Holiday Inn expects better occupancy

Holiday Inn Bur Dubai expects stronger occupancy following takeover of the management of the 210-bedroom hotel, said a senior company official.

“We are expecting quite a high occupancy rate because Holiday inn is the largest and most recognised brand in the hotel industry worldwide. Strong brand, better services and facilities, location and the marketing power we have at IHG will improve the occupancy,” said Monjed Salha, General Manager of Holiday Inn Bur Dubai.

Hoteliers in the UAE have forecast over 80 per cent occupancy during the Christmas and New Year holidays as tourists flock to the UAE. The upcoming Dubai Shopping Festival is also expected to give fillip to hotel occupancy as the number of tourists coming to the emirate increase substantially during the period.

The hotel’s convenient location in the diplomatic enclave and extensive banquet and meeting facilities also targets corporate clientele which will improve occupancy level.

“We are targeting corporate clientele and diplomatic circles since we have close proximity to diplomatic enclave and also targeting corporate clients and leisure market. Our focus will be more towards corporate meetings because of extensive banquet and meeting facilities the hotel offers,” Salha added.

Earlier known as Excelsior Creek Hotel, the property is owned by Mohamed Omar Bin Haider (MOBH) Group and awarded management to InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) last month.

For MOBH Group, who already owns two Holiday Inn hotels in operation under IHG management in the UAE, the acquisition of a third was a natural partnership. The 210-room Holiday Inn hotel – the fifth in the UAE – houses 12 suites and 24 executive rooms. It also offers great facilities including a roof top pool, fully equipped gym, five conference rooms, a 500 person ballroom and four restaurants.

Hiring staff
The Bur Dubai hotel currently has 145 employees and is mulling hire more in the some departments where deemed necessary.

“We have now 145 colleagues. For the past three months, we have been training our people on brand services of IHG and about all the hallmarks of Holiday Inn. All of our staff has been trained according to IHG standard.

“We also have recruited a number of people from overseas who worked with other chains and wanted to work with us. We are looking at new recruitments and the number of colleagues we have with us have done great job since we started conversion. We are still looking to fill a number of positions. There are various (vacant) positions in different departments to smoothly run operations. I can’t specify numbers as it depends on business and occupancy rate; we’re reviewing it and will need people in marketing and services segments,” Salha added.

The hotel has lined up a host of promotions such as room promotions, Priority Club Points and other value-added benefits to guests for coming holiday season.
With over 3,300 hotels worldwide, Holiday Inn hotels is the most widely recognised hotel brand in the world. There are over 700 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in the IHG global development pipeline.  These hotels are due to open over the next 3 to 5 years.

 

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