The Sheraton Oman Hotel, Muscat is busy preparing for the coming season with renovations on its guest rooms, lobby and the Piazza Bar in full swing. In addition, its gym and recreation centre are also being enlarged which is all due for completion by September, in time for the tourist season.
According to the general manager Gerhard Foltin, "During the summer period, business is quite slow in the entire Gulf area as most of the people leave on holidays and tourists prefer to visit other destinations that are not so hot. However, come October and they are back. Hence, we are gearing up to meet them headlong." "During our visit to the ITB in Berlin this March we discussed with and are working closely with the tour operators for the new programme for autumn. We have lost the spring mainly due to the political situation in the Gulf and we hope this area will be quiet and peaceful so that we can concentrate on building our tourist business again," he added. "We specialise in bringing small groups of about 50 people to Oman. These groups either come in from Dubai or come to Oman first and then move on to Dubai. It is usually a dual package that is drawn up by the tour operators. From our experience, the group stays a week in Oman and another week in Dubai. The main attraction in Oman is the natural beauty and in Dubai, the tourists get a taste of the modern Arabic hospitality," Foltin explained. The hotel constantly innovates and launches new promotions to keep business alive and attract tourists. Some of its promotions have become a regular feature like the Seafood Night running every Wednesday at its Green Mountain restaurant, which has been one of the most popular promotions around town running successfully for the last 12 years. Other popular promotions are the Mango promotion and the Strawberry promotions, which take place seasonally. The hotel also conducts quizzes and activities in conjunction with these promotions making them more attractive to the diners. The hotel also boasts an all-woman Polish band 'By The Way' playing at 'The Lounge' at Sheraton Qurum, which is an extension of the hotel by the beach. The band specializes in singing in several languages including English, Arabic, Polish, Russian and French among others. The Sheraton Qurum offers a range of water sports and is famous for its Sushi Night and Teppanyaki. The 217-room hotel is currently running a special summer rate until mid-September.