A Room With A View
August 30, 2007
In restructuring Hilton’s global organisation and creating an area called ‘Middle East and Africa’ as part of the Hilton hotel brand, Jean-Paul Herzog, Hilton’s MENA president, is on a mission to flex his imperial muscle and send the world back to the colonial age.? Okay, having met him at the Hilton Dubai Creek recently, it seems that is not entirely his intention, although he’s the first to admit that “many other people do the same thing ? they carve up the world”.
The Hilton name was finally reunited internationally after more than 40 years in February 2006, when the company’s US family, Hilton Hotels Corporation, acquired Hilton’s international operations. And ever since, the firm seems adamant to settle for nothing less than global domination.
“The whole thing boils down to development and expansion,” says Herzog. “What I am looking after now used to belong partly to Asia Pacific and partly to Europe. These are two areas that have strong development plans. Therefore the numbers just got too big and we needed to break it down. Creating a MENA region was the most logical way of doing this.”
With the establishment of the first international hotel chain in the UAE, Hilton is something of a dab hand when it comes to knowing what its clientele want. But faced with the task of tapping into the region’s mid-market hotel sector, the company finds itself in almost uncharted territory.
Dubai prides itself on the grand and the lavish; on unabashed opulence and ostentatious displays of all things that glint in the sun. It is a city that boasts the tallest this, and the biggest that. So where does Hilton’s proposed mid-market hotels fit into a city that regards an underwater hotel as a practical option?
“If you look at any aircraft, the back section is bigger than the front,” says Herzog. “This is also true of the hotel market. People want to be able to choose how much to spend on a particular component of their trip. One of the great things about the travel industry is that we now have a greater freedom of choice. Now you have the option of flying first class and sleeping in a tent, or flying economy and staying in a luxury hotel. Alternatively you can stay mid-market and spend all your money in the region’s shopping centres.
“People want to tailor-make their whole travel experience according to their means and to what is important to them. The mid-market is one where there is enormous room to grow.”
As anyone who has stayed at a Hilton hotel will doubtless say, they push the envelope on style and service. At the Dubai Creek establishment for example, all rooms offer views of arguably the most spectacular view in the city, the creek itself, and suites are made up so carefully that you are in danger of ruining the ambience simply by clambering aboard one of the fastidiously made beds.
So what are we to expect from a mid-market Hilton? Presumably second-rate service, cockroach infested rooms and neon lettering hanging off the walls? Not according to Herzog.
“If all you need is a clean bed and minimum service, you don’t have to choose a high-end hotel. What is important to stress is that mid-market hotels are not bad hotels. They offer fewer services and facilities, but there will almost certainly be a bed in the room, water coming out of the taps, and a colour TV in the room. To torture the aviation analogy, if you fly economy from London to Dubai, you’ll reach your destination at the same time as the first class passengers. In its class, it is going to be the best. That’s what the Hilton name guarantees.”
Following the Hilton acquisition last year, both parties
have gained access to levels of hotels which they didn’t have before.
“The Americans have been very successful in the mid-market sector,
whereas Hilton outside the US stood alone. There was nothing else we
could offer,” admits Herzog. “That’s one of the reasons
why they bought us, because our territorial agreements prior to Advertisement
joining the two companies were such that they could not operate outside
the US and we could not operate inside. That restricted both companies
in terms of how they could expand and they found it difficult to promote
mid-market brands outside the US. Now they can.”
I couldn’t resist touching on the antics of heiress Paris Hilton, and how she affects the image of the Hilton brand. But Herzog deflected this insinuation by saying the socialite’s image was more a product of my industry than his. Nevertheless, some similarities can be drawn. Both are pursuing efforts to become more environmentally friendly, though admittedly, Paris Hilton’s post-prison transformation has less to do with green issues, and more to do with whether green clashes with pink.
Some studies have shown that Dubai-based hotels use more energy than anywhere in the world. This is something Hilton has been addressing for a while.
“Hilton has had a programme since the early seventies dedicated to energy conservation and sustainability,” says Herzog. “We recycle and pay attention to what we are using. The wood we buy is from sustainable sources. We have had a towel programme in our bathroom since the early eighties where guests can choose to have their towels washed every day or every third day. In various countries we have different programmes of garbage separation, followed by recycling. Since we merged with Hilton Corporation, there has been a drive to coordinate efforts with what the Americans are doing on their side, so that we can speak as one company.”
Herzog says Hilton is yet to establish its first mid-market hotel in the region, but contends “the potential is fantastic. Potentially, we are looking at 15 hotels in Saudi Arabia, and up to 15 in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.
Paris Hilton doesn’t own any hotels either, but does lay claim to her own brand of perfume, television series and a fabulous mansion in
Beverly Hills. But it’s not a competition.
