HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT HOLDINGS LAURENT A.VOIVENEL
Our Meeting with :
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| Laurent A.Voivenel CEO of HMH |
« Does everybody speak English? »
This is how Laurent Voivenel started his presentation at the Coral Hotel, a HMH Hotel in Dubai.
He stressed his introduction on how important it is to be fluent in English in the hospitality industry.
PRÉSENTATION OF HMH :
Founded in 2003 in Dubai, HMH – Hospitality Management Holdings is a fully-integrated hotel management company that prides itself on being the first hotel chain in the Middle East to offer alcohol-free safe environment. The business model of HMH is quite unique.
Indeed they are targeting sensitive countries such as Iraq, Africa…
Crisis management is their leitmotiv. They have so few competitors in their market; it means that they have free hands for expansion.
MAIN TOPIC:
Our goals for this presentation was to discover the hospitality market in Dubai.
· Who is Laurent Voivenel ?
He was born in France, in Deauville , he spend the most part of his life abroad. He worked for Starwood group for 17 years. He also worked for 10 years with Hilton. He managed the Hilton Suffren. He had MBA courses at huh University of Hawaï in New York.
While he was presenting himself he gave us an advice : Keep curious and keep learning every year.
Now, Laurent is the CEO of HMH
QUESTIONS :
1 How in Dubai with all this competitors can you sustain your activity?
Laurent Voivenel described his strategy for his hospitality chain. He said that if you are able to listen and respect the local culture you can expend your business very quick.
For example HMH is HALAL friendly, all the products serving are HALAL and their properties are Dry hotels (no Alcohol). They adapt themselves to the local culture.
He also explain that you need 3 things for a successful investment:
1. Cash : for the investment
2. People : Especially the talent
3. Technology
2 How do you deal with multicultural staff members?
He gave us a good advice: treat the personal like the way you want to be treated. The most important in management is to not offend people. Respect people during Ramadan for example.
3 In a matter of Training what is the policy of HMH?
For example at HMH every employees is supposed to have 2 hours of training per month. Focus on the weakness revealed by the GSS of the hotel. 4% of hotel budget is allocated for training.
It is important for a small chain such as HMH to work harder in order to develop and expend the business.
4 In MEA how do you recruit your staff in order to gain the good balance between nationalities?
Avoid mafia among the staff.
The most representative community in hotel are Phillipinos, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and few westerners but they are costly.
Its important to balance geographically the staff recruitment in order to avoid incident between communities.
One other aspect is the administrative one. At the moment it’s very easy to get a visa to Dubaï. Which is not the same for France for example.
5 Is the technology present in the hospitality investment?
It’s very important to follow the wave of Airlines companies; they are much able to develop faster then us. It was the case when they started yielding for the flight.
As hoteliers Laurent advise us to be well aware of internet technology.
He remind us that Booking , Expedia got tremendous Marketing budget !
6 What are the possibilities for women career in MEA ?
There is plenty possibilities! At the headquarters of HMH there is more lady’s than men.
Laurent quote Aragon : La femme est l’avenir de L’homme. A good reflexion for us.
And most important : Sky is the limit for womens.
7 Profitability of hotels in MEA
Profitablity of hotels depends of the country you are based on.
In the Middle East it’s between 40-50% of the GOP.
The reality in the MEA is that hotels are generating a capital Gain. Owners buy land and hotel and then after 4 or 5 years they sell it with a capital gain. They re-evaluate the value of the hotel and they sell it.
8 Is the Emirates are an important segment in your clientele mix?
Dubai is a melting pot, but for sure expatriate and emirates have a strong buying power.
You’ll find very few emirates working in hotels; most of them are working in the administration.
9 Is it possible as an expatriate in Dubai to have a good family life?
Yes it’s possible to have a family life in Dubaï. You can also be happy and have a blast here. But don’t expect to save money.
Because life is expensive.
Don’t forget in Dubaï to get your feets on the ground, because the city is so extravagant, you can loose your mind very easily.
10 What are the position of hotels regarding OTA market share ?
Booking.com represent 85% of all OTA trafic in the middle East. As in Europe Laurent described us that OTA became the most important sales person in the hotel.
Laurent compared OTA with Union. He said that as a manager you have to deal with Union in order to continue to make profit even though relations are though sometimes. They are: “un mal pour un bien”.
11 Is a hotel restaurant profitable in Dubai?
Because of the law against Alcohol, hotels restaurants are profitable in Dubai. According to Laurent 95% of hotels in Dubai have restaurant.
12 How to be so visible on the market when you are a group such as HMH?
Laurent explain us that as HMH is a small group he can work harder and faster than a big group.
“We don’t shoot our marketing actions everywhere, we are trying to be precise in the targets interest us. “
13 What are the next steps for the tourism in Dubai?
By 2020 the Airport of Dubai will double his transit capacity of travellers.
Dubai has 95 000 rooms keys, by 2020, the year of the Universal Exposition, Dubai will have 160 000 room keys.
It represent 10 000 rooms per year. Dubai will need hotel staff .
Muslin population In 15 years will represent more than a quarter of the world population.
The middle class will grow exponentially in the next years.
14 What are the strengths of a group such as HMH?
We are more able than big group to react quickly in all situations.
HMH is not spending the money like big group are doing, they spend it more intelligently.
The team of HMH in headquarter is coming from different groups, they are talent.
They attract them with the promise to have fun everyday at work.
They also leave them freeway for creativity, which it’s not possible in big groups.
15 Howrestaurants deal with Ramadan?
All restaurants in Dubai during Ramadan won’t serve alcohol until sunset.
16 Is HMH offering packages like others big brand ?
Yes we are offering nice packages that include : transportation, accommodation, food 3 times a day.
Plane tickets every 2 year, or every year.
CONCLUSION :
Delivering a special lecture on the significance and growth of hospitality industry in the Emirates, Laurent explained us various aspects and challenges of the business as well as career opportunities here in MEA.
Dubai has absolutely everything that a Western expatriate would like – opportunity, security, cosmopolitan lifestyle, excellent quality of life, great weather eight months of the year and friendly people. It is not only a hub for business but it also offers pleasure of living.
Let’s put it this way Dubai is a destination of choice for talented people.
