“Fintech elevates everything we do, from attracting business to heightened productivity,” says Bernard de Villèle, general manager of the 260-key Ritz-Carlton Bahrain, in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.
Financial technology, usually shortened to fintech, covers not only operating systems but also companies that are disrupting tradition. For the past few years the global fintech world has been dominated by Silicon Valley, London, Singapore and Hong Kong. Now the Middle East island Kingdom of Bahrain, with a population of only 1.7 million, is attracting interest — the World Bank praises its business reforms, which include the Central Bank of Bahrain allowing foreign governments uniquely to maintain jurisdiction over their data stored in the Kingdom.
In normal times The Ritz-Carlton Bahrain sees 30% corporate business, of which about half is fintech related. In November 2019, for example, the Arab Banking Corp. launched its mobile-only neo Ila Bank at the hotel.
“Ila’s team leaders were Bahrainis, men and women, and I think they were all under 30,” said de Villèle. “But fintech-related clients do anyway tend to be young and highly motivated. They like our 42 Club rooms and suites. The seventh-floor lounge, open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., has a three-meal offering that is more than enough for most of them.”
These fintechies, whatever gender, generally travel with only a backpack or rolling bag, plus a computer bag. They want masses of global sockets and USB ports and, of course, faultless WiFi. The hotel is used to this. Conferences go up to 2,000 participants and bandwidth can be turned up to 1GB or more, for a maximum of 4,000 users, without a drop in performance.
How does fintech affect any guest? “Basically, if travel advisory, company or individual, makes a booking online, say through the Marriott site or Bonvoy app, the system automatically leads to a click-through secure Marriott payment portal (if a booking is made by phone or email, the hotel then provides a dedicated payment link via email). Payment transaction via Sertifi can be safely completed within 30 seconds — and night auditors can divert time to customer care,” explained de Villèle.
The hotel’s 600-strong workforce certainly has more than enough to do without needless paper-crunching. As well as a 14-room spa and two fitness centers, plus squash and tennis courts, the 22 acres of beautifully tended grounds border a significant private beach.
Pre-virus, average length of stay at the hotel was seven to 10 nights. “Currently three of our 15 beach villas have been occupied for the last two months by U.K.-based visitors — they need kosher food, and as of last week we have a visiting rabbi (we are Bahrain’s first kosher-friendly hotel),” said de Villèle.
In general, current business is largely GCC corporate clients and, on the leisure front, domestic staycationers wanting a change from home. There is also sizeable uptake from locals and Bahrain-based expats buying day-rooms to access the pool, otherwise only accessible to the 1,500 Beach Club members.
“Now, with the normalization of relations with Qatar, scheduled airlines slowly re-opening from Europe, as well as charters starting up out of Tel Aviv, The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain is looking forward to a strong recovery and a truly grand 2021!” exclaimed the always-exuberant de Villèle, with a French flourish.