On Monday, March 16th, 2015, we met Bassem Salam, Vice President Revenue Management of AccorHotels Middle East inside the AccorHotels head office situated in the huge tower Novotel Dubai Al Barsha in the middle of the city.
Bassem is an Egyptian man who grew up in several countries of the Gulf. We began our meeting by presenting us (each student) to give Bassem a brief overview of our mission and our work in France.
Bassem is an Egyptian man who grew up in several countries of the Gulf. We began our meeting by presenting us (each student) to give Bassem a brief overview of our mission and our work in France.
Then, after our presentation, Bassem has begun to introduce himself with his background and motivations.So Bassem has worked in various organizations and in many countries around the world. He began his career as a consultant at KPMG after enchained several jobs like pizza delivery boy or receptionist while he was a student.He presented his evolving career since his first steps in the hospitality industry until today because he now manages the revenue management for 64 hotels in a booming destination: The Middle East.
Bassem has presented the AccorHotels group in the Middle East. He told us that AccorHotels is one of the fastest growing hospitality groups in the region. Currently, the Group’s portfolio in the Middle East includes a total of 64 operational hotels with 15313 rooms in ten countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Yemen.
We learned that the dedicated regional office in Dubai covers all GCC, Egypt and Levant countries. One of the Group’s key success factors in the Middle East lies in the Dubai regional office on ground presence and over all coordination. The Dubai office is strongly supported by two additional branch offices, Accor KSA in Jeddah and Accor Egypt based in Cairo. Hence, there is dedicated support for both the hotels in operation as well as in development.
AccorHotels has, according to Bassem, a strong position in the market. The company is a good employer by focusing on :
- Development of appropriate skills and offering advancement opportunities for every employee
- Development of the actual skills of all employees with a clear and specific professional career growth path and tailored training programs for individual needs.
- National and international mobility with a chance to work in different regions/ hotels and brands locally and internationally.
- Monitored the business climateand respected the local culture/ traditions in which the hotels operate.
- Enhanced the skills and talents of employees with the training programs
According to him, several elements are crucial for success in the hospitality industry. First, you have to be mobile while remaining committed to the company with which you work for. The main important thing is just to think with a global vision of the market around you, keeping in mind that simplicity is the key. (KISS english expression : Keep It Simple and Stupid)
Bassem continued the meeting by giving us some tips on the revenue managers job to succeed in Dubai and in the others destinations in Middle East :
- Be aware of your market. Revenue management is not a desk job. You must understand the influences that affect your operation and you must use that information to better set your rates and your strategy.- Work with your team and gain their respect. Conflict can come when the revenue manager is saying ‘no’ and no one understands why. It’s important to communicate and bring others in the revenue strategy so they can support and help it (and you) succeed.
- Consistent communication is key. Meet with your leadership team weekly and go over reports and strategies. Bring in other department heads as needed. When there is a collaborative environment across the entire operation, everyone will help the strategy succeed and there will be no surprises along the way.
- Invest in technology. It will save you time that you can reinvest into more important tasks.
- Track business. That old saying, “What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done,” holds true, so be sure you have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening so you can not only track and understand, but also predict and update.
- Never stop learning. As the RM discipline continues to evolve, it’s critical for successful leaders to constantly educate themselves and be aware of new opportunities and strategies that can help them succeed further.- Bridge the RM and Sales gap. While these departments are different, they are also deeply connected. RMs should reach out to the sales team to better understand what they do and how they do it. Find out what reports they use and build those tools into your strategy. The benefits of working together should always be measured based on the success of the hotel.
- Big data allows you to be proactive instead of reactive. The more information you have about external influences affecting bookings and rates, the better off you will be at executing your RM strategy.
To finish with, and according to Bassem, the Middle East remains an extremely profitable destination that still has real potential for growth and development; The openings of hotels are continuing to succeed and the hardest today is to find qualified employees rather than financial investors. The amount of economic flow in the Middle East is considerable; it has an impact on hotel capacity being constantly growing. The gains from the sale of oil allowed to invest one hand, in real estate and in construction, but also since a few years in the advertising promotion and marketing to attract a significant tourist flows. Middle East and especially Dubai will definitively be an attractive destination for investments, developement and tourism in the future. 
