“Opening a sibling hotel only 300 yards from the well-established Raffles Dubai means we are now more substantial competition for other brands around,” says Omar Souab, general manager of the 595-room Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk, Dubai, which welcomed its first guests 29th October 2020.
That hotel, and the 246-room Raffles, and the seriously significant WAFI mall between the two, are owned by Sheikh Mana bin Khalifa al Maktoum, an entrepreneur who is rumored, as a kid of 5, to have wanted his own pyramid. Raffles is, indeed, a 19-floor building in pyramid shape, while Sofitel is on the first and second levels, and then, above serviced residences, on floors 17 to the top of a 51-floor obelisk-shaped structure with a distinctive gold top.
The pair of hotels operate independently, but in synergy. Their two teams, for instance, share accommodation 20 minutes’ drive away (there’s a football pitch, for instance). Raffles’ Managing Director Ayman Gharib, who keeps a careful eye on the Sofitel on behalf of Sheikh Mana, says with understandable pride that his own hotel, at last survey, saw a staggering 99% staff satisfaction level. Raffles Dubai, which has not let a single person even be furloughed, currently has 220 employees, and Sofitel will work up to 300 by year-end.
“At least 76 colleagues moved across from Raffles to Sofitel. Because they were already highly trained in Accor culture, pre-opening was remarkably problem-free. There are also 75 clustered team members. We share much back of house, including sales, HR, security, purchasing and laundry, but each hotel has its own management and F&B director,” say the two leaders, who do seem to work effortlessly across the properties.
Customers may only overnight in one hotel but they have full access to both brands. They are offered a variety of wellness and eating possibilities, and there is on-demand golf-cart shuttle between the two properties, say across to Raffles’ spa — Aromatherapy and own branded products, with typical Middle Eastern treatments — or the Sofitel SPA with L’Occitane. Raffles has Italian or Japanese dining, while Sofitel offers modern-Asian Taiko by Shilo van Coevorden, a Daniel Boulud Brasserie, a British gastropub and lobby-lounge snacking.
“A big success, which has surprised us both, is the Sofitel lobby lounge’s Le Goûter afternoon tea, served 2 to 6 o’clock daily. The set meal comes with a selection of savory, but mostly sweet, pastries. It is delivered in what looks like jewellery boxes, blues for men and pinks for ladies. Each customer is also brought a golden key to open the box. Keep your key and bring it back next visit for a complimentary beverage.”
If any restaurant business needs boosting, the two teams use local “key opinion leaders,” usually working Instagram. Raffles’ top influencer is a highly regarded male in his 50s who can bring rooms bookings within hours. Best support for Sofitel comes from chic females in the under-30s age range. Both GMs are continuously tuned into the power of social media – both personally use Instagram and Linked-in.
Ayman Gharib wanted to be an architect but a year of hospitality management at Notre Dame University Beirut, in his homeland, Lebanon, diverted his ambitions, and he worked his way up the F&B route. Omar Souab, born in Marrakech, Morocco, and schooled in California and at the Schiller International University in Madrid, Spain, fell into hospitality via a love of sales.
“I then went on to ops and did my first pre-opening at Fairmont Fujairah followed by an easy transition to working with Ayman and doing my second opening, here at Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk, and I physically moved across February 2019,” he explained.
“At this early stage it is impossible to be exact but I expect Sofitel’s ADR to settle at about 75% of ours,” said Gharib, adding that he hoped, as a powerful example of two hotels are better than one, the pair to take considerable business from the competitors all around.