< PreviousTrending hoteliermiddleeast.com September 2020 10 The latest culinary collaboration between Vikas Khanna and JA Resorts & Hotels sees the Indian chef create new seasonal restaurant Ellora by Vikas Khanna at JA The Resort in Dubai. Opening at JA Beach Hotel, Ellora will replace signature restaurant Kinara by Vikas Khanna for the next few months, with the new concept focusing more on seasonal ingredients such as green mango, passionfruit, and watermelon. Meaning caves in Sanskrit, Ellora is aiming to symbolise the creativity that can occur during challenging times such as this, and the menu will feature authentic regional Indian dishes with a modern twist. Led by Michelin-starred Khanna’s protégé in Dubai, chef de cuisine Ashish Kumar, dishes include tandoori pineapple with sesame curry, saffron crisp, and coconut cream, pan-seared salmon with pistachio crust, rainbow carrot, and watermelon curry, and slow cooked lamb with caramelised onion, Nigella-fennel mix, and seasonal green mangoes. Dubai Municipality has now ordered the closure of 107 food establishments in the emirate for failing to adhere to COVID-19 health and safety measures. The closures were ordered for violations such as failing to adhere to social distancing, not wearing personal safety equipment such as masks and gloves during food preparation, as well as not using approved sterilisation and disinfection materials. Despite the number of closures, Dubai Municipality reported the compliance 107 Dubai restaurants closed for violating COVID-19 safety measures Vikas Khanna opens seasonal restaurant at JA The Resort Dubai FOOD & BEVERAGE NEWS with the measures ad increased to 99 percent from 94 percent during the partial reopening of the F&B business, with 10,481 eld visits to food establishments carried out in Dubai during the past 75 days. The municipality checks all food establishments in the emirate according to their various activities, such as restaurants, cafeterias, cafes that offer food, groceries, supermarkets, and bakeries, and also inspects and monitors delivery vehicles, to ensure that they are sterilized, maintain food safety measures after each order, and change masks and gloves of delivery workers after every order. The inspection teams in the Municipality conduct routine inspection visits as well as visits based on consumer complaints, and impose nes according to Local Order No. 11 of 2003.Trending 11 September 2020 hoteliermiddleeast.com AVIATION NEWS Despite usually being one of the region’s most lucrative sectors, more than half of the Middle East’s aviation jobs are at risk because of the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the industry. That is the warning from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which estimates job losses in aviation and its related industries could balloon to 1.5 million, taking a massive chunk from the current 2.4 million aviation jobs in the region. More than half of Middle East’s aviation jobs at risk Flights are still continuing to operate in and out of Beirut’s national airport despite the massive explosion that happened at the city’s seaport. The airport is just 10km from the site of the blast, which killed at least hundreds and injured 4,000 more. Reports suggested the explosion happened after a re ignited 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been sitting in a warehouse for years. But, national carriers Emirates, Etihad and ydubai are continuing services to and from the Lebanon capital city. Emirates operates twice daily ights to Beirut while Etihad ies to Lebanon’s capital once daily from Abu Dhabi. Daily ights continue to Beirut despite blast near its airport Award Winning British Designer & Manufacturer of Quality In-Room Products DISTRIBUTED BY THE HOTEL OPERATING SUPPLIES & EQUIPMENT SPECIALIST +971 4 224 5818 sales@rapid-supplies.com www.rapid-supplies.comhoteliermiddleeast.com September 2020 12 Standing tall The largest So tel hotel in the Middle East was getting noticed way before its proposed opening date this month. The towering obelisk-shaped structure rises high above the Wa neighbourhood it’s located in. Attached to the Wa Mall, it blends French and Egyptian themes and is a sister property to Raf es Dubai Checking in13 September 2020 hoteliermiddleeast.com ROOMS The So tel Dubai Wa has 498 luxury rooms and suites as well as 97 furnished, serviced apartments, meaning long- and short-stay guests are catered for. The rooms are described as having ‘modern décor, attention to detail and unrivalled luxury’. The colour-scheme is neutral and there are touches of Art Deco artworks in each room and swirl-patterned oors to represent the desert. There are 68 suites, which come with 24-hour butler service and So tel’s Club Millésime access and bene ts. Three of the suites are designed by award-winning rm Duccio Grassi Architects and can be found on the 47th, 48th and 49th oors. RESIDENCES The residences at So tel Dubai Wa are found on the eighth to 17th oor of the property and include studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. They have all been designed to allow natural daylight to ood the spaces and aim to blend the essence of French ‘art de vivre’ into every apartment by using graceful and innovative designs, Art Deco lines, bright colours and bold geometry. They all come furnished with smooth, polished surfaces to complement the xtures and bring So tel’s French charm to life. The oor-to-ceiling windows in each apartment offer views of Dubai during the day and the twinkling city lights at night. RESTAURANTS The hotel will have ve F&B venues, each with their own USP. Perhaps the most eye-catching is Brasserie Boulud, designed by Daniel Boulud, who has a two Michelin-star restaurant in New York. The acclaimed chef will be bringing his artistry to a French-inspired menu. Also taking pride of place in the hotel is Taiko, an Asian restaurant and bar that originated in Amsterdam. Here you’ll nd a darker theme, less reliant on Art Deco than the rest of the property. A stylised ‘tree’ is the central attraction and will change with each season. A robata grill and sushi counter also stand out. British-themed gastropub The Nine is a more casual spot, serving pub classics and beer. There are four big screens and a large screen projector for sports. Other outlets are Soleil Pool & Lounge and Bijou Patisserie. AT A GLANCE The hotel takes the shape of an obelisk, reverential monuments that were prevalent in ancient Egypt. One of the two Luxor obelisks is in Paris. So tel Dubai Wa has 498 rooms and 97 serviced apartments. Brasserie Boulud is the rst restaurant in the Middle East from French chef Daniel Boulud. His venue Daniel in New York holds two Michelin stars. Views over the cityhoteliermiddleeast.com September 2020 14 As the COVID-19 pandemic took its rm grip on the globe earlier this year and brought the hospitality industry to a virtual hard stop, one of the immediate reactions and predicted outcomes was the much loved and commercially successful buffet was dead. The buffet had continued to prove popular and a necessary business model to serve thousands of guests in busy resorts where customers enjoyed the convenience and variety of helping themselves at the numerous and often extravagant self-serve buffet counters and stations. Added to this business model and equation is that the buffet breakfast is, in many cases, viewed as the only way to serve hundreds of guests in resorts and properties at peak times, and guests really do enjoy the luxury of a full buffet breakfast, coupled with lavish buffet-style brunches at the weekends or afternoon teas. Buffets are often seen as key at events both leisure and MICE, often involving huge gourmet extravaganzas at weddings and special events. In many countries the buffet and sharing style is deeply entrenched in eating cultures and traditions, particularly in Asia and some parts of Africa. Take into account that thousands of hotels around the world have traditional all-day-dining restaurants housing large buffet counters and in the current downturn the prospect of simply ripping these out and rebuilding a different style of predominately a breakfast room is not practical, coupled to this is the back of house and equipment investment also required to support a new style of culinary operation. The buffet has continued to survive the debates of hygiene, as the huge and clear majority of operators have always put health and cleanliness as the Did COVID-19 kill the buffet? By Emma Banks Talking Heads key operational priorities and therefore managed levels of food on the buffets to ensure freshness and safe rotation processes, as well as rst class back- and front-of-house hygiene practices and infrastructures. Apart from safety and sanitisation, the buffet was having to adapt to the very clear signals from guests that food waste was high on the agenda and that lavish displays right up to the nal minute of a buffet’s closure resulting in disposing of food were and are indeed totally unacceptable from a moral and environmental standpoint. The buffet was slowly starting to adapt to the calls on hygiene and waste. And to some guests’ desire for a more curated breakfast or meal option. Hotels began to respond, designing and building their all-day restaurants to ex to these trends. They were capble of delivering a buffet breakfast, serving an à la carte lunch and a dinner service involving large parts of the restaurant to be sealed off, with strategic design and lighting elements incorporated within the space to improve the look and feel of the restaurant, as well as creating a more intimate lunch or dinner experience. The buffet evolution and debate rumbled on in a procrastinated fashion and then a crisis hit… Was the buffet over? “When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters – one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity,” said John F Kennedy. Re ecting on this, now is the time of opportunity to force change and evolve the slightly outdated buffet model and really address the issues of hygiene, waste, experience and theatre. So, what are the hotel operators to do? We have seen so many operators, such as Hilton, respond with programmes such as CleanStay and Hilton Event Ready to ensure that heightened safety measures and precautions are 100 percent in place to make guests feel safe and event bookers trust venues to host their meetings and events once again. These programmes from operators have received signi cant exposure and guests that are willing and comfortable to travel once again are responding very favourably to these highly visible new practices and procedures. Let’s look closely at what has happened to the buffet amongst these big cleanliness and safety programmes and review the changes. Gone are the self-serve stations with communal tongs, where guests jostle and elbow each other at peak times. They’re replaced by spaced- out directional ow staff-served stations that offer either small single plated items or assisted stations. The increased number of served stations and live cooking allows the guests to interact with chefs and hotel staff, to ask questions and increase engagement between the property employees and the guests. Operators are Talking Heads 15 September 2020 hoteliermiddleeast.com looking at fun, innovative and interactive ways to present buffets such as vertical buffet stations, interesting single covered plating items such as beautiful bento boxes and little cast iron pots, housing a full traditional breakfast that the guest can just grab and go at the hot counter. The outdated cloche may make a return, but many vendors are now supplying beautiful updated models for operators to protect food from air water droplets. Guest ow at the counters is being managed with strategically placed planters, artwork and loose furniture to allow the space to appear more interesting, and the new spaced out dining tables to allow for physical distancing does lend itself to a less chaotic breakfast period and perhaps more relaxed affair for the guest. Some operators bene ting from busy staycation business or domestic leisure travel are having to control peak buffet periods with restaurant bookings and time slots, which at rst may seem inconvenient to the guest, but it does allow for a less frenzied breakfast experience and ght for a table or buffet counter space. Guests are adapting to these new measures and appreciating the new safety protocols. Increased cleaning and sanitisation have only increased hygiene levels and, in some cases, screens are being installed for extra protection. Back of house have implemented even higher levels of cleaning and hygiene, physical distancing of staff, many wearing face coverings alongside their front of house colleagues. The crisis strengthens the case for improved air quality systems in restaurants and kitchens. Kitchens will also bene t from potential further investment in automatic lighting that is sensor rather than switch controlled, cooking equipment that can be voice activated and increased thermal sterilisation in pot wash areas reducing in sink washing. There will be increased use of anti-bacterial stainless-steel wall cladding instead of glazed tiles and measures to eliminate as many hand contact surfaces as possible. All this can only improve and bene t already high hygiene practices. Whilst the extra measures and increased staff numbers have increased costs of the buffet operation, this is far more realistic and practical than a full restaurant and business model redesign. Hotels need to entice their guests back and these measures are key to encouraging guests to travel and stay in the new norm. Longer term, I believe that the buffet restaurant design will evolve and adapt further. The pandemic has challenged the hospitality industry like nothing else, but necessity is the mother of invention and I believe the crisis will allow the buffet to reinvent itself and become what it needs to be. About the author Based at Hilton’s MEA Regional Of ce in Dubai, Emma Banks is responsible for F&B strategy and development across EMEA, supporting Hilton’s trading and future pipeline of hotels.Talking Heads hoteliermiddleeast.com September 2020 16 I think we’re at a time where we can re ect on how 2020 is impacting the shape of our industry and how we might continue to change as we move forward. After months of webinars and discussions over what might become of us all, hotels are still under planning and construction in the region. At the same time as brave owners are looking to expand and open up, other, equally brave owners are shutting up shop across the hotel, hospitality and retail sectors. No-one is immune (other than, it would appear, tech wizards, entrepreneurs with deep curious vision and the food delivery aggregators). Entrepreneurs are close to the front line, they know what is going on, and I wonder how many senior executives are constrained so much to the boardroom, concentrating on transformational demands, they are missing what’s happening outside. I once worked for a visionary company where we partnered with a small entrepreneur to learn from them. We built a huge company very quickly by being in touch with the front line, we pivoted quickly and were allowed to make decisions fast. We combined corporate power with an agile eet-of-foot approach Transforming projects to plan for the future By David Singleton that was a critical success factor to our business then and now. It’s not just about what’s on the menu, it’s sometimes about who is coming back rst. The younger generation are more mentally and physically immune to what is pandemically going on, and it might make sense to manoeuvre towards them, not with transformational bulldozing but menu tweaks, music pro ling, lighting, messaging, social content and more. Entrepreneurs think deeply, have a curious mind, are brave and not too afraid to go forward without the need for boardroom ponti cating and screen gazing. However, one person’s ponti cating is another’s strategy, and strategise we may, but never before have we been more challenged to think outside the box when it comes to using our properties and transforming projects already on the go. What will become of the cavernous spaces owned by landlords who were determined not to give in to tenants but are now offering deals on locations people could only dream of previously? Hotel rooms are now offered for longs stays, malls could ip to become co-working and living spaces that include sleeping pods, tropical roof top allotments, of ces by the hour, concierge About the author David Singleton has worked in the hospitality and retail industry around the world as a brand builder, creator, operator, franchisee, and franchisor for some of the world’s best known and respected brands. He moderates, speaks, writes, advises and mentors across the hospitality and service sectors globally. Find out more at www.sociusgroup.com, www.davidsingleton.work and @singletoncity. shopping for the free and easy (and not just the wealthy), and tech. Personality will never replace tech fully, but it can, and is, learning about your personality and, as a result, is customising your lifestyle without you knowing it. Over the border in Saudi Arabia, they can learn from all these factors and the ability to combine visionary designers with Arabian entrepreneurship and a ‘ ex-on-the-go’ spirit is coming at a brilliant time. Giga-projects will become the envy of the world, highways to and from airports to the shores of the Red Sea will become routes of wonder, and city centres will evolve to become vibrant nancial, retail and culinary spaces. Cloud kitchens will emerge to become villages where driverless electric cars and drones deliver from one side and, on the other, global expats mingle with today’s once normal expectations. Talking Heads 17 September 2020 hoteliermiddleeast.com There is no doubt that the pandemic has put brakes on many of the hotel development projects globally. In this perspective, the Middle East is no exception. Does it mean all gloom for the industry? Well, not at all. As per the estimates of Top Hotel Projects, there are 632 hotels and 192,417 rooms in the active project pipeline in the Middle East. The pandemic has slowed the pace of development for sure. Many of the said projects are currently on hold as a direct result of the freeze in economy, and huge restrictions in airline travel globally. How the global economy pans out in the short-, mid- and long-term is anyone’s guess. Brand and hospitality infrastructure developers remain optimistic for the post-pandemic period and are estimating there will not be more than a six-month delay in the projects. Only time will tell if that plays out. What we can do is look at the hotel projects in the pipeline for the period ahead and monitor the turn of events with an optimistic and positive outlook. We can expect the postponed Expo 2020 (due to start in Q4 2021) to be the catalyst to rejuvenate the economy of Dubai in particular and UAE in general. In 2020, 219 hotels with 61,153 rooms were planned, but most will be delayed until 2021. In addition, in 2021, 157 hotels with 48,917 rooms were in the pipeline. Another 88 hotels were planned to open in 2022 and add 28,169 rooms to the regional inventory. Then, in 2023, 41 hotels are estimated, with 127 in the plan for 2024 and beyond. Saudi Arabia has 162 hotels and 70,854 rooms in the pipeline, Turkey has 45 and Oman has 35. Bahrain has 14 hotels in the works and Kuwait has 13. Hilton is investing heavily in the region and its brands have taken over the top three positions of the Middle East hotel brand leader board. DoubleTree by Hilton, Hilton Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Garden Inn will launch 18, 17 and 14 hotels respectively. Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts will open 12 new hotels. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, the Address Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Hotels & Resorts and Courtyard by Marriott will each grow their footprints by 12 properties. Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts and Novotel will each celebrate 11 launches. The largest hotel in the world is also expected to open in 2021 – the 9,760-room Abraj Kudai Towers in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The 1.4m sq m development will house residential units, ve-star hotels and a variety of commercial and leisure zones. Its proximity to the Holy Kaaba will make this property an attractive destination for religious travellers visiting the Holy City for their pilgrimage. The 1,490-room Jabal Omar Address Makkah is another imposing project just steps away from the Grand Mosque with two identical towers linked by a sky bridge. It will include a mall, leisure and lifestyle facilities and prayer rooms. The 641-room Hilton Abu Dhabi Yas Island Resort will be on Yas Bay, an area which is anticipated to become one of the region’s most iconic and vibrant waterfront destinations. The resort’s facilities will include a multi-purpose conference centre, seven dining outlets and an innovative urban beach concept with an in nity pool suspended above the Arabian Gulf. Large-scale events in the nearby Yas Arena will attract visitors and overnight guests. Miral and Warner Bros are opening the world’s rst Warner Bros hotel on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi in 2021. The $112m The WB Abu Dhabi will boast Warner Bros décor. It is now 40 percent complete. There are truly exciting times ahead and a lot to look forward to. About the author With more than 28 years of hospitality experience globally, Naim Maadad is the founding CEO of Gates Hospitality, which owns and operates Ultra Brasserie, Bistro des Arts, Reform Social & Grill, Publique and Folly by Nick & Scott. The company also has ownership of Six Senses Zighy Bay. Reasons to be optimistic By Naim MaadadTalking Heads hoteliermiddleeast.com September 2020 18 VistaJet has continued to operate ights globally throughout the crisis where safe to do so and we’ve been able to adapt quickly to market changes. We have seen three main phases during the crisis — starting mid-January as the virus moved from east to west, we saw a signi cant amount of ying from Asia to Europe, the Middle East and the United States. As the virus arrived further west during the second half of February and early March, in Asia it had already reduced, and we saw signi cant migration of traf c back to the market. Overall, Q1 saw particular intense ying on our long-range global eet – predominantly owing to the city pair requests. We have a oating eet so our aircraft go wherever there is the demand from our clients, and it was this demand that was driving our traf c. The second phase started at the end of March and went through to the last week of April, when we saw a signi cant slowdown in demand as borders were closing very rigidly. During this time we mainly performed repatriation ights and launched our community support service, working with governments and medical organisations around the world to ensure that those with critical travel requirements were able to keep moving. As we entered the third phase, since the last week of April, we have seen a steady increase week by week in private jet travel around the globe. Today, we How private jet travel could soar post-COVID-19 By Ian Moore of Vistajet are back to around 85 percent of our pre-pandemic traf c and expect to see continued demand for business aviation. As the number of touchpoints signi cantly decreases when ying private — 20 interactions as opposed to 700 when ying commercial — the travel industry also expects to see an increased number of rst-time private yers looking for more safe and reliable ight solutions with brands of trust. Although currently only around 10 percent of people who can afford to y private do, as of June 2020 71 percent of our new incoming requests are from passengers who have not regularly used business aviation solutions before. We are also seeing an increase in memberships from regions around the world, including the Middle East where — as a key growth market — we have a dedicated sales of ce and where our group company, Vista Global’s, headquarters are. All in all, the strategy of our business model, our oating eet, asset-free solution and our global infrastructure allows companies and individuals to pay only for the hours they y rather than purchasing an entire aircraft. We predict that this will continue to become even more of a trend in the post-COVID climate. With privacy and safety becoming paramount, health is being factored into travel choices more than ever before. The journey to the aircraft, the in-cabin experience and the nal destination are all driving factors, and so working with About the author Since 2010 Ian has been chief commercial of cer of VistaJet and is a director of the company’s UK subsidiary. Ian is responsible for global market expansion, commercial negotiations, sales, marketing, customer service and product delivery. Previously he worked in various roles including VP strategy & sales, sales manager and strategy & analysis manager for NetJets Europe, from 2002 to 2008 and was VP sales & marketing for the business jet subsidiary of TATA, Business Jets Pvt Ltd (BJETS), from 2008 to 2010. the right partners has become even more important. As experts in their eld, the partners that we work with are also key to supporting our customers around the world — whether that be our partners in hotels, such as Rocco Forte Hotels, travel experts, car services, chefs, restaurants, or to support other passengers such as children or pets. Our brand makes ying simple and whatever that means today, we will adapt and stick to our promise. We have organised ights to more than 1,900 airports in 187 countries, covering 96 percent of the world. Whenever you see a business jet in a location, you know that business is being done.Talking Heads 19 September 2020 hoteliermiddleeast.com As the world starts to awaken from its COVID slumber and the hospitality industry takes the tentative steps in its comeback, we are entering a landscape where guest and consumer experiences are more important than ever. The reality is that the crisis has, for now, not gone away but we do need to address and shift the conversation to a place where we examine the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. Through all challenges there are silver linings, no matter how impossible it may be to see them at the time. With the sudden hiatus to our industries and the subsequent questioning of how we return consumer con dence to attending our venues, establishments and events, we have had time to re-evaluate our offerings and examine new, innovative ways to engage with consumers in a world where the value of experience is becoming key to success in an industry that, in the Middle East in particular, was over-saturated with a plethora of options for a dwindling customer base. My foray into the hospitality industry started way back at the turn of the century, working the bars and restaurants of hotels within my native North Manchester suburb before I moved into the world of entertainment and circus antiques. All the training I had received working in a costumer-facing role stood me in perfect stead for a short, yet lively career juggling and re breathing at events across the world. Both roles, although vastly different, required the same element of performance, theatrics and attention to detail to ensure we created special, memorable and unforgettable personal moments for those whom we were fortunate enough to have grace our bar or stage each evening. I have long been an advocate that the hospitality and entertainment industries are intertwined and in a post-COVID environment that relationship is and will continue to be more important than ever. As we see the growing spending in uence of the millennial and generation z demographic, 78 percent of whom place the value of experiences over material items, this rapid acceleration to a more holistic sensory experience has only been ampli ed by the current pandemic and the opportunities that await. How we have integrated entertainment into offerings in the past is now redundant and we need to reimagine the possibilities that lie ahead. Carefully curated immersive performances deliver feasts for the eyes, complementing the delicacies on our taste buds as selected musical playlists harness the power to evoke emotions, creating lasting, authentic experiences. The barriers between our senses have been broken as we welcome the ability to come together again after a period of enforced isolation, all a little more appreciative of those things we may have taken for granted. The time before us will certainly not be easy. As we emerge from one crisis a new challenge awaits. The economic fall-out the world is facing is vast and the hospitality industry in particular will be at the forefront of the battle. As establishments work to entice an economically conscious clientele, the rami cations of “stay home” instructions as well as the pivot to virtual engagement across the world continue to play out, this relationship between venues and entertainment will be co-dependent. Entertainment offerings have the ability to help create, tell and share stories. As we all work towards restoring our respective industries it is these stories and unique, clientele-focused experiences that have the ability to help us re-engage and rede ne our collective futures. Collaboration is key and that starts long before stepping out on stage. About the author Dan Bolton is a prominent artist director and creative producer with more than 21 years’ experience and an extensive global network in the live events, entertainment and performance industry. He specialises in artist management, choreography and the conceptualisation, creation and delivery of live performances, working alongside brands and clients to create unique and compelling performances for ceremonies, corporate launches, public spectacles and more. Find out more at @danboltondxb. What now for events? By Dan BoltonNext >