Preferred to add 12 more hotels in Mideast

Preferred Hotels & Resorts, the world’s leading provider of sales, marketing and distribution services to independent luxury hotels, will showcase its global portfolio and highlight recent developments such as major partnerships at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM).

The group’s enhanced guest loyalty programme, iPrefer, will also be promoted at the show.

Saurabh Rai, executive vice president for Preferred Hotels & Resorts, says the Middle East continues to emerge as one of the fastest growing outbound markets for some of the most established destinations worldwide. These include Western Europe, major US cities on both east and west coasts, Asia and the GCC itself.

'We hope that the relevance and amount of hosted buyers attending ATM Dubai continues to increase as this is why our international member hotels choose to participate. Their main objectives are to make new contacts, present their hotels and generate new business leads,' he says.

'We intend to interact with our trade partners based in the Middle East, updating them on the company’s development and growth over the past year. One of our ongoing goals is to grow our portfolio by partnering with sought-after hotels in key destinations around the world that meet the needs and aspirations of our loyal customers, so we intend to highlight our newest member hotels.'

On expansion of business, he says: 'We are selective about our partners and prioritise growth that elevates our brand while complementing our existing portfolio. With that in mind, we are committed to adding another 10 to 12 hotels in key Middle Eastern destinations such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Manama, and Beirut along with new hotel options in UAE, Kuwait, Muscat, and Egypt.'

As it stands, the company’s business has rapidly expanded over the past 12 months in the Middle East. It added five new hotels to the portfolio, including the stunning Palazzo Versace Dubai, Nassima Royal Hotel in Dubai, and Dunes by Al Nahda in Oman, and inked a master partnership with Katara Hospitality for Murwab Hotel Group. Through this partnership it had already brought on four hotels in Oman and two in Europe.

Last year, the company marked a major milestone in its 48-year history by generating more than $1 billion in reservations revenue on behalf of its member hotels worldwide – a 15 per cent increase over 2014.

It also executed a corporate rebrand in March 2015, moving the company from a multi-branded business model to one master brand, and welcomed 91 new properties across 35 countries to its global portfolio.

MARKET STRATEGY

Commenting on the current state of the market, Rai says conditions are quite volatile.

'One could argue that it is no longer practical to base decisions on forecasts that extend beyond 90 days,' he says. 'Industry trends and external factors continually shift, and at a rapid pace. The concepts of traditional feeder markets, seasonality and business segmentation are fast diffusing. In these changing times, hotels have to be observant, embrace change and act in order to stay competitive.'

He continues: 'Currently, it is tough for hotels to base budgets and business projections on the patterns of previous years because the parameters might have significantly changed. Factors like currency fluctuations, financial markets, oil prices, social stability and economic sentiment, all have a direct bearing on intent and ability to travel for either business or pleasure.

'Independent hotels need to be quicker and more accommodating when addressing such changes, and this is what we are able to accomplish on behalf of our member hotels and the small independent hotel collections in our portfolio. While allowing independent hotels to maintain their individuality, Preferred Hotels & Resorts provide the support and infrastructure that is necessary to compete, providing access, exposure, credibility, and partnerships to maximise their revenue, profitability, and success.'

The company’s corporate strategy for 2016 is aligned with the current market position and recurrent trends. As a global company with 36 sales offices worldwide, it tracks all such macro parameters that directly or indirectly impact travel and the global hotel business.

This enables it to support and guide its hotels to penetrate new markets and access uncharted consumer segments.

'We will continue to maintain a strong focus on markets such as the US, along with fast growing markets like China, India and the GCC,' says Rai. 'Our comprehensive corporate rebrand was a major step in the right direction, allowing us to leverage the 48-year heritage of the Preferred brand and demonstrate the company’s commitment to a new consumer-focused approach designed to elevate core awareness of the brand, drive strategic growth of our portfolio, and improve market share for member hotels.'

With a singular brand website and GDS code, its entire global sales, marketing and distribution offering is now behind a marquee brand platform, backed by its guest loyalty programme iPrefer and digital and social initiatives.

Preferred Hotels & Resorts is a nimble and progressive company, which allows it to evolve and adapt to industry changes, Rai says. So far in 2016, it has restructured its regional operations to better support its hotel partners. The company’s internal infrastructure is now organised across four regions: Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific and SAMEAA (South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Australasia).SAMEAA is headquartered in Dubai, where the company has recently expanded its team.

By K S Sreekumar