Al Bustan Centre and Residence, Dubai, UAE, closed the first quarter of 2016 with an occupancy of 83 per cent, holding that the hotel’s long term business, corporate and group segments are key contributors to keeping its business in line with its overall budget goal.
'As we participate in this year’s ATM, we aim to target mid-market travel prospects from travel agencies and our partners. We believe that the mid-market tourism is the key area of opportunity for Middle East hotels like us who is looking forward to diversify our market sources and be able to attract more visitors to the country and particularly to our property. We aim to expand tourist capitalisation from the Far East market, Africa that includes budget travellers and younger families,' says Al Bustan Centre and Residence COO Moussa El Hayek.Talking about business, he says in 2015, the entire region witnessed an occupancy drop from nearly 3 per cent and even higher, which indicates how the sector was affected by the low performance of the global economy. Competition level amongst hotels grew stronger last year as each hotel offered lower room rates to capture more guests. While the demand for hotel accommodation slowed in 2015 compared to 2014, Al Bustan Centre and Residence, closed 2015 with an average of 80 per cent occupancy, he says.It is known to every hotel that the current market situation will get tougher as more hotels open and offer different promotional deals, he says. Al Bustan has several unique promotions in food and beverage, health club and rooms, which are some of the ways to retain and reward its new and repeat customers. 'We also conduct seasonal sales blitz to ensure wide coverage of our source markets and active follow-up with key accounts by our sales team across all segments of our business. We also focus on our long- term segment to ensure year-round business,' he adds.