Raffles eyes new markets
Iran, Azerbaijan, India and South East Asia can be counted among the new focuses along with the conventional markets for Raffles Istanbul, says Christian Hirt, GM, Raffles Istanbul.
Q Could you share your plans for 2016?
Our property level sales force organises regular sales visits specifically to the Middle East to be in touch with our contacts in the region on a regular basis and also attend related travel shows which are held in GCC countries. We also have a Global Sales Office located in Dubai supporting our sales team closely.
On top of this, we recently opened our Arabic website in an effort to enable our guests from the region to have in depth information about our rooms, culinary, spa and concierge offerings in their native language. In the meantime, along with our plans for GCC, we will continue to strongly invest in Europe and the US in terms of sales & marketing efforts. Q Are there any new markets you are focusing on?
We are always in favor of new and emerging markets for a balanced market mix, discover new potential markets and take the Raffles service to further guests. Iran, Azerbaijan, India and South East Asia can be counted among the new focuses along the conventional markets of the US, UK and Europe.
Q How is technology impacting your business?
Technology is an indispensable part of our business both in terms of the online bookings, PMS and reporting systems and also smooth operation. So we can say, pre, during and post stays can only be seamless and perfect with the correct use of technology wherever possible. Of course this should never interfere with the human touch and the legendary Raffles service and promise of ‘emotional luxury.’ Q Is business more offline or online? Although there is a huge growth in the online business, offline is still leading including agencies, corporate bookings, some of the leisure, as well. Still, we continue to invest in online due to its continuously growing share in our business.