What were the hotel group’s key achievements and milestones in 2015?
Rustom Vickers, group director of development, Dusit International
Opening our first hotel in sub-Saharan Africa, the beautiful dusitD2 Nairobi, which has opened up Dusit to several new opportunities in southern and eastern Africa which we are currently working on. Reaching 15 hotels signed for China within 15 months of opening our office in Shanghai.
What have been the key challenges facing the hotel group and the hospitality sector in general?
Both the group and hospitality sector have the challenge of sourcing, training and retaining talent as we grow and open in new countries. To help meet this challenge we have further synergised our education and hotel divisions to attract a fresh pool of highly motived graduates and enhance the training and career development of our hotel employees.
What are the hotel group’s key goals for 2015 and why?
It has been a very active 2015 thus far, entering into a joint venture primarily for of Saudi Arabia and signing five new projects within the MENA region this year; Dusit Thani Jeddah, dusitD2 Doha, dusitD2 TECOM Dubai, Dusit Thani Residence Dubai Marina, dusitD2 Residence Abu Dhabi and looking to conclude and announce several more projects, for which we are currently working on in Bahrain, Egypt, KSA, Oman and UAE.
How is technology dictating the way you run your business and liaise with customers from bookings and social media to in-room technology?
It continues to have a significant impact on our business and in response we have recently launched our new Dusit.com and will shortly launch our truly pioneering and innovative Dusit App which will link bookings, social media and a uniquely enhanced destination experience to guests via their smart phones.
