Recently BR Research met two hoteliers from Avari Dubai Hotels and Apartments--the only Pakistani hotel company that has hotel outside Pakistan-Ramzi Assily, the Cluster General Manager in Dubai and Mannan Khan, their Director Sales and Marketing. The duo was visiting Pakistan to create awareness about the brand in Dubai. The following is an edited transcript.
"Of all the Pakistanis visiting Dubai, majority stays with us," says Ramzi, who feels there is still plenty of room to grow. "In terms of nationality of our guests, Saudi Arabia comes first and Pakistan comes second--but we still feel there is plenty of room to grow. We would want to be the preferred hotel for Pakistanis travelling to Dubai," says Ramzi.
When asked what prevents Pakistanis from staying in Avari Dubai, Ramzi says their immediate reaction is that "'I have tried Avari in Pakistan so I would like to try something else in Dubai, and I say 'there is nothing wrong with that, but, if you are comfortable with the product in Pakistan and our team is taking good care of you--and our team is indeed doing an excellent job in Pakistan-then why don't you book yourself into Avari when you come to Dubai--you get the same quality of service," says Ramzi. "When the French come to Dubai they all come to Le Meridian Hotel. We want it to be the same with us," he adds.
As the conversation moved to Dubai's future as tourist destination vis-à-vis its sister Abu Dhabi, Ramzi highlights that the percentage of corporate volume coming to Abu Dhabi is much higher than what comes to Dubai, whereas the percentage of volume in leisure business is higher in Dubai.
"Abu Dhabi is building at a rapid pace; many new malls and hotels have come up, and they have leisure facilities as well such as speed boating, desert safari, etc. But they have much to work on before they meet the kind infrastructure Dubai has. Also Abu Dhabi is in a little bit of oversupply in the hotel industry at the moment. The tourist programme in Abu Dhabi is limited compared to what is in Dubai," he said. Ramzi adds that Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing works very efficiently--especially its co-ordination with the outside work. "Any major exhibition you go to, such as World Travel Market, ITB, or other tourist exhibition, you will find that Dubai's stand is huge and draws most visitors."
The number of visitors at Dubai airport is about 60 million per annum, and with the launch of its new airport, the number of passengers a year will shoot to 90 million, becoming one of the top airports of the world after Heathrow and New York. At this point, Mannan joins the conversation. Explaining the business dynamics, Mannan says more than 65 percent of Avari Dubai's business comes from the leisure segment, the second biggest segment is corporate segment.
"Within corporate segment we are getting good growth from Pakistani market. Besides, there are so many new projects that have either begun or due to begin soon which unveils excellent opportunities," says Mannan referring Dubai's bid for Expo 2020. For those not following this exciting development, the UAE is bidding to host the World Expo 2020 in Dubai under the theme 'Connecting Minds, Creating the Future'. Every five years and for a period of six months, World Expos attract millions of visitors. Considering that the World Expo has never been held in the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia in the history of the event, all eyes are set on November 22nd, when the details of the Expo 2020 will be announced.
While the duo sound very excited about Expo 2020, Ramzi also echoes some rational concerns. "My fear is that if real estate prices have increased too drastically in anticipation of Expo 2020, then Dubai might also risk a sharp fall once the Expo is over; and we don't want anything reminiscent of what happened in 2009-2010," says Ramzi. This takes us to the Great Recession 2008 onwards; and whether there have been structural changes in the industry after the recession.
"Technology is playing a big role," says Ramzi. "In Dubai there are about 600 properties or about 81,000 rooms categorised in different star ratings, hotels, apartments, house sharing, etc. And the rise of social media is creating great opportunities to people to help find accommodation according to their needs," he said. Another way technology is changing the industry is by way of mobile applications. Ramzi says his hotel is working with a company to develop a phone application. "You will not have to wait at the hotel reception; you can go past it using the online reservation and check-in system, says Ramzi referring to mobile application technologies using which guests can open the doors of their rooms, by passing their mobile--containing the unique code from the hotel--in front of the sensors on the door.
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