The 445 room W Hotel Doha opened three months ago. WAEL RASHED, area director of sales and marketing, Gulf & Saudi Arabia, caught up with KIM THOMSON
What occupancy levels have you been experiencing so far?
Well we have had a lot of superstars in so far, so we were pretty lucky. We had the A/C Milan team and of course we opened in time for the Arab League summit. We are growing month after month, slowing building our base, and of course Qatar is growing. Qatar Investment Authority and Qatar Tourism Authority are doing a good job of diversifying the product range as well as diversifying the investments into Doha. It is not taking big jumps but gradually growing. And of course Doha is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and certainly the highest income in the world.
W as a new brand in this market, how would you describe it?
W is an amazing brand and Doha is the first foothold for us in the Middle East. It’s a lifestyle brand, its style design, its music, entertainment and everything in between It is really a wonderful concept that meets the needs of the sophisticated business and leisure traveller. Its fun to work for, its fun to be in this environment - this is the feedback we get from our customers.
What are the plans for the region for W?
We are planning on a couple of destinations. The next one to open should be the W in Amman, Jordan. There are plans for a lot of different cities, but definitely Dubai and Marrakech. Its one of the fasted growing brands, however, internationally, we started the W Brand 10 years ago, and now stand at 29 hotels.
Bearing in mind the economic times, do you need to do something different to drive business?
Offer added value. The W is a “whatever, whenever concept’ we tailor make everything for our clients and it is very important that they feel at home and that they are being taking care of.
In terms of guest demographics, what are you finding?
We see an increase in the younger Arab market. They love it. The W is a destination in itself, it’s a new trend of hotels, and it really building up a very good momentum. We get a good share from the Starwood preferred guest of course but we also getting the piece of other cake. We don’t compete with other brands, we don’t have similar another chain that provides this lifestyle except small independent hotels. I think when Armani, Versace or Bulgari come up they may compete with us.
What are your feeder markets?
Mainly business and groups with a bit of leisure from GCC and international business travel coming from Europe, US and Asia. The food and beverage environment is great for the local community and the restaurants are all doing well.