Dubai - One of the World’s Most Exciting Countries for New Hotel Developments

Here is my final entry.

Name of the authors: Ted Horner and Floor Bleeker
Title of the article: “Dubai - One of the World’s Most Exciting Countries for New Hotel Developments”
Magazine name: Hospitality Upgrade
Issue: 10/1/2007
URL of the article: http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_magazine/magazine_Detail.asp?ID=245


Summary:

This article gives us a quick look of the hotel technology in Dubai. Since Dubai is the commercial hub of the world’s top oil-exporting region, it creates a favorable condition to capitalize and contribute to the hotel development. As the authors said, it is estimated that 750,000 new hotel rooms will be built in the Gulf (including Dubai) between now and the year 2020. Jumeirah, Dubai-based luxury international hospitality management company, is one the main developers. With the introducing of the Stay Different philosophy, Jumeirah accentuates the individuality by using the technology. There are two main areas: CRM and in-room technology. Jumeirah developed a customer data integration hub for CRM. The hub serves as the central profile depository gathering preferences and behaviors of the guests from all guest-facing applications including PMS, Sirius and restaurant reservations. With the preferences acquired in the CRM system, in-room technology allows for personalization based on the hotel own individual technology concept. And the technology has to be guest-friendly and easily accessible. Finally, the authors also pointed out that Jumeirah wants to help its customers to reduce their carbon footprint through sophisticated energy management systems that do not compromise the level of service to a guest.


My Reflection:

This article gave me a picture of Dubai today. I totally agree with the author. Indeed, Dubai has become one of the world’s most exciting countries for new hotel developments. As a future hotelier, it is necessary to pay attention on this potential growth. As we know that, Burj Al Arab, the world’s only seven-star hotel, has become not only a luxurious landmark in Dubai but also an index of the most luxury hotel in the world. After reading this article, I know how Jumeirah, the management company of Burj Al Arab, uses the technology to emphasize their philosophy. With the CRM system, they gather the guest’s data as much as possible and present those back in order to deliver true individualized service. Therefore, they can customize the room to guests desired before they arrive. In the article, the authors use Burj Al Arab pillow menu and TV channels as examples. In my opinion, it can even go down to room temperature, pre-set phone number, favorite arts and dining preferences. So, by the time when guests arrive, they can have their own room ready for their enjoyment. Also, we can drive the business through different kinds of promotion based on their interests.