption of Wi-Fi wireless networks in the hotel industry for guest access has spurred the introduction and use of wireless telephones (Wi-Fi, '(&7 0+] $V ZLWK :L )L FRPSXWHU QHWZRUNV these wireless phones are normally limited to in-building

connectivity. Repeaters, access points and other wireless range extenders enable connectivity to a larger area, but this is typically limited to premise-wide coverage. These phones should not be mistaken with mobile or cellular phones which provide wide area network coverage but often have spotty coverage in widespread hotel and resort environments.

Hotels can utilise these premise-based wireless phones in a number of ways. By leveraging off of the existing Wi-Fi computer network infrastructure found in most hotels today, the addition of voice mobility is highly cost HIIHFWLYH DQG HDV\ LQWHJUDWLRQ ZLWK H[LVWLQJ 3%; DQG phone systems streamline implementation.

Wireless phone users can now stay in touch throughout a property with easy access to key resources and information. Housekeeping data, maintenance requests and concierge services can be shared in real time while personnel roam the property. The difference in response can be in seconds instead of minutes or longer. +RXVHNHHSLQJ FDQ VHQG ZLUHOHVV PHVVDJHV WR &50 solutions when rooms are cleaned. Engineering staff can receive alerts when services are interrupted or equipment LV IDLOLQJ 6HFXULW\ SHUVRQQHO FDQ EH QRWLÂżHG LPPHGLDWHO\ LQ HPHUJHQF\ VLWXDWLRQV 0DQDJHPHQW KDV DFFHVV WR information in real time, resulting in rapid decision making.

Voice mail messages on tethered desktop phones and WKH DVVRFLDWHG GHOD\HG UHVSRQVHV GLVDSSHDU 3URGXFWLYLW\ is improved and decisions can be made faster.

Some hotels are now providing wireless telephones WR 9,3 JXHVWV ZKLOH RQ SUHPLVH WR FRQYHQLHQWO\ RUGHU services. And, in some cases, event planners and coordinators are given wireless handsets to manage logistical operations.

HD Voice Hotel chains with global locations are often faced with cultural issues, time zone differences and language barriers. The ability to be heard clearly and concisely is key to ensuring accuracy and comprehension.

7KH VOLJKWHVW GLIIHUHQFHV LQ YRLFH LQĂ&#x20AC;HFWLRQV RU ZRUG pronunciations can result in misunderstandings and problems. The word â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;maâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Chinese, for example, can have four different meanings depending on the pitch or LQĂ&#x20AC;HFWLRQ XVHG E\ WKH VSHDNHU +LJK GHÂżQLWLRQ +' TXDOLW\ VRXQG WKHUHIRUH EHFRPHV a critical component of an audio conversation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the better the quality, the more accurate the audio recognition.

7RGD\ÂśV +' YRLFH WHFKQRORJ\ FDQ SURYLGH KLJK ÂżGHOLW\

FDOOV XS WR 0+] ZKLFK SURYLGHV IDU PRUH FODULW\ WKDQ WUDGLWLRQDO .+] DQDORJ WHOHSKRQHV +RZ LPSRUWDQW LV WKLV ability to support higher frequencies? In English speech, ZKLOH PRVW YRZHOV FDQ EH FOHDUO\ XQGHUVWRRG DW .+] consonants require higher frequencies to be clear. To understand the difference between â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, for instance, IUHTXHQFLHV DERYH .+] DUH QHHGHG :LWKRXW +' 9RLFH technology, the statement â&#x20AC;&#x153;The business meeting is sailingâ&#x20AC;? could easily be misinterpreted as â&#x20AC;&#x153;The business meeting is failingâ&#x20AC;?. +' YRLFH HQVXUHV DFFXUDF\ DQG IXOO FRPSUHKHQVLRQ which is crucial when dealing with remote, diverse groups in different locations and in various countries.

Conference Speakerphones Conference speakerphones are ideal for both internal cross-functional discussions and for business meetings. &RQIHUHQFH VSHDNHUSKRQHV ZLWK +' YRLFH WHFKQRORJ\ enable conference calls that sound as natural as actually being in the room. Advanced designs including echo cancellation, acoustic clarity technology and roomwide audio system integration ensure everyone in the FRQIHUHQFH LV KHDUG 1HZ PRELOH SKRQH LPPXQLW\ IHDWXUHV help to eliminate the annoying buzz through speakers and microphones, including during conference phones.

The bottom line is that, as with traditional telephones, not all conference speakerphones are created equal.

Hospitality companies seeking to maximise the productivity in their conference rooms must consider the use of speakerphone solutions that provide life- like, highÂżGHOLW\ DXGLR

Video conferenceing solutions To enhance audio-only calls and to further increase communication effectiveness, many companies are implementing video conferencing solutions.

Visual communication plays a major role in the overall effectiveness of communication by providing visual, nonverbal cues that aid in comprehension. The combination of the aforementioned voice solutions with video conferencing results in a complete communication and collaborative experience.

HD Video $V ZLWK +' YRLFH WKH ODWHVW YLGHR FRQIHUHQFLQJ SURGXFWV DQG VROXWLRQV XVH +' YLGHR WHFKQRORJ\ IRU WKH PRVW UHDOLVWLF LPDJHV SRVVLEOH 1RGGLQJ KHDGV UDLVHG eyebrows, crossed arms and eye contact (or lack of) all

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43

help to gauge understanding, agreement and integrity.

In fact, researchers have focused studies on the role of verbal and non-verbal communications. While some UHSRUWV LQGLFDWH WKDW QHDUO\ SHUFHQW RI FRPPXQLFDWLRQ is non-verbal, the most famous study on this subject FRPHV IURP 'U $OEHUW 0HKUDELDQ ,Q KLV Âľ UXOHÂś KH FRQFOXGHV WKDW WKDW RQO\ SHUFHQW RI communication comes from spoken words, 38 percent from the tone of the voice and 55 percent from body language. The ability to clearly see these body language GHWDLOV LV QRZ SRVVLEOH ZLWK +' YLGHR SURYLGHG E\ GX Older generation video conferencing products simply did not provide the clarity or image quality required for effective business-critical visual communications. Blurry LPDJHV SL[HOL]HG VFUHHQV DQG GLIÂżFXOW WR UHDG FRQWHQW limited video conferencingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s acceptance. +' YLGHR KRZHYHU LV H[SHFWHG WR EH D FDWDO\VW LQ YLGHR FRQIHUHQFLQJ LPSOHPHQWDWLRQ :LWK EHWWHU UHVROXWLRQ +' content sharing and bandwidth optimisation technologies, companies are literally seeing the difference that +' EULQJV WR YLGHR FRPPXQLFDWLRQ *UHHQ LQLWLDWLYHV and corporate travel policy restrictions are adding to video conferencingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s widespread usage. By removing WKH IDFH WR IDFH GLVWDQFH EDUULHU +' YLGHR QRW RQO\ minimises the impact on the environment, but also helps to maintain personal relationships with customers, suppliers and partners. As stated by the industry analyst ÂżUP )URVW DQG 6XOOLYDQ Âł+' ZLOO HQDEOH XVHUV WR DFFHSW video conferencing, therefore increasing adoption and utilisation.â&#x20AC;? ,Q KRVSLWDOLW\ LQ DGGLWLRQ WR WUDYHO VDYLQJV +' YLGHR can be used for holding face-to-face meetings on a global scale â&#x20AC;&#x201C; removing the distance barrier and helping IRVWHU UHODWLRQV ZLWK UHPRWH SURSHUWLHV +' FRQWHQW (presentations, videos, customer surveys, occupancy statistics, and so on) can also be shared with more impact over multiple locations. The guest room of the future may also see the use of video conferencing for direct, visual communication with the front desk or a concierge. And technologies such as loss packet recovery optimise image quality even in low bandwidth areas.

Training for new employees or on new processes can be provided when needed without the requisite travel to each individual property. Critical HR processes such as interviewing can be shortened â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which is especially important in an industry experiencing high turnover rates.

In fact, as shown in the hypothetical example below, if a company can hire an experienced sales executive

44

FDSDEOH RI GHOLYHULQJ 86 . RI PDUJLQ ULFK LQFUHPHQWDO revenue earlier, the resulting incremental revenue per PRQWK FDQ EH VLJQLÂżFDQW 86 . UHYHQXH [ SURÂżW PDUJLQ PRQWKV DQ H[WUD 86 . WR WKH ERWWRP OLQH IRU HDFK PRQWK WULPPHG off the hiring timeline.

Immersive Telepresence Another major trend in video conferencing has been the emergence of immersive telepresence solutions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; offered by du. These solutions provide the most realistic video conferencing experience possible â&#x20AC;&#x201C; true-to-size GLPHQVLRQV H[FHSWLRQDO +' YRLFH KLJK TXDOLW\ YLGHR Âą WR create the illusion of being in the same room.

This is ideal for corporate board meetings or executiveOHYHO EULHÂżQJV ZKHUH IDFH WR IDFH OLIH OLNH GLVFXVVLRQV are expected. Heads of operations or executives from partner companies can meet regularly with counterparts throughout the world as if they were across the table.

Operational Video A hotel property is a highly dynamic environment.

The need for mobility is obvious not just for voice as mentioned before, but also for video. In the earlier example highlighting the equipment failure and alarm QRWLÂżFDWLRQ D WHFKQLFLDQ HTXLSSHG ZLWK D ZLUHOHVV YLGHR conferencing system could transmit video images of the defective equipment to remote support personnel. These remote experts could assist in the repair process by identifying the problem, making recommendations and, if needed, walking the technician through the entire repair process remotely.

Customer Service Kiosk A relatively new implementation of video conferencing is the video conferencing-enabled customer service kiosk. This â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;video conciergeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; application provides guests with information through face-to-face, interactive communications with remote personnel. Typically integrated into a call centre application, these kiosks enable remote experts to provide local services to hotel guests. For example, in the event that a hotel concierge (or front desk clerk) is unavailable or in lieu of having a dedicated concierge at every hotel, guests can have live video conversations with a remote concierge regarding dinner reservations, entertainment options or room-related items. Experts who speak multiple languages can also be reached to provide further personalised services.

These kiosks must be extremely easy-to-use (including touch screens for added simplicity) and must be UXJJHGLVHG IRU XVH LQ KLJK WUDIÂżF SXEOLF ORFDWLRQV 2WKHU peripheral devices such as printers, telephone handsets and scanners can also be added to create customised and tailored applications.

As an added bonus, most video kiosks can show digital signage on their screens when not in use, thereby providing additional advertising and marketing opportunities for a hotel chain and its partners.

Hospitality applications The following are potential usage areas for voice and video collaboration solutions.

Property-wide Communications Collaboration solutions provide hotels with the ability to communicate, in real-time, from anywhere on the property. Video conferencing allows regular face-to-face communications between property staff and corporate headquarters or between guests and remote services VWDII VXFK DV FRQFLHUJH RU IURQW GHVN FOHUNV +' YRLFH DQG ,3 WHOHSKRQ\ VROXWLRQV SURYLGH FULVS DQG FOHDU DXGLR at a fraction of the cost of traditional toll lines. Wireless telephones allow staff to keep in touch regardless of their location on the property. And through application

integration, wireless telephones can be directly integrated LQWR HTXLSPHQW PRQLWRULQJ VRIWZDUH MDFNSRW QRWLÂżFDWLRQ systems or security systems to automatically alert DSSURSULDWH SHUVRQQHO 7KH EHQHÂżWV RI FROODERUDWLRQ throughout a hospitality property are obvious â&#x20AC;&#x201C; improved DQG PRUH HIÂżFLHQW RSHUDWLRQV EHWWHU FRRUGLQDWLRQ WKURXJK real-time communications (with no air-time charges) and improved guest satisfaction.

Employee Training/Distance Learning :LWK KLJK WXUQRYHU DV PXFK DV SHU FHQW LQ VRPH instances) and widespread, often global, operations, training is a major challenge in the hospitality industry.

Companies often have a dedicated training team responsible for regularly visiting individual properties and conducting training sessions. With video conferencing solutions and recording functionality, employees in multiple properties can simultaneously receive distance learning training on the latest processes, policies or procedures.

Our vision at du is to help create hotels for the future by taking the best that technology has to offer in order to provide guests with a differentiated and highly personalised experience.

For more information on any of the above mentioned VROXWLRQV SOHDVH FRQWDFW PDQDJHGVHUYLFHV#GX DH

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TRENDS

Trend watch: August 2012 Want to improve your hotel? Look no further for information on trends, products and advice 48

Product watch

50

Customer relations, FOH & administration

54

Phones, coffee machines, buffet trolleys and more...

HP’s new POS system will cement its place in the market

52

HR, recruitment & training

54

Spa

60

Reed’s new Middle East Hospitality division will breathe life into local markets

ESADORE and Barr+Wray explain talks us through challenges in the spa scene

Interior design What use is an art consultant for a hotel project?

50 54

60

48 cpidubai.com

AUGUST 2012

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 47

TRENDS / PRODUCT WATCH

Product watch

We round up the boldest and brightest new launches and ranges from all over the hospitality world

SEALY POSTUREPEDIC A better nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sleep means you do better business, so help your guests do just that with a popular Sealy Posturepedic mattress. Stress and constant travelling can make you toss and turn in the night, but the Posturepedic elimates pressure points that restrict blood flow, inhibit healing, which contribute to moving around in the night, meaning your guests sleep soundly. sealyme.com

NESPRESSO AGUILA Nespressoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional coffee machines got a boost with the recent launch of Aguila, which produces 400 cups of coffee an hour. A network connection enables online tracking of the maintenance needed, it has one touch recipe preparations, has an energy saving mode,

48 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

programmable cup sizes, espresso and cappuccino function and manual capsule insertion and ejection. The Aguila sits at 100 x 62 x 63 (w x d x h)(cm) and requires a direct connection to a water supply. nespresso.com

VTECH PETITE PHONE Need a small compact handset? The VTech Petite Phone is packed with features despite its slimeline appearance, including one or two line configurations with analog or SIP technology, hold, mute and conference call buttons. It can be wall mounted or placed on a nightstand, has up to ten programmable guest service keys and a customisable faceplate. vtechhotelphones.com

cpidubai.com

PRODUCT WATCH / TRENDS

THE BEST OF THE REST HOTSTREAM 3+ SCREENS

CUBO A new collection of folding buffet and cocktail tables, called CUBO, has been released by Intermetal, the premier hospitality furniture manufacturer. The collection is virtually maintenance free and are easy to set up and pack away. Available in a wide range of shapes and sizes, there are various finishes including a powder coated or chrome plated finish. And no need for table cloths or skirting! intermetal.com

ECOGUARD/ECOSWITCH Telkonet, a leading US-based energy management technology supplier, has launched the EcoGuard and the EcoSwitch.The EcoGuard plug load control device resembles a standard wall outlet while the EcoSwitch has the appearance of a traditional light switch. Both the EcoGuard and the EcoSwitch have the ability to stop the flow of power to overhead lights or electrical outlets based on a room’s occupancy status, a schedule, an event such as a load shed or a signal from the Property Management System. The electrical loads associated with the EcoGuard and EcoSwitch can be monitored andd controlled remotely from EcoCentral, Telkonet’s cloud-based management platform.

During times of peak electrical demand, the EcoGuard and EcoSwitch can be controlled to turn off or reduce power to HVAC units and other loads. telkonet.com

cpidubai.com

Allow guests to select their preferred mode of communication across phones, tablets and TVs with HOTstream 3+, one of the most innovative platforms in the market.

Guests can view TV, VOD, view bills or make restaurant or spa bookings through the one screen. For hotels, it provides a solidified revenue and information stream, and can be tailormade with branded applications, reflecting each hotel’s unique proposition. hotstream.eu

APPLICO FRESCOS Liven up a blank wall or ceiling with a beautiful Applico fresco scene. Made to measure and with over 1,000 customisable designs, this Italian company has patented specialised technology to create amazing effects, such as cracks or an aged look, to make your space unique. The frescos are humid resistant , wipe clean and environmentally friendly. They look just like a hand-painted plaster mural, but only take up to a week to commission and install. applico.ru/en/

AUGUST 2012

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ON POINT

HP’s new retail system, the HP RP7 will help cement the global brand’s position in the Middle Eastern market

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CUSTOMER RELATIONS, FOH & ADMINISTRATION / TRENDS

The HP RP7

H

P’s known for its printers and computers right? But it’s slowly increasing the market share in its retail solutions division, with customers attracted to HP’s cost centralising efforts through using a standard base platform across all their operating systems. Decreasing clients’ costs and help them to futureproof their technology needs is central to HP’s appeal, says Gwen Coble, Product Manager, Retail Solutions, HP Personal Systems Group, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

“People want to come to HP because we’ve made huge investments into consumer and commercial R&D in the computer and printer business, so people trust us to help them identify and lead the next technology trends.

It’s a unique leverage for us, as we help drive the market ourselves.”

HP has only been in the Retail Solutions industry in the MENA region since 2010, when it released its first generation POS system but its continued investment into the local market is paying off.

“IBM used to be the market leader, but they announced their exit earlier this year,” says Coble. “Where other companies are being challenged here, HP is continuing to invest in the market and there will be continued announcements over the next six months.”

“There’s definitely plenty of opportunities, we’ve been impressed with Dubai’s growth in the retail market. It has an interesting blend of all the top labels in the world and is an innovative retail landscape, so there’s a lot of different opportunities for digital signage and POS. We’re focusing on the UAE and also in Saudi Arabia,” she explains.

HP’s strategic direction for this division is to ‘guide retailers and consumers through their shopping journey, helping brands to be consistent across multiple channels’, so they become ‘omnichanelled.’ To do this they’ve released their second generation POS device.

The HP RP7 can be used across

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Where other companies are being challenged, HP is continuing to invest in the market and there will be continued announcements over the next six months

Gwen Coble, Product Manager, Retail Solutions, HP Personal Systems Groups, EMEA

traditional retail outlets, F&B and Front of House spaces and gives both POS kiosk and interactive signage solutions.

It comes with either a 38.1cm or 43.2cm touch-enabled display that is sealed to withstand environmental concerns like water and dust. Add ons include, magnetic stripe readers, webcams, fingerprint readers or a two line 25.4cm diagonal customer display.

The company brought out its first generation POS system in 2010, since then it has been busy listening to retail and client feedback and helping to guide technology trends, which can then be applied to the HP RP7, such as the new product following a major trend, the ‘consumerisation of IT’.

“There has been a huge demand to make sure that the hard end of our retail services is similar to what people experience on a consumer level through their own personal mobile technology, such as iPhones,” Coble explains.

“The HP RP7 has a modern look and feel with multi-touch technology, making it inline with the rest of the industry and similar to mobile devices. It can be configured in different ways, with various screen sizes and these screens can be staff or consumer facing. So for a front

desk set up, the screens could show the guest checking in, anything from the weather to your loyalty programme information. You can also use the system without a base as a mini digital frame or set it into a wall, so guests can use it to check in at airports and so on, a bit like having your own virtual concierge.”

Another area of feedback which has been listened to and acted on, is for HP’s products to have a longer life cycle, so the HP RP7 will be on sale for five years, with spares sold for an additional five. This again will help to futureproof hotels’ investments into the technology hardware.

And despite being geared up for traditional retail, HP are seeing hospitality as a future key market.

“Ten years ago there was a big shift in technology,” explains Coble. “The hotel of the future used to be talked about as being five years away, but now it’s reckoned to be only one or two years away because of the rate of technology change. There’s a large customer base here and people want modern technology in hotels so there’s a lot of updating going on and blending of technology, which is a big opportunity for us.”

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TRENDS / HR, RECRUITMENT & TRAINING

Getting recruitment right John Khan aims to strengthen hospitality in the Middle East, one person at a time

H

HBME: What can you and Reed offer that doesn’t exist already?

JK: I will be recruiting solely at a top

aving worked for Gordon Ramsay, headhunting over 100 top level staff for him, John Khan knows a thing or two about recruiting the best talents available for the hospitality industry.

He moved to Doha last month, as he is heading up Reed’s new Leisure & Hospitality division in the Middle East. Passionate about his job and his industry, Khan is breathing new life and new expectations into the region’s recruitment plans.

We caught up with him to get his impression on hospitality in the region and how he believes he can improve the status quo.

HBME: What’s the attraction for someone at the top level to leave London or New York and move to the Middle East?

John Khan: I think it depends on what you’re looking for but there are huge opportunities here in the Middle East and for the hospitality industry, it is the most exciting region right now.

It has very diverse emerging markets from the huge expansion in Saudi Arabia to Beirut. There’s lots of activity and it’s the right time.

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level to help strengthen the region at an executive level. I want to build up a strong network of key people who are here for a long period of time.

I think there’s a slight trust issue for people working in London or the US, they feel that recruiters here don’t quite cater for their needs. There are very few dedicated hospitality recruiters, most of them are general and have picked up some hospitality roles, but they perhaps don’t understand the real, long term needs of senior hospitality staff.

I want to bring over people who will contribute to the devlopment of this region for the next ten years

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HBME: How does business differ here?

JK: One of the differences I noticed straight away was the pace of business over here, compared to London. As someone who’s used to working with Gordon Ramsay, where everything had to be done yesterday, that’s going to take some adjusting to!

HBME: What are the gaps in recruitment in hospitality in the region?

JK: There has been a lack of knowledge

here I think amongst hoteliers and recruiters about what their roles need. The region hasn’t perhaps been attracting the right people and there’s misunderstanding about who these right people are and what they’re looking for. Out here recruiters focus on qualifications and stints at particular restaurants that are renowned, but they’re not looking at the person themselves, what skills they have, who they’ve worked with and what their goals are.

HBME: How does your experience in London help you out in the Middle East?

JK: Local employers don’t know the London or global markets as well as I do, and they don’t always realise there are many more staffing levels over there, so employing someone because a particular job title matches what you’re looking for, might not mean that have all the strength and experience that they need in order to run a professional team. There needs to be a slight education.

I’ve witnessed people coming out to the Middle East, and rising a couple of levels in their career overnight and

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HR, RECRUITMENT & TRAINING / TRENDS

they don’t have the right skills and experience to fulfill that role. Packages in the Middle East are attractive but these can attract the wrong people as well as the right ones.

HBME: How can having the right person at the top help the overall business?

JK: To create five star teams you need strong leaders who can inspire and motivate a multinational team, especially in regions where you’ve got large volumes of lower line staff being recruited. Although these strong managers might cost more to begin with, their ability to train staff will mean in the future, their low line staff will able to become leaders themselves, bringing costs down in the long run.

Having an inefficient manager does have a knock on effect on customer service. There are processes I’ve seen in action in local hotels that are quite surprising and questionable and these have come about because the person in charge isn’t as experienced as they need to be, so they get stressed and make bad decisions. You’ve got people out of their depth.

HBME: What did you pick up working Gordon Ramsay that is useful here?

JK: Working for Gordon Ramsay was a lot of pressure to constantly employ the best people every time, but also not just the best right now, but the best

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for the company and work out how long the person will be with you. That’s what this region needs to focus on.

HBME: What other issues have you found in the regional hospitality industry?

JK: Another issue I’ve seen out here, that has been a surprise, has been the problem of retaining staff. I thought with all the sponsorship issues that people would stay in one job but that isn’t the case. There is a problem with managers who can’t keep their staff, which damages the team, the customer service levels and it isn’t cost effective.

A lot of this is down to recruiters not matching the right people to the right job and finding out exactly what each candidate wants to do long term.

Top level staff need progression and if a hotel doesn’t offer this then they will lose them to someone who does.

It’s a big risk employing staff as they can always use a brand to come over, get the experience and move on. I want to stop that happening, I want to bring over people who will contribute to the development of this region for the next ten years.

HBME: How do you combat this move around happening?

JK: Because so many top line people

I think the Middle East can rival New York or London within five years time, it’s well on the way.

It has the right buildings, the right brands, it just needs the right people

John Khan, Recruitment Manager for Hospitality & Leisure, Reed

have moved around so frequently over the last few years, it trickles down to all levels and now people think it’s the norm, but it isn’t constructive for

the region, so I really want to work hard to put an end to this. If we can stop it at the top level it will stabilise across the other levels. I want to help build the companies here, and have my people develop themselves within that company. I am selective about my candidates, all the people I recommend, are people I’ve either worked with or close associates have recommended to me. So I can speak more openly with them and find out what they want long term, not just in the next year or two.

Every single person I bring over is a representative of me. There’s huge pressure to make sure I find the right people. If someone leaves within two years that wouldn’t reflect well on me and that’s not what I want.

People don’t just want more money.

I think there’s a misconception here that if you throw money at a problem it will go away, but it won’t for long.

Employees want more training, more recognition or benefits rather than a couple more thousand and a lot of the time it isn’t a lot of extra investment.

HBME: Can the Middle East rival London or New York for F&B and hospitality in five or ten years’ time?

JK: I think the Middle East can rival New York or London within five years time, it’s well on the way. It has the right buildings, the right brands, it just needs the right people.

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TRENDS / SPA

Spa solutions The UAE spa industry is one that has exploded in recent years, and a hotel isn’t a hotel nowadays without a spa experience. But what are the pitfalls that hoteliers face when developing a spa concept?

W

e talk with Esadore, a creative consultancy group which offers an all round service from concept to staff training, and with Barr+Wray, a spa engineering provider, both international brands who have set up dedicated headquarters in Dubai, to find out how they overcome the biggest challenges in this market.

ESADORE Originating in Melbourne, Australia, ESADORE relocated to Dubai in 2008.

The company runs as two divisions.

The first, a Wellness Division provides turn-key solutions for its clients, offering, consulting (including feasibility studies) space planning, operational development, supplies and procurement, product sourcing, interior design, brand creation, operational management, recruitment and training, quality assurance and audits. Its Creative Division offers bespoke design for the hospitality

division across architectural, interior design, graphic design and hydro engineering. Managing Director, Theodora Kioussis shares her thoughts on the issues ahead.

HBME: What is the biggest challenge to working in this region for you?

Theodora Kioussis: One of the challenges we face regularly is to make the client understand the difference between a spa designed by an interior designer or a supplier versus a spa designed by a team that know what it takes to operate a spa well. The client needs to have on board a specialist team that understands what it takes to operate a profitable spa, otherwise they will simply have a short-term approach to their investment.

HBME: How much do your clients think about sustainability or saving their water and energy?

TK: Up to now this subject hasn’t been raised initially a lot by our UAE

If your spa does not run efficiently due to poor design then you will lose your revenuegenerating component, - your client

Clockwise from top: Australian project from ESADORE; ESADORE’s Nine Degrees concept images

Theodora Kioussis, Managing Director, Esadore

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SPA / TRENDS

clients, which does raise a concern for us since we are living in an area which has one of the largest water usages per capita in the world.

HBME: How do educate your clients to become more sustainable?

TK: Originating from a country which focuses heavily on sustainability we have been instrumental in raising these very important aspects of the environment, as spas usually include water and thermal areas and we feel it is our duty to ensure these points are raised and discussed in detail to protect the environment.

HBME: What are the biggest mistakes you come across in spa design or consultancy?

TK: Spa operation is a very specialised area which involves including specific areas, well thought out space allocation and adjacencies which will allow for a smooth running operation and a unique experience for the end user. What is evident to us that some of the most aesthetically beautiful spas have some of these key components missed out of the design.

HBME: What do you advise to avoid them?

TK: We strongly advise to have a specialist spa consultancy on board at the initial design stages of the spa, to ensure once your spa is built so it will function smoothly for both the guest and operator.

HBME: When undertaking feasibility studies, what are the biggest stumbling blocks when working with hotel operators or owners?

TK: Usually the vision doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t match the budget, or the location of the spa project does not allow for a true spa experience. We still face a lot of operators and owners not realising how important it is for their brand to have a spa experience for guests.

HBME: How do you provide solutions to these challenges?

TK: We take a personal approach to each project as we believe our success is linked to our clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. We

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TRENDS / SPA

always follow a transparent attitude and never try to oversell our services, we analyse our client’s vision, brief and budget and work toward creating inspiring, affordable and profitable spas for them.

Nine Degrees out door spa

HBME: What kind of spa concepts can deliver high ROI for hotels?

TK: There really isn’t a specific concept that makes a higher ROI. It’s more about creating a unique concept that fits with your brand, that has USPs in design and will create a memorable experience for your guests, then intergrading those with clearly defined, quality treatments, high quality products, investing in qualified talented staff and continuing with quality assurance programmes and audits.

architecture and interior design, graphics and hydro engineering, to the deployment and operational setup. ESADORE international attracts a lot of clients as we have all of these divisions in house which not only saves time but adds value to each project we undertake.

HBME: How important is co-ordination with a spa engineering firm, or do you also provide this service?

TK: It is vital to have a strong co-

HBME: How fatal is it to a spa’s ROI if the layout or concept is wrong?

TK: It can mean the difference

ordination throughout all of the stages of creating a spa from the initial concept development and design,

between a make or break a business,

you have to know who is your target market and what type of spa will attract your target and ultimately if your space layout is wrong, or if your spa does not run efficiently due to poor design, then you will lose your revenue-generating component which is your client! However, this is not the only thing that can affect a spa business’ ROI, there needs to be a perfect equilibrium achieved between the design, facilities and service.

BARR + WRAY With 50 years experience and the leading provider of spa engineering solutions and ideas for water and thermal experiences in the UK, Barr+Wray also moved to the UAE four years ago. The company works alongside a spa consultant, interior design firm or a hotel’s spa director to deliver the best results to its client. Currently the Middle Eastern office works on around 15 projects at any one time. Having worked on projects such as the recently launched Eastern Mangroves for Anantara and the Park Hyatt, both in Abu Dhabi, the firm is starting to take on projects in other GCC countries. Peter Rietveld, Managing Director, explains how his company tries to educate the local market when it comes to M&E.

SLP Hodson Bay Hotel, Ireland

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TRENDS / SPA

HBME: What can be the issues if clients don’t provide enough investment for the engineering?

Peter Rietveld: If people don’t put in

and there’s nothing against that but there are certain things you shouldn’t compromise on.

the right investment to begin with and take more risks on lower quality design, engineering or finishing then the higher the chance you’re going to have problems with the area later on. And it will end up costing more.

People will try and be cost-effective

HBME: What are the biggest challenges when it comes to sustainability and how do you overcome them?

PR: Sometimes you’re working with people who don’t have the experience you need them to. We try and educate people to go green. It takes some

If they build things to our recommendations then they will have less problems, less downtime and less operating costs but they do need to invest a little more to begin with Peter Rietveld, Managing Director, Barr+Wray

people a long time. We advise clients on new technologies which can help with saving energy or water and if they build things to our recommendations then they will have less problems, less downtime and less operating costs, but they do need to invest a little more to begin with. A lot of hotel owners here don’t want a bigger initial investment but they don’t think long term enough.

If you build something for $10,000 and it doesn’t work, you’re stuck with it, surely it’s better to invest more and have something that can operate and earn revenue every day?

HBME: Can you give us an example of where technologies you advise on save on operating costs?

PR: There are lots, but let’s use a steam room. We use a particular material in the walls of steam rooms which is highly insulated. Steam is quite aggressive compared to water because of its higher pressure so if you insulate a room properly you can control that environment and can reduce the kilowatts you need. So instead of using 25 kilowatts, you need half that amount which is going to save operating costs. Steam rooms are operational ten hours a day, every day, that’s a lot of energy to save.

HBME: Do you often get called in to fix an existing spa?

PR: You can’t fix something once it’s

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SPA / TRENDS

afterwards so you need cold water. But we have only hot water here, so the water needs to be chilled to around 15 degrees. It’s important for your body, but many people don’t do that. There is also a huge difference in technology, in some parts of the world, it’s hugely important and in others it isn’t.

HBME: What is the most complex part of a project for you and how do you look to smooth it out?

PR: The co-ordination between people

Clockwise from top: Hyatt Capital Gate Abu Dhabi; Hamman at Eastern Mangroves by Anantara; Four Seasons Hamman, Baku

been installed and is finished. You have to rip it out and start again.

Wet areas are very expensive and if you invest wrongly, then it’s a waste of work and money. If you have the wrong concept or take the wrong advice it will cost you money.

can be difficult. To do our work, we need a floor, drainage, ventilation, a water supply and civil works to all be in place. If you have people with no experience, or who think they have experience, the order in which they do things might not be right. We prepare our M&E drawings to show what we need, where and when but if they don’t follow them or put drains in different places then we have to start again and that costs time and money.

HBME: When it comes to having efficient facilities, what challenges exist in the Middle East, that don’t elsewhere?

PR: We find that people don’t fully initiate the whole concept properly.

Take a sauna or a steam experience.

The body needs to cool down

Advert

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A real work of art Modern hotels need hundreds of pieces of art, but how much thought goes into what’s hanging on the walls?

L

ee Ixer is the artist and art consultant behind Eastern Fusions, which has been supplying hotels in the region with bespoke art for the last 12 years.

Ixer’s expertise on how great art can really bring a hotel to life (and his skill

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for avoiding bad art, which can date a hotel very quickly), has seen him work with everyone from the St Regis Saadiyat Island to Park Hyatt, Dubai.

“We work a lot with an interior design company called Interior Motives who are fantastic, and really

AUGUST 2012

understand what clients want. Because we’ve worked with them a lot, they know I can deliver the art based around any concept so they trust me to come up with what they need with no fuss,” he explains.

From original paintings to abstract photographs, all of Eastern Fusions’ artwork is unique to that hotel, and can be customised to fit any space, from brightening up dull corridors to providing a ‘wow’ moment when guests arrive in the lobby.

But how should this process work?

We go behind the scenes with Ixer to understand the best way to go about filling those walls.

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INTERIOR DESIGN / TRENDS

A hotel should be like a museum, with plenty of things to look at and see

Lee Ixer, Owner, Eastern Fusions

Creating the artwork Whether it’s an original or a print, hotels require a huge number of individual pieces. A 350 room property might require around 1,000 pictures – and Ixer, will work on around a dozen original pieces that can be replicated in different combinations across

the bedrooms. Original artwork is important in the public areas, he feels as “A hotel should be like a museum with plenty of things to look at and see. A few decent sculptures or large pieces will be worth the investment, to tie the large spaces together, they should inspire and amaze and provide a sense of centre to the hotel.”

Getting a brief An interior designer such as Interior Motives will work with an art consultant like Ixer to brief him. They’ll bring together fabric samples, tiles, colour charts and anything that helps conjure up the feel of the room that the interior designer is going for. Artwork will then be commissioned to fit the environment.

For this picture, the owner is after something chic and abstract.

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The final piece in place From brief to production takes Ixer anywhere from two weeks to three months, depending on the size of the order. The final artwork should help tie the room together, ni matter where it is. This rendering, taken from a new hotel in West Bay, Doha fulfills the brief of being modern

AUGUST 2012

with Middle Eastern touches. A sense of identity is key says Ixer. “Artworks can help tie a hotel to a location or a region so the guest has a sense of where they are staying. Subtle Arabic or Middle Eastern touches in the art can help provide an identity in the hotel – and it only needs to be a tone, not overstated.”

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JOB WATCH

Job watch Time to move on? We can help. All jobs can be applied for through the Hozpitality website DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: HR Level: Top Management Location: Abu Dhabi Salary Description: Attractive Posted: 10/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP Recruiter: Hozpitality Consulting We are looking for a DOSM for our client, a new 5 star hotel opening in Abu Dhabi towards the end of 2012. The right candidate should have similar experience in Abu Dhabi market with star hotels. Attractive salary and benefits.

DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: HR Level: Top Management Location: Dubai Salary Description: Negotiable Posted: 21/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP Recruiter: Hozpitality Consulting International Chain - 5 star hotel - needs a Dubai candidate. Must have a minimum of four years of experience in a similar position within a 5 star property in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. We are currently seeking a passionate and dynamic guest-focused sales and marketing professional with proven strategic planning skills. Must act as a sales specialist and be responsible to assist the related revenue and maximise it in the most profitable way in line with the agreed targets. The candidate is expected to build and develop relationships with key providers, wholesalers and other business sources and be a motivational team leader.

Bachelor degree in business or hospitality management and Arabic is an advantage. Will report directly to the General Manager.

Department: HR Level: Department Head Location: Fujairah Salary Description: Negotiable Posted: 21/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP Recruiter: Concorde Hotel Fujairah The individual we are looking for should possess the following skills and qualities: t 5FBN TQJSJU t (VFTU PSJFOUFE PVUHPJOH BOE TFSWJDF NJOEFE t 'MFYJCMF t 3FTQPOTJWF t -FBEFSTIJQ t 8FMM PSHBOJTFE t %FDJTJWF BVUPOPNPVT BOE FOUSFQSFOFVSJBM t &YDFMMFOU QSFTFOUBUJPO Key tasks: The Food and Beverage Manager ensures the high standard of services provided for guests and the attainment of the departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s qualitative and quantitative targets. Conveys the hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image and atmosphere through his/ her exemplary attitude, warm and friendly welcome, availability and frequent presence in the field. Manages and motivates the teams in order to improve sales and the quality of the F&B services. Strong experience in local weddings is a must. Minimum of two years work experience as Food & Beverage Manager in reputable four or five star hotel.

FOOD & BEVERAGE DIRECTOR - ARABIC NATIONAL ONLY Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & BUSINESS SUPPORT Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: Finance Level: Top Management Location: Dubai Salary Description: Attractive Posted: 21/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP Overview A luxury five star hotel in Dubai, is looking for a dynamic finance professional to join their growing, motivated team as a Director of Finance and Business Support.

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AUGUST 2012

THE CLOSEST TO PERFECTION A PERSON EVER COMES IS WHEN HE FILLS OUT A JOB APPLICATION FORM STANLEY J. RANDALL

The Director of Finance and Business Support is expected to carry out the finance and accounting functions for the Company. Their job responsibilities include achieving long term and short-term objectives, and ensuring that financial resources are effectively utilised to realise these objectives. The duties encompass managing the Companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s financial affairs, directing & facilitating the day to day operations of the accounts department, preparation and consolidation of the annual and long-term Capital, Operating & Revenue budgets and business plans, developing and implementing corporate policies, systems and procedures, liaising with the owning company, following-up on joint venture accounts, managing risk and cash flow, comparing budget vs. actual balance sheet, offering full business support to the General Manager.

Below are basic responsibilities not be limited to: t 3FTQPOTJCMF GPS UIF IPUFM T BDDPVOUJOH BOE financial management requirements. t .BOBHJOH UIF BDDPVOUJOH EFQBSUNFOU procurement function and electronic data processing systems. t 1SPWJEF UIF HFOFSBM NBOBHFS BOE UPQ management with meaningful and timely information on the status of the hotelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s performance. t "TTJTU QSPBDUJWFMZ XJUI DPTU DPOUBJONFOU SFWFOVF enhancement, profit improvement opportunities and safeguarding of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assets. t $PODFQUVBMJTBUJPO PG SFUVSO PO JOWFTUNFOUT t &OTVSF UIBU BMM ĂśOBODFT BSF QSPQFSMZ BENJOJTUFSFE and monitored, including credit control. t "EWJTF PO UIF QSPQFS BMMPDBUJPO PG SFTPVSDFT t &OTVSF UIBU BQQSPQSJBUF ĂśOBODJBM SFHVMBUJPOT BOE controls are in place and in use at all times. t 1SFQBSF SFHVMBS SFQPSUT UP UIF PXOJOH DPNQBOZ on income, expenditure and any variations from budget.

Requirements: t .VTU IBWF BO BDDPVOUJOH RVBMJĂśDBUJPO t .JOJNVN PG ZFBST XPSL FYQFSJFODF JO UIF Finance and Accounting arena. t .JOJNVN PG UISFF ZFBST JO B TFOJPS ĂśOBODF position t 4USPOH LOPXMFEHF PG DPSQPSBUF ĂśOBODF QSJODJQMFT t 4USPOH NBOBHFNFOU BOE MFBEFSTIJQ TLJMMT t #SPBE LOPXMFEHF PG SJTL NBOBHFNFOU t "CJMJUZ UP CVJME SFMBUJPOTIJQT BOE DPNNVOJDBUF effectively t &YDFMMFOU OFHPUJBUJPO TLJMMT t $BQBCJMJUZ UP EFBM XJUI TUSBUFHJD JTTVFT JODMVEJOH planning, setting objectives and evaluating performance and progress

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JOB WATCH Jobs supplied by:

t 5FDIOJDBMMZ TUSPOH XJUI BO BCJMJUZ UP EFWFMPQ BOE implement systems, procedures and policies and a strong understanding of computerised information management systems t $PNQFUJUJWF TBMBSZ BOE CFOFĂśUT EFQFOEJOH PO the experience of the applicant.

SPA DIRECTOR Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: Leisure & spas Level: Department Head Location: Dubai Salary Description: Attractive Posted: 19/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP We are looking for a SPA Director for a renowned international five star hotel opening in Dubai towards the end of 2012. Candidate should have similar experience in branded five star hotels in UAE/Middle East. Attractive salary and benefits offered.

IT MANAGER Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: IT Level: Department Head Location: Dubai Salary Description: Attractive Posted: 17/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP Our client, a reputed four star property based in Dubai, UAE is seeking for a passionate and an innovative aspirant. Applicants are expected to have at least two-three years experience in a similar role and more or less 10 years in the hospitality segment. Salary is Dhs5,000 plus benefits as per company policy. Reports to: the General Manager.

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: Finance Level: Top Management Location: Dubai Salary Description: Attractive Posted: 19/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP We are looking for a CFO/ Chief Financial Officer which will be based in Dubai. Preferably Indian

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FAR AND AWAY THE BEST PRIZE THAT LIFE HAS TO OFFER IS THE CHANCE TO WORK HARD AT WORK WORTH DOING THEODORE ROOSEVELT

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: HR Level: Department Head Location: Dubai Salary Description: Attractive Posted: 17/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP We currently have a unique opportunity for a skilled and experienced Human Resources Manager, the role is to deliver strategic, added value human resources interventions across Rixos Hotels and contributes a high level of human resource knowledge and expertise for a designated property. Key duties involve : t1MBO BOE GPSFDBTU UIF TIPSU BOE MPOH UFSN manpower requirements for the hotel to support the business plans and ensure all positions hold up to date job descriptions compiled by the relevant Department Heads t 3FTQPOTJCMF GPS NBJOUBJOJOH B GVMMZ functioning Human Resources department

including employment, screening, referrals, personnel record keeping, compensation and benefits, work permits and visa processing. t &ODPVSBHF B HPPE TUBOEBSE PG FNQMPZFF conduct and behaviour and coordinate disciplinary procedure when necessary t $PPSEJOBUF DPOUSPM BOE JOTQFDU BMM TUBGG facilities t 1SPWJEF B GSBNFXPSL GPS DPVOTFMJOH DPBDIJOH and welfare services t .BJOUBJO DMPTF DPOUBDU XJUI BMM %FQBSUNFOU Heads through departmental visits, serving as an advisor and internal consultant on employee relations issues t &OTVSF UIF QVCMJDBUJPO PG BO FNQMPZFF T communication programmes on a regular basis t &OTVSF UIBU UIF TUBOEBSET SFRVJSFE CZ MBX BOE

by Management are maintained at all times in all Human Resources related areas. t &OTVSF BO FGGFDUJWF 5SBJOJOH %FWFMPQNFOUT applications and process is in place General duties involve: t 5P QSPNPUF FGGJDJFODZ DPOGJEFODF DPVSUFTZ and an extremely high standard of social skills t 5P HFOFSBMMZ QSPNPUF BOE FOTVSF HPPE JOUFS departmental relations t 5P EJTQMBZ B QMFBTBOU NBOOFS BOE QPTJUJWF attitude at all times and to promote a good company image to guests and colleagues t 5P EFNPOTUSBUF QSJEF JO UIF XPSLQMBDF BOE personal appearance at all times when representing the hotel thus identifying a high level of commitment t 5P BEIFSF UP $PNQBOZ BOE )PUFM SVMFT BOE regulations at all times Qualifications / Experience needed: t # BDIFMPST %FHSFF JO )VNBO 3FTPVSDFT Business, or a related field, required t . JOJNVN GJWF ZFBST JO B TJNJMBS SPMF XJUIJO B reputable hotel chain preferred with MiddleEast experience t 4USPOH MFBEFSTIJQ TLJMMT FOBCMF IF TIF UP direct the efforts of a team of diverse human resources professionals t 1SPWFO CBDLHSPVOE JO FGGFDUJWFMZ NBOBHJOH B multicultural environment t % ZOBNJD BOE PVUHPJOH QFSTPOBMJUZ XJUI B â&#x20AC;&#x153;Can-doâ&#x20AC;? attitude t 4LJMMFE JO DSFBUJOH QPTJUJWF TUBGG environments t)3 BOE 5SBJOJOH UFSUJBSZ RVBMJGJDBUJPOT t "CJMJUZ UP GPTUFS DIBOHF DSFBUF TPMJE XPSLJOH relationships t & YDFQUJPOBM DVTUPNFS TFSWJDF BOE QFSTPOBM grooming standards

AUGUST 2012

HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST / 63

nationality and aged between 40-50 years old, who has worked at international hotel chains and who have been in charge of multiple properties or who hold a cooperate role with Dubai/GCC experience. Max. basic salary is Dhs35,000 per month++ Family Package.

CPA holder is a plus.

PR, MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Industry: Hotels Clubs and Spas Department: IT Level: Department Head Location: Dubai Salary Description: Attractive Posted: 17/07/2012 Start Date: ASAP We are looking for a PR & Marketing Communications Manager, for a renownned international hotel in Dubai with knowledge about UAE market and experience in hospitality field (mandatory). Can be also someone who has been working for two-three years as Asst PR & Marketing Communications Manager.

Arabic speaking lady required with experience in five star property. Package to be discussed Dhs10-12.K (upon experience) plus one bedroom appartment.

COMMENT

A tale of two cities H

Stewart Coggans, Executive Vice President, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels dissects Q2 performance

otel performance in the UAE for the first five months of 2012 has highlighted a contrast between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi markets. This polarisation of performance looks set to continue in the short to mid-term.

Dubai Based on market data as provided

by STR, the international hotel benchmarking firm, Dubai has shown a 2012 Year to May occupancy level of 83 per cent compared to 79 per cent for the same period in 2011. Dubai saw a 2012 Year to May Average Daily Rate (ADR) of USD254 in comparison to USD237 for the same period in 2011.

Overall Revenue Per Average Room (RevPAR) increased from USD189 to USD213 in 2012.

In percentage terms this translates to a Year to Date increase in occupancy of four per cent, an increase in ADR of seven per cent and an increase in RevPAR of 12.7 per cent in 2012 compared with the same period in 2011. RevPAR for the full 12 months from May 2011 to May 2012 showed an increase of 13.2 per cent.

This performance is analysed based on an aggregate of 32,750 rooms from contributing hotels based in Dubai.

Abu Dhabi Conversely, Abu Dhabi has shown a 2012 Year to May occupancy of 62 per cent in comparison to 68 per cent for the same period in 2011, an ADR of USD164 in comparison to USD180 for the same period in 2011, and RevPAR decreased from USD123 to USD102 for the same period.

In percentage terms this translates to a decrease in occupancy of six per cent, a decrease in ADR of nine per cent and a decrease in RevPAR of 17 per cent in 2012 compared with the

64 / HOSPITALITY BUSINESS MIDDLE EAST

AUGUST 2012

same period in 2011. RevPAR for the full 12 months from May 2011 to May 2012 showed a decrease of 13 per cent.

This performance is analysed based on an aggregate of 13,250 rooms from contributing hotels based in Abu Dhabi.

Why are they so different?

The primary reason for this polarity in hotel performance is the strength of Dubai’s leisure demand in comparison to Abu Dhabi’s predominately corporate driven business that is less resilient. Secondly, despite both markets showing improved demand (in total guest nights) in 2011, new supply in Abu Dhabi has overshadowed any potential gains that demand growth would have generated in other, more mature destinations.

Dubai with a development pipeline of over 12,000 new rooms for 20122014 would cause most global destinations a serious performance headache. However, compared to Abu

Dhabi, Dubai seems well placed to absorb this new inventory with strong demand growth.

Abu Dhabi, which is at an earlier stage in the cycle, is working hard to create a stronger leisure destination with the ongoing development of Yas Island, Saadiyat Island and Etihad Airlines growing network holding the key to creating a more mature market capable of absorbing new additions to the cities burgeoning hotel offering.

We are of the opinion that in the short to mid-term we will see Dubai’s overall market performance continuing to improve, despite new supply, whilst we see Abu Dhabi having a difficult time until the main tourism attractions are completed in 2014-2016. Once open, they will help secure additional leisure demand to create a more robust hotel operating environment in the capital.

Stewart Coggans is the Executive Vice President of Jones Long Lasalle Hotels.

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