Leading Hotels of the World is a luxury hospitality company that represents more than 400 hotels and resorts in 80 countries. Hatem Chatter, the Middle East regional director for the organisation, discusses the standards set for its hotels and the shifting travel habits among the population of this region.
How does a hotel become a member of your company?
Hotels approach us. It has to be a five-star deluxe hotel. Then if a hotel is not under a chain, it even increases the chances. We're more into exclusive, unique hotels. If you take a chain, everything is familiar. That's a philosophy we respect, but with Leading Hotels, we want to surprise our guests. We go and examine the hotel to see if it meets our standards, and we'll make various suggestions before they become a "leading hotel". We have continuous checks by mystery shoppers. Sometimes we send warning letters. Hotels pay an annual fee, which varies depending on the property.
How have guests' expectations about what luxury means changed over the years?
If you look at 10 years ago in Dubai, for example, luxury was mainly judged on larger rooms and so on. However, when all this got saturated, it came back to the basics - the service. Don't get me wrong. Having a nice, new, very well-maintained hotel where you don't see the smallest scratch is very important. But this has become very normal. What we're looking at now is the details of the service. Some of the old, classic hotels in New York have such a high quality of service, even within the lift - they don't allow you to press the button.
How do you compete with other travel services in the region?
We offer a full concierge service. If you have a booking, for example, in Paris, you may tell me you need a hotel on the Champs-Élysées. Then you might say you want a stretch limousine and a guide to take you to the Louvre who speaks Arabic. These are the kinds of details that you can arrange over the phone. In the Middle East, we emphasise on it even more. We have more specification requests. I have a prince from Saudi Arabia, for example, when he travels with us to London, all his food is a sugar-free diet menu.
Are there any interesting shifts in travel trends out of the Middle East you've noticed?
Before 9/11 the US was a favourite destination. After 9/11, you had two areas that boomed: Dubai, and for the last five years, Europe. Clients from the Middle East are becoming more willing to explore new destinations. South Africa, for example, is strongly picking up.
What is your favourite holiday destination?
One of [mine] is the Maldives. It's very, very peaceful. I go almost every year, and I try even to do it twice a year if I can.
* Rebecca Bundhun
