CORAL Hotels & Resorts will roll out a new corporate identity during this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM).
Laurent Voivenel, CEO, HMH - Hospitality Management Holdings, said: “Having been 10 years in operation, we felt it was time to refresh our identity because of the challenges and opportunities we see as we expand. The overhaul was driven by an acknowledgement that given the highly digital environment today guests want to be simply more engaged. Therefore, it was both necessary from a technological standpoint as well as a tremendous opportunity to leverage Coral Hotels & Resorts for competitive advantage.”Voivenel says that digital and social engagement has moved brands outside of advertisements into incidental exposure. “We must serve customers who attend to multiple media simultaneously. Therefore, we are investing in new digital platforms to optimise the consumer experience. Our objective is to engage and build strong relationships with our guests,” he says.Reinvigorating Coral Hotels & Resorts has not been an easy exercise, says Voivenel. “It is a very significant step in the brand’s history and has taken nearly six months of research and work, including the development of the new logo as well as identifying the Coral brand’s core purpose. The new identity offers a strong, consistent and focused brand identity on all customer-facing fronts. We have kept it very simple. We believe, people have got to say, ‘Got it,’ when they see it.”Voivenel is confident the new identity will tremendously bolster the Coral brand and help it gain and retain market share. The new look will be introduced to consumers with a campaign utilising print, digital and broadcast media as well as a series of media road shows and strategic on-site promotions at its hotels across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region. The rebranding will be executed across all Coral Hotels & Resorts after the ATM.At ATM, HMH will showcase its complete portfolio of five diverse yet complementary brands – The Ajman Palace, Coral Hotels & Resorts, Corp Hotels, ECOS Hotels and EWA Hotel Apartments, catering to varied market segments from luxury to budget. The new developments at HMH, led by Voivenel, mark a substantial shift in strategy since the company’s inception more than a decade ago. He explains: “HMH provides hotel owners and developers a broad spectrum of comprehensive management solutions. Over the years, we have established an excellent reputation with our brands offering a safe, alcohol-free environment. Now, we are stepping into a new era and redirecting resources to areas where we have identified opportunities to create value with greater local relevance. Being the leading international travel and tourism fair in the Middle East, ATM offers us the perfect platform to talk about these.“Besides promoting our brands and hotels, we will be showcasing five new hotels due to open later this year – the Coral Muscat Hotel & Apartments, Coral Dubai Sports City Hotel & Apartments, Coral Beirut Concorde Hotel, Ewa Port Sudan Hotel & Apartments, Ewa Khartoum Hotel & Apartments. These new openings will boost our portfolio by 25 per cent.”HMH is eager to set its foot in the budget segment, says Voivenel. “Hotel stock in the Middle East including the UAE is predominantly geared towards luxury and upmarket accommodation leaving a huge gap and opportunity for budget hotels that we are keen to develop. The region needs more budget hotels and that is what we are focusing on. It is the best time to do so as Dubai has given a tax reprieve to investors developing mid-market hotels by exempting eligible hotels from 10 per cent municipality fee levied on the daily room rate for a period of four years if the construction permit is granted between October 1, 2013 and December 31, 2017. To start with we have three different projects under consideration in the UAE.”