A towering strength

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Hans Heijligers, GM at Jumeirah Emirates Towers talks about the need to innovate and explains why industry awards are more important than ever.

Jumeirah Emirates Towers recently scooped the award for best business hotel in Dubai for an impressive seventh year running at the Middle East Traveller Awards.

So has its seeming apparent monopoly on this industry award led to a degree of complacency? The property's general manager Hans Heijligers claims that in fact, the opposite is true.

"There are so many great hotels around now," he explains.

"The way Dubai is expanding every year there is more quality competition so to win it this year is even more important and even more rewarding."

So how has Emirates Towers continued its winning streak in the face of growing competition in Dubai's hotel industry? Heijligers points out that that the reputation Jumeirah Emirates Towers enjoys is an important factor in its continuing success.

"We've made enormous progress in terms of brand awareness both worldwide and in Dubai," he says. "Business travellers that come to Dubai know about the Emirates Towers and that's very important."

He also stresses that the property's location is another major plus.

"Our customer base to a large extent comes from financial institutions so where we are located, in the very heart of Dubai's financial hub, is ideal for them," he states.  "Other hotels will have other things to offer, maybe for leisure guests, but for people coming to Dubai to do business, they can't be better placed that here with us."

Heijligers is anxious to clarify that these factors, while definite advantages, are not what he believes are the core reasons for the property's enduring success, and instead he points to its ethos.

"We are constantly innovating as a company," he says.

"We have wonderful staff, we're very happy with them and we're always researching and thinking what we could do to improve our guest's experience."

Heijligers has a raft of examples to underline his point.

"Let's look at what we've done with checkout," he enthuses. "Maybe our guests don't want to physically come down to the desk to check out, it's a hassle, so now we've implemented a new system where you can send an email from your room and then leave; you don't have to go down to the desk so it's much simpler."

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