Moving to Jumeirah Beach

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Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach general manager Peter O’Connor is bringing the brand’s trademark ‘Swiss-ness’ to Jumeirah Beach.

Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach general manager Peter O'Connor admits that he has a lot of work to do before the property opens later this year, but says he is relishing the challenge.

What are going to be the features of the upcoming property?

It has 294 rooms, inclusive of 14 suites - presidential, junior and honeymoon suites. Room size will be about 35m², with large bathrooms and a balcony.

It is a very contemporary design upscale five-star hotel, with an executive club, a very modern fitness centre with spa treatments available, and an outdoor rooftop garden for special functions, as well as a rooftop freeform swimming pools looking over the ocean.

We are across the street from the beach, but connected to the beach because our swimming pool is on a podium level which cantilevers out over the road, so guests can walk from their room directly to the beach without crossing the street. There is also a beach club down there as well.

In terms of F&B facilities we have four outlets, if you include the pool bar. The interesting thing about this pool is in the evening it becomes a quasi-terrace to the lounge.

So we have a three meal buffet restaurant with exhibition kitchens in them, and this serves breakfast and lunch, and then in the evening it morphs into an a la carte dining outlet, with a full cocktail bar and sushi bar, and live DJ music and this spills out into the pool deck with shisha and outdoor terrace dining.

The pool is more than a hotel swimming pool, because it will create that club environment with live music, poolside spa treatments and expanded F&B service. You can sit there smoking shisha and have a foot massage while you have a mezze plate in front of you.

On the lobby level we have a specialty gastronome outlet, and we are in the process of finalising this right now. We are looking at either operating it as a joint venture with a celebrity chef, or doing our own specific concept.

In the lobby there is also a lobby bar lounge which will serve cocktails and coffee.

We also have conference and banqueting facilities for 500 people, and a business centre.

We expect to open late 2008.

What sort of guests will you be targeting, as compared to a property such as the Mövenpick Bur Dubai?

This hotel is a beach property, so we are aiming for 50% leisure business and 50% corporate. It will be a young and trendy property in design, style and demographic.

A lot of the corporate business we expect to be coming from Dubai Media City and Dubai Internet City, and Knowledge Village, and some of the technical and design people that come and go as part of the bigger projects like Jebel Ali ports, Dubai Waterfront and the airport.

How are you marketing the property?

We are just starting to do that. We have completed our competitive analysis, rates structure and a basic marketing plan. Because of the mix of business we will be featuring ourselves in various wholesale travel agent programmes with the main wholesalers.

We will also be marketing directly with our corporate accounts in conjunction with our regional and worldwide sales offices, and the head office in Zurich.

What pricing strategy are you going to pursue?

We are a contemporary upscale five-star hotel, and so we will be in that range.

It will be largely determined in nine to 10 months from now, but it is in that five-star rate category.

Which properties do you see as your biggest competitors?

Principally it is the existing beach hotels, without naming any names. There are also the three soon-to-open Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) hotels, which are scheduled to open in the near future and will be direct competitors.

To some extent there will also be the competitors on the Palm Jumeirah, but we think that Jumeirah Beach Residence and the Palm will be priced differently - that the Palm will have perhaps a higher rate premium.

What have you done to ensure your hotel stands out from the competition in this market?

Part of the Mövenpick brand is its ‘Swiss-ness' - reliability, attention to detail, a reputation for gastronome, consistency, quality and hospitality. Swiss hospitality is about being approachable and friendly, and efficient; all of these are elements which are somewhat intangible unique selling points.

Between now and the opening, what is left to do?

Just now we are bringing on the key department heads, and preparing the business plan and sales and marketing plans.

The design stage of the facility is done, construction is nearing completion, the interiors are being finished, and everything is expected to be completed by mid-summer, at which point we expect to be bringing staff in around September.

There will be very extensive and detailed training. Our recruitment programme has been looking at getting a very cosmopolitan mix of staff, as opposed to any one or two particular countries. We will be mixing it up quite a bit.

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