At the Hotelier Awards 2020, the two front-runners in our Mid-Market Hotel Team of the Year category were properties that classes themselves as community hubs.
Zabeel House by Jumeirah, The Greens and Radisson RED Dubai Silicon Oasis prospered while serving quieter, more residential areas of the emirate. Radisson is now aiming to do it again, with the opening of Radisson Dubai DAMAC Hills.
We sit down with general manager Siddhartha Sattanathan to hear more about how the golf-focused hotel is hoping the community around it will be ace up its sleeve.
He says: “We’re looking to cater to the community in DAMAC Hills and those around us – Mudon, Sustainable City, Arabian Ranches, Motor City, Remraam… The catchment area we have is huge.”
The style of the property will reflect the clientele, too, especially as it’s right next to a golf course.
“Half of the time here we’ll be in polo shirts here,” Sattanathan adds. “It’s a resort brand. You feel you’re taken away from Dubai and in another world.
“We’re lucky we’re in the middle of a community, we have a head start. Others in Dubai are already in busy commercial centres and fighting with countless other hotels.
Another vital component is ensuring the hotel’s team carries this community-driven spirit.
The GM continues: “What’s important is that we have team members who share our passion for the guests’ preferences. So when a guest comes in, our staff will be able to recognise them and make them feel at home.
“This hotel is positioned to get a lot of repeat business so it’s important for staff to remember names and what they enjoy doing. We’ve already taken steps to learn the community’s preferences, so it’s up to our staff to take all that on board.
“When you do a new opening, you have a fantastic opportunity to build a great team. Many of our team members have come from our sister hotels, so half our management team is from within the group.”
As well as being Radisson’s first hotel in DAMAC Hills, it is also the group’s debut of the Radisson Hotels brand here in the GCC. With the 481-key property poised to deliver a more luxurious experience, in keeping with the affluence of the area.
With this in mind, the GM explains to us that the keys to success for this community hotel will be different than those to its Radisson RED brother.
He says: “We’ve seen what Radisson RED has done with its community and most definitely we’ll use some of those best practices here. It’s a different brand, though.
In the future, the GM, marketing manager and the whole DAMAC Hills team have clear goals: to fill their rooms, to fill their restaurants and to be a champion for the local community.
Sitting next to the GM in FireLake Grill is Cahal Altman, a golf enthusiast who just so happens to be the hotel’s marketing manager. He used community feedback to prepare for the opening.
He tells us: “The first thing we did was create five focus groups representing the community. We invited people from across the area to give us ideas on what they’d like to see here and what they’re seeking in an F&B sense. So we got input from them and really listened to what is important to them.
“From those community groups, we gathered as much information as we could. We’re here to help them out. We contacted the Facebook admins for each of these community groups and worked to become friends with them and put out offers for them.”
“For example, we heard the community wanted a Saturday brunch, so we’re putting one in.”
When the hotel was just a skeleton, there were around 6,000 people living in DAMAC Hills. That number has since grown by another 3,000, with DAMAC itself keen to continuously develop the area for its residents.
There are plans for a salon, supermarket, butchers and more. Altman says this will be when the hotel will really come into its own.
“We don’t want to completely dictate the offerings at this hotel. We’re building a good community feel here and eventually, all the shops will open too, which is when the hustle and bustle will start.
“That’s where we’ll step in to provide that relaxing space for people to sit on the terrace with a beverage.”
It sounds like both hoteliers know a hole-in-one when they see one.