IT has been a year of openings for Hilton Worldwide in 2011 as the company opened nine new properties. Rudi Jagersbacher, president, Hilton Worldwide, MEA says, “Three of these were conversions, a clear indicator that owners are recognising the power of the Hilton Worldwide brands. We also entered three new markets – Jordan, Namibia and Equatorial Guinea. So in spite of some ups and downs, overall our hotels across the MEA region performed well.”
The company also signed 18 hotels across seven countries in 2011, which included six Jabal Omar properties in Saudi Arabia, Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) and Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah UAE, as well as the Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand and the Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace in Lebanon.
The Arab Spring posed several challenges to the entire hospitality industry, including Hilton Worldwide. “We have a strong presence in Egypt with more than 6,700 rooms and although it was tough period, all our hotels remained open throughout the revolution. We also continued with our expansion plans – we opened the Hilton Zamalek Residence Cairo and the Hilton Marsa Alam Nubian Resort last year and have Hilton Makadi Resort and Hilton Heliopolis in the pipeline,” said Jagerbacher.
Besides the Arab Spring, recruitment remains one of our challenges, he continued.
“Our pipeline currently stands at 39 properties and we have to find the best team for each property. We proudly promote diversity in our work force and support nationalisation and localisation policies, so we will have to recruit accordingly. To give you an example of the scale of the challenge, we will need 9,000 new team members to support our pipeline in Saudi Arabia alone.”
2011 has remained a good year for Hilton in terms of occupancy and RevPAR but obviously parts of Middle East fared better than the others.
“The UAE emerged as one of our strongest markets thanks to the opening of two new properties – the DoubleTree by Hilton, RAK and the Hilton Dubai Jumeirah Hotel Apartment. Saudi Arabia is a booming market and we benefited both from the rise in corporate and business tourism (Hilton Garden Inn Riyadh Olaya, Jeddah Hilton, Qasr Al Sharq) and religious tourism (Makkah Hilton & Towers and Madinah Hilton). Our properties in Kuwait and Oman also fared well, thanks to their position as market leaders in their respective markets.
“In Egypt, our hotels in resort areas like Sharm El Sheikh and Alexandria operated as usual and guests continued with travel plans. However, as expected, occupancy and rates at the city hotels were impacted by the Tahrir Square uprisings, due to the government advisories placed on travel during the period. For Hilton Worldwide, the impact of the Arab Spring was mainly concentrated in Egypt, and although the region remains a challenge, we have seen a slow and steady return to business and leisure travel. ”
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An artist’s impression of the Conrad Dubai |
Jagerbacher added that the brand implemented a series of sales and marketing campaigns as well as promotions and incentives, such as early bird promotions and the global Great Getaway summer promotion (offering 40 per cent discounts on stays). Likewise, various niche segments were targeted including tour operators, the Mice industry, as well as members of the loyalty programme - Hilton HHonors with special offers. “These measures helped us build a healthy booking base to sustain us throughout the year.”
In terms of source markets, Hilton is constantly looking to tap into new markets. While key source markets are Germany and the UK there is a growing number from Scandinavia.
“A strong segment that we are keen to develop further is the weekender segment within the GCC region. With the number of events scheduled in the various GCC states and the high mobility of this segment, we believe it has huge untapped potential.”
2012, Jagerbacher added, will definitely be a year of expansion and growth for Hilton. “We look forward to growing our brand footprint in this region by 80 per cent over the next three to four years, and with the bullish forecast for the travel industry, we expect a positive outcome.
This year, we will launch the Conrad brand in the GCC as well as enter three new markets – Qatar (Hilton Doha), Lebanon (Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand and Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace) and Uganda (Hilton Kampala).
We will prudently maintain our momentum as we continue to focus on developing the Hilton Worldwide brands in the MEA – Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn,” he said.
Currently Hilton has 39 properties in the pipeline amounting to more than 15,000 rooms across 16 countries. In 2012, the opening list spans to 10 properties and these include the Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah (349 rooms), Conrad Dubai (559 rooms), Hilton Sharjah (259 rooms) and DoubleTree by Hilton Dubai Al Barsha Hotel and Residence (344 rooms) in the UAE; Hilton Doha in Qatar and Hilton Kampala in Uganda.
Besides bringing their two iconic brands– the luxury Conrad brand and launching the second Waldorf Astoria property into the region, Hilton HHonors, the global loyalty programme with 28 million members worldwide is also expected to grow and new as well as existing members can look forward to more incentives, promotions and rewards.