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Banyan Tree Al Areen general manager Sami Ayari discusses the benefits of going ‘back to basics' and focusing on ensuring the service element of the hotel industry is delivered well.
What inspired to you to join the Banyan Tree company?
I spent 17 years in large hotel chains before realising that I really wanted to go back to the boutique, back-to-basics model that I fell in love with when I was young. I was a student in Nice in Southern France and my parents' friends were managers at a hotel there. I spent my weekends there and fell in love with it.
After that I went to hotel school and management training. Then in 2002 I wanted to get back to interacting with guests. New boutique hotels are exploding in the market now. They focus on individual needs and little touches. At Banyan Tree Al Areen we have 5.2 staff per key, which allows us to provide a great level of service.
How has the Banyan Tree brand taken off in Bahrain?
This is our first venture outside of South East Asia. It has been a big adventure to export this philosophy to the Middle East. It is the first destination spa resort in the region. We have 10,000m2 of spa facilities, but it's not about the space; it's about the service and products offered. We will de-stress, detoxify, control weight. The whole resort is build around the spa and the spa journey. It is a sanctuary for the senses.
What are some of the highlights of your time here?
The best compliment I've ever received was from a businessman from Kuwait. He told me that he had travelled all around the world and stayed in top hotels, but he said "this is the first time I've gone on holiday and actually spent time with my family. We stayed in the villa, we went swimming together, we ate together and we played together".
What is the target market for Banyan Tree Al Areen?
Our main market is predominantly from the GCC and actually our biggest market is from Bahrain. After the GCC, our next biggest market comes from England, Germany and Switzerland. This is a financial hub, so we also have lots of MICE business here. We have very large conference facilities with capacity for 300 people, which is hidden from the core of a hotel. And we can then combine conferences with the villa stays and the spa.
Has the hotel been affected by the financial downturn?
Business since October 2008 has grown positively. We are not a business hotel; we're predominantly frequented by locals and leisure tourists. The credit crunch and economic slowdown will only have so much effect on our market. For example, the wealthy market will just be a little less wealthy - that won't stop them travelling. And in this environment, relaxation and de-stress treatments are most important. In fact 30-40% of our spa guests are male. Many are looking for a quick-fix to keep them going - they can come here and decompress over a couple of days.
What are the plans for brand expansion in the region?
We are going to be building eight hotels in the UAE, two hotels in Oman and one hotel in Jordan. We have two brands; the Banyan Tree brand, which is all-villa with private pool; and we have the Angsana brand, which is far more flexible because it can be a combination of villas and hotel, it can be a pure hotel, it can be a business hotel and it can be a business resort. We developed the brand because we were solicited in different locations and in certain locations we couldn't develop a Banyan Tree brand.
What unique factors make the Banyan Tree successful?
There are not many places in the world that people have not discovered. People don't want to be known as a room number. They want to have a name and needs that will be met.
That kind of hotel and level of service is coming back. Larger hotels are trying to do it of course, but one front of house manager can't remember 600 people, whereas I can remember 30 or 50 people. Building unique properties, we can continue being creative, but it's all about service at the end of the day. You can build the most expensive hotel in the world, the tallest, the biggest, the largest - whatever you want - but at the end of the day the service has to follow.
