What is the asset class and geography you are focused on?
Colliers International hospitality division is a global network of specialist consultants in the hotel, resort, marina, golf, leisure and spa sectors, dedicated to providing strategic advisory services to owners, developers and government institutions to extract best values from projects as assets. As a director and head of the division, my core role is to strategically grow the division’s capabilities and financial performance within the Mena region. My main markets are the GCC countries, Egypt and Morocco.
What is the outlook for the months ahead in your opinion?
I expect positive growth in the performance of hotels across the key cities in the UAE such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. Of particular interest is the growth of the Abu Dhabi and RAK hotel markets, with the two emirates positioning themselves as sophisticated destinations that have the potential to enjoy a four-year growth period. Abu Dhabi's recent initiatives targeting the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions business – combined with Etihad Airways' global route growth – are producing positive results for the emirate, as well as building brand equity. RAK's affordable luxury strategy is proving to be a winning formula, winning it a sizeable share of German and Russian clients. This also is setting it apart as an emirate to watch.
What are the main risks (either upside or downside) to the outlook?
From a hotel operational aspect, the challenge for the industry going forward is service levels and the need to migrate from good to great service. In order for this to come about, human resource strategies need to focus on quality rather than quantity – investing in training and developing staff to provide excellent levels of service. This will result in greater net profits, as staff accommodation costs will also be reduced. At the moment not enough is being done to create a unified tourism strategy that would coordinate the efforts of the different tourism authorities in the country and live the spirit of the union. The creation of a UAE supreme tourism council, comprising all the heads of the seven emirates’ tourism authorities, would be a solution to this. The mission of the body would align the different tourism strategies in the country so that each emirate has a distinct and different draw card for visitors coming to the UAE.
What is the best investment at the moment in your opinion?
Hotel serviced apartments, mid-market and lifestyle hotels. In cities such as Abu Dhabi and Dubai these asset classes will be the driver of owners’ and developers’ profits, tourism numbers for the emirates and above all economic added value to the city retail market.
What was the best investment you were ever involved in?
A recent project comes to mind as a benchmark in the industry, as it exemplifies the benefits of developing lifestyle hotels. My team recently ran a feasibility study and operator selection for the proposed hotel in Al Ain Football Club’s master plan. They have selected Aloft by Starwood as the brand for the hotel. This lifestyle hotel within a world-class development will be the catalyst to attract generations X and Y, who make up a vast portion of the future demographic in Abu Dhabi and the region, and therefore are the hotel industry’s future client base.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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