Dubai hotel tactics dissuading UK buyers from attending ATM
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Several major UK tour operators have told TDME they are not attending this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM) because they are fed up with inflexible pricing strategies of Dubai hotels.
None of the four UK operators whom TDME contacted, which included two large UK-based consolidators, were willing to reveal their names for fear of commercial repercussions, but said Dubai hotel tactics since the financial crisis had deterred them from attending the trade show.
And one, who was invited to take part in the ATM ‘Hotels Get Real’ debate, which takes place on Tuesday 4 May (1-3pm) and discusses issues such as inflated room and F&B charges at Dubai hotels, as well as the absence of all-inclusive options, said it was for these very reasons he was not attending the show this year.
“Dubai hotels need to get real and get real very fast – they had it so good for years, but one has to now understand that the inflated prices they used to command are no longer acceptable,” he said.
The tour operator said he hoped the aforementioned panel discussion would “make the hotels in Dubai wake up to the reality that the boom days are over and that new pricing levels need to be found.”
He added that Dubai was pricing itself out of the market and was no longer “en vogue” with British travellers.
In that respect, it was losing out to competing destinations
“It is for this reason that I, and a few other tour operators I know, are giving ATM a miss this year,” he said.
“They are looking at other shows like INDABA (Africa’s largest trade show), particularly with the [football] World Cup coming up and the competitive prices South Africa offers.”
This is not the first time the issue of Dubai hotels being unrealistic has reared its ugly head.
Back in January, a senior manager at tour operating giant Tui, said even though Dubai room rates had dropped 25%-35% compared to peak 2008 prices, they still needed to plummet a further 50-60% for Dubai to remain competitive and to fill the number of rooms coming online.
“My message to hoteliers is that we really want to focus on Dubai, but reduce rates more, make your F&B cheaper and offer all-inclusive packages if you want to sustain and grow volumes from the UK market,” he said.
“A market like Egypt, for example, is much more reactive to market demands,” he said.
As a result, Egypt was stealing market share from Dubai in the winter and summer sun stakes as was New York as a weekend break option, he added.
McCool advised Dubai hotels to offer all-inclusive packages, which due to the current economic climate, were proving more popular with British tourists than ever.
Dubai-based DMCs have supported UK tour operators in their grievances, with Arabian Adventures Senior Vice President Frederic Bardin insisting that hoteliers were too late with special deals and obstinate when it came to reducing F&B prices.
Bardin was not available to sit on the ‘Hotels Get Real’ debate at ATM, but sitting on the panel are Movenpick’s Guy Epsom, Seven Tides’ Mike Scully, Expedia’s Walter Lo Faro and Alpha Tours’ Samir Hamadeh.
They will discuss what strategies Dubai hoteliers need to employ in order to maintain and grow market share. Pricing strategies, F&B prices and the need for all-inclusive options will be addressed.
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