FRHI eyes South India

The annual FRHI Global Meetings Exchange 2016, held from June 22-26, at Fairmont Ajman, saw 130 clients including 11 select Indian partners. Bastien Blanc, Vice President, Sales & Marketing for MEAI, FRHI Hotels & Resorts, speaks to TRAVTALK on the sideli

QTell us about the FRHI Global Meetings Exchange and how it taps the MICE market.

FRHI Hotels & Resorts’ Global Meetings Exchange is our biggest event for which we invite, once a year, our biggest partners from the MICE market to join us at a particular location. Two years ago we had this in Abu Dhabi, this year again we welcomed the delegates to the Middle East, in Ajman & Dubai. We have partners coming in from across the world – from Australia, the US, Poland, UK, Germany, France, Turkey, India and South Africa.

The annual event, GME is usually held over 4-5 days. It is a mix between one-on-one meetings, where we give an opportunity to our partners to meet and exchange all their needs and potential. We are also spending a few days at the destination, showing and demonstrating what the destination has to offer to the MICE market.

QWhich are FRHI’s biggest source markets for its hotels in India and the UAE?

Basically for UAE, the biggest markets remain the UK and the US, especially for MICE. But we can see constant growth in business coming from India, Russia, Poland, and CIS markets.

For India, we have a strong presence in the country with Fairmont in Jaipur and Swissotel in Kolkata. For us it is a very strong market specially in terms of outbound. We also have our Global Sales Office in India. Due to the potential of the Indian market, we see a lot of potential in the Middle East. We have seen more and more demand in the wedding market, which seems to be huge, and especially in demand are Ajman and Abu Dhabi.

India by itself has a huge and strong domestic market. This market also has a lot of demand for the UAE, Kenya, and also getting some demands for Seychelles.

QWhat are FRHI’s expansion plans in the India market? At present, talking about the development in India, we have got some good leads in the pipeline but I cannot disclose all of that yet. But we would be diversifying the regions. Like I said, we are present in Jaipur and Kolkata, so we need to expand our presence throughout the country. Our next destination would be bit more in the south (India).

QDoes the group have any plans property in India?

At present there is no plan to open Raffles in India. We are opening Raffles in other parts of the world and there are a lot of Indian clients for the Raffles Hotels outside of India. But as of now there are no plans of Raffles for India. How- ever, Swissotel and Fairmont are the two brands which have the strongest potential of development in India.

QHow does FRHI engage with the travel trade? Are there any special incentives?

For the trade what we are developing are tools which enable them to have the right elements in hand in order to sell a destination. We provide them with information about the incentive opportunities for the destination so they have additional elements to help sell the destination. We want to work faster and in an efficient way. We have a tool called Pass Key. It enables to create a microsite leading to an easy way to create a room list and also have access to another tool called Package on the Flight, which is à la carte, where people can choose incentive activities or additional benefits for their participants during their events at our hotels. We have a strong peer plan that we keep on developing throughout the year. We have a peer director based in Dubai coordinating for Middle East Africa and India and we also have agencies working for us in different countries to make sure that we are always on the top in terms of coordinating efforts at national levels as well. We make sure that for FRHI we are aware of what is happening in different markets and we are interact with the right partners not only in traditional marketing but also in digital marketing. Over the years FRHI has been developing different tools and partnerships in digital marketing and it is a key differentiator for our brands throughout the world.

QIn terms of digital marketing, will you improve your online presence?

In terms of digital marketing we are already very strong. Through this digital marketing our online growth has been over 70 per cent over the past year just for UAE. This shows that there has been a strong demand and put in huge efforts.

"For India, we have a strong presence in the country with Fairmont in Jaipur and Swissotel in Kolkata. For us it is a very strong market specially in terms of outbound. We also have our Global Sales Office in India. Due to the potential of the Indian market, we see a lot of potential in the Middle East" Bastien Blanc Vice President, Sales & Marketing for Middle East, Africa & India, FRHI Hotels & Resorts