Business Traveller (Middle East)
The region’s hotels are adapting to new global lifestyle trends
Much more than a bed for the night, hotels have emerged from the pandemic as places to work, rest and play for residents and visitors alike, and it’s a trend that’s here to stay
As hotels in the Middle East come to terms with the challenges posed by the pandemic they are rapidly evolving their role in society, transforming from places to stay to community hubs. It’s what José Silva, CEO of Dubaibased Jumeirah Group recently described as “the great re-set” for the hospitality industry, with “life after COVID” forcing hotels to adapt to the new lifestyle trends of local residents and visitors from overseas.
“We are seeing the merger of private and professional lives – with moments of family, business and social throughout the day,” he told live and virtual attendees at the recent Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC) ‘On the Road’ event.
“Guests are travelling with their children and looking for leisure during their business trip and vice versa. These worlds are blurred into a permanent melting pot and we will gear our facilities to that.”
Guests now expect to walk into a hotel and find a space to “take a quick Zoom call”, says Silva, stressing properties must become hubs for “community engagement”. Mark Willis, CEO Middle East and Africa at Accor, could not agree more: “We ( hoteliers) need to reinvent some areas of the business; it’s an absolute must. We need to rethink hotel spaces that are not being used at the moment.”
Even before the pandemic Accor was introducing flexible communitybased spaces at many of its lifestyle hotels recognising the growing preference to work from home or a hotel space such as a café, lobby or restaurant. COVID-19 has accelerated this remote work trend and Willis says the group is looking to roll out more co-working concepts and meeting solutions to meet new guest demands.
At head office in Paris, the group is leveraging its dedicated co-working brand Wojo, which promises customers quality workspaces less than 10 minutes from their homes. With a view to becoming the “leading player in ‘workspitality” by growing its network of work experiences across the globe, Accor has already set up Wojo Corners at many of its French hotels,
Guests are travelling with their children and looking for leisure during their business trip
combing living spaces such as bars and lounges with areas reserved for work.
While Wojo is yet to make its way to the Middle East, Accor’s upcoming hotels including 25hours Hotel Dubai One Central (see pages 40-47) and Mama Shelter Dubai in Business Bay will tap into the needs of modern working travellers with their multi-purpose community spaces and co-working areas.
Dubai’s new remote work programme launched last month, giving professionals around the world the chance to live and work in the emirate for up to a year, will also generate demand for more lifestyle-and community-driven hospitality experiences, according to Willis.
Community care
While some hotels have had to evolve into community and coworking hubs, others such as Dubai’s Media One were already set up to enable guests to blend their “work, leisure and family lives”.
“The ground floor venues are set up in such a way that people can meet, work and eat in a relaxed environment and the 8th floor is for after-work relaxation, as well as a party floor for the weekends,” explains General Manager Mark Lee. “We believe in working closely with the local community – those who work with us or live close by – to cater to their needs.”
Since the pandemic, the property in Dubai Media City has created new co-working spaces and ensured there are multiple working stations throughout the hotel.
Lee acknowledges that all brands are “working harder than ever to bring in new communities and reconnect with their existing ones” so “the service and how well you take care of your community will set you apart from the rest”.
“We are the home to a number of different communities at Media One and pride ourselves on meeting their personal requirements,” he says. “We offer solid workplaces, specifically designed and laid out to attract SMEs and others to work remotely in a relaxed environment with free highspeed WIFI.”
Another community focused property, Studio One in Dubai
Studio City, is garnering interest from local residents seeking a wide range of services, from exclusive spaces to host special occasions in a safe environment to private screenings for kids’ parties and corporate events in its dedicated movie room.
“Our Private Cinema is the ideal space for families to spend a day while not having to encounter anyone else,” says Hotel Manager Srbana Gavriolovic. “We are also transforming meeting rooms into fun spaces such as games or karaoke rooms and one has even been leased out as a classroom for students. We definitely needed to diversify our meeting room portfolio and we did just that, by converting them into unique experiential spaces.”
She says Studio One will build on its reputation for “extraordinary staycations” by forging “valuable partnerships with community groups” and offering more individualised events and stays.
Hotels are providing a necessary haven to many displaced people during these difficult times
“We’re known as the communal hub and meeting point for everyone around us and we will keep on pushing boundaries in terms of staycations, offers and events,” adds Gavriolovic.
On The Palm Jumeirah, Andaz Dubai, which opened in 2019 as a “community inclusive space”, is offering an arty workspace for remote workers seeking inspiration.
Described as an “anti-office space”, the Andaz Lounge features an an impressive collection of bespoke artworks created by renowned Emirati artist Mahmood Alabadi.
“Paying homage to Dubai’s young and dynamic Emirati design culture, the art pieces represent local themes with Arabic inscriptions along with stimulating colour combinations to
inspire creativity,” explains General Manager Kifah Bin Hussein.
“We also offer a bespoke coffee selection and select bites for our guests throughout the day without disrupting their workflow. The space acts as an extension to their own living room, with an addition of all the amenities, comfort and ambiance to enable productivity. Our aim is to provide a safe environment for residents to escape to without leaving the city.”
Reiterating the sentiments of Media One’s Mark Lee, he believes hotels are providing a “necessary haven to many displaced people during these difficult times” and those that maintain “high standards of customer service” will make the difference.
For your ‘bleisure’
For Kerten Hospitality, a specialist mixed-use project operator established five years ago, creating immersive lifestyle destinations was the goal from the very outset. The company, which manages hotels, serviced apartments and workspaces, recognises the need for hospitality concepts to become an integral to their neighbourhoods, creating community-centric venues for all types of residents, visitors and purposes.
This model is more relevant than ever post-pandemic, but in the short term, rather than host social and corporate groups, from yoga classes to finance seminars, properties will meet the needs of “the gig worker, the resident, the digital nomad and the remote worker who has taken their family to a different location,”
Purposeful travel will grow and replace luxury and business travel
according to Kerten Hospitality CEO Marloes Knippenberg.
In the near future, those lifestyle spaces will “cater to all and foster a better understanding of each destination”, she says. “Purposeful travel will grow and replace luxury and business travel and hotels will need to adapt to this shift with carefully tailored experiences.”
She cites “fluid offices, retail on the meeting room floor and pop-up small-scale cinemas” as just some of the innovations that will occupy reimagined hotel spaces.
“All these are the plug-in components in mixed-use projects similar to the one we are opening in Jeddah by the end of the year,” she adds.
Kerten Hospitality will be operating a boutique hotel ( The House Hotel Jeddah) and coworking space (Ouspace) in Jeddah’s new City Yard project – a dynamic creative mixed-use lifestyle destination in the upmarket Al Rawdah district.
The group already operates an Ouspace on Jeddah’s Madinah Road, providing tailormade office spaces for short- and long-term let and enabling entrepreneurs and businesses to work flexibly and collaboratively.
“Our second Ouspace (at City Yard) will be dedicated to mixing business and leisure (‘ bleisure’), offering a convenient work and social hub for guests of The House Hotel Jeddah and the local community, as well as relaxed spaces for Pilates, dedicated music studios and more,” explains Knippenberg.
Kerten Hospitality has also made its mark in Jordan with a new Cloud7 Residence in Ayla Oasis, a waterfront development that promises “seaside living” on the Red Sea coast. Another ‘ bleisure’ destination, residents and guests can “work, relax, socialise and exercise” in a secluded environment with “modern architecture, state-of-the-art facilities and multiple options for entertainment and dining”. The Cloud7 Residence Ayla Aqaba features a range of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, some with marina views.
The recalibration of the work-life balance, accelerated by the pandemic, will now “define new spaces in hotels”, with lobbies doubling up as “venues for retail, art exhibits, forums, collaborative events and pop-up F&B concepts”, says Knippenberg.
“Brand collaborations (like these) will deliver hybrid hospitality models” and “hotels will strive to leverage every square metre and increase capacity through genuine disruption”, she predicts.
Hotels and residences will become a home from home for visitors, a primary home for some residents and given the escalating ‘work from anywhere trend’, a second home for the growing number of digital nomads seeking a new remote work destination, she adds.
While the pandemic might have decimated the hotel sector in the short term, it could be a force for positive long-term change.
In their new role as multi-purpose hubs, they will bring people together for work, leisure or both, creating a sense of community spirit accessible to all, from those staying one night to long-termers settling in for the year.