Carlton Tower Hotel Dubai, one of the city’s most established hotels, has recently undergone a complete refurbishment of its rooms. The design team appointed took the hotel’s natural surrounding as their inspiration for the new look. Beige tones were added to bring the warmth of the desert into the rooms and thick carpets used to replicate the feeling of sand beneath the feet.
Wanting to add an unusual focal point in the rooms, the design team also created headboards inspired ancient Arabic mashrabiyas – the term given to a type of projecting oriel window enclosed by carved wood lattice work.
As one of Dubai’s oldest hotels in a traditional area of the city the challenge, according to group general manager Hosni A Hadi, was to create a neo-Arabic style that didn’t stray too far from the hotel’s character but instead added a slight modern feel. The result was a room that fuses heavily framed mirrors and curved furniture to create a classic feel tempered by the use of soft purple velvet bed throws muted drapery and ivory accents for a contemporary look. The second phase of the hotel’s refurbishment plan, which will commence this summer, will include the lobby area and the cafe.
The hotel has also seen a staggering 45 per cent increase in the number of visits to their newly launched website.
“This figure shows the importance of fully utilising your website as a marketing tool” says Hadi. “However it is important to remember that the website doesn’t operate in isolation. We employ tools such as blogs, social media and PR to maintain visibility and to drive traffic to the site."
The hotel has employed a third party web development company to overhaul their site and to improve their online presence through the use of SEO and SEM tactics.
“By monitoring our website statistics we can keep track of the number of visitors to our site and also the countries we receive bookings from” said Hadi “We have noticed significant increases in the number of booking from countries such as Bulgaria, India and Eastern Europe, which are key markets for us”
Hadi believes that the main advantage of direct online bookings over indirect online bookings is, not only because it is more profitable for the hotel, but also because increased traffic on the site increases the visibility of the hotel and its facilities. The hotel currently sees 12 per cent of its business coming through its website but is forecasting a hike of up to 25 per cent this year.