Kamal Chaoui
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How has the year panned out for the hotel?
We have started off well and from a meeting perspective, we are very pleased. The product has been very well received as our guests find the facilities very convenient. The Sky Dome is a special feature that is new to the city as it provides a natural daylight break. The line-up of meetings we have had so far in the hotel include corporate meetings, large pharmaceutical events and even government meetings and official diplomatic events. Looking ahead, we are quite optimistic about how things will continue.
Which regions do you see an increase of the meeting business? We are seeing more and more interest coming from Asia in general. This would be primarily because our forte – a Thai brand – added to it we are well represented in South East Asia. Our reach has been extensive in that part of the world. Recently, there have also been a lot of European meeting organisers. However, in general we attract a good mix of international meetings.
Could you elaborate on your guest and business mix?
We are definitely a business hotel because of our location and facilities. This aside, we have seen more and more leisure guests staying with us during public holidays. The reason is very evident as some of the Corniche-based hotels tend to fill up very quickly and we work as a good alternative. Our location advantage works to our benefit with the hotel being positioned just 10-15 minutes away from the beach side and fairly close to most of the Yas Attractions. In a nutshell, our percentage mix would be 80:20 ratio. The leisure guests are increasing in number from Asia while most recently we welcomed Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese groups too.
Which markets do you see marketing the property going forward?
We tend to follow what Abu Dhabi is strong at such as focusing on the government and defense, oil and gas sectors. We gauge traffic movements into the emirate and accordingly promote our hotels in these destinations. This could be from UK, France, Switzerland or Germany. Then, there are the emerging markets such as China and India.
How do you see the hotel extending its reach?
We take advantage of our sister property in Dubai and their network. We have several regional sales offices too. Abu Dhabi is a different market from Dubai. It has a combination of business and leisure. The leisure business helps them a lot outside of peak periods. We would like to follow a similar path such as Abu Dhabi focusing on leisure segment but with a cultural and art emphasis.
Do we see any new developments at the hotel?
We do not have any major changes in the hotel being fairly new. We try to adjust our offerings based on customer expectations. Our outlets are such that they are not too specific and can blend with customers’ requirements accordingly. We can also modify our buffet. For example, we have seen a lot of demand for Asian food, more than we expected. This helps us tweak our food and beverage offering to present more Asian options.
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