"hospitality inside Dubai" readers' trip led participants to the desert
Dubai (June 6, 2008). Haze and dust spread above the skyscrapers of Dubai. But after only 40 minutes of driving, the overcast sky clears up and the landscape churned up by construction sites takes on the shape of the familiar and intact desert. Bayts and individual camels appear. In the middle of the motorway, completely without any warning, the jeep turns right and follows a gravel road towards a fence and gate: here begins the conservation area of the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa (photo). You immerse yourself into the idyll of the first desert resort in the world and into the heart of today's nature reserve. It is one of the favourite destinations of the Sheikh of Dubai. A villa was erected in his honour. The ecologic experts of Emirates Hotels & Resorts have renatured the desert here and revived the local flora and fauna. The intact nature and the seclusion of the wide desert can be experienced by a maximum of 90 hotel guests - and particularly the guests of the most recent readers' trip of hospitalityInside.com. A BBQ dinner in the bayt rounded off the afternoon including the visit to Al Maha, a jeep tour through the desert and a drink in the dunes at sunset. In the following lines, Arne Silvis, General Manager of the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spas explains why 95% of his guests wish to return to this idyll near Dubai. - And finally, our guests tell you how they experienced the trip with hospitalityInside.com.
How do guests behave arriving at the Al Maha, how do they feel and look like at their departure?
Arne Silvis: Almost without exception guests are overwhelmed with the experience when arriving at the resort. Although it's only 45 minutes from Dubai airport it is very much "off the beaten track ", covering the last 10 km on the gravel road through the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, and in the dunes of the Arabian Desert. The fact is that Al Maha is completely different from any other resort in Dubai, and very much the kind of luxury resort that experienced travellers have come to expect in Africa, or other remote and exotic locations. We believe that most guests are overwhelmed by the beauty and exotic nature of the location, and the very tranquil, romantic atmosphere of the setting. Since each arriving guest has a personal Field Guide and Guest Relations staff to meet them, they are very much put at ease, and guests often mention that it really feels like a "home away from home". Guests are in general almost always visibly more relaxed after just a few hours, and over 95% indicate that they would love to return in the future.
Are guests aware of the Al Maha eco concept before arriving or do they learn about it during their stay?
Silvis: Many guests are already aware of the conservation and eco-concept, and what to expect during their stay. Most of our guests are well travelled, and frequently stay in similar properties around the world. They tend to do their own research before they even arrive. Once here, the team of professionally trained field guides accompany guests on a variety of activities, explaining the conservation projects, fauna and flora, and cultural heritage in further detail. Many guests do respond very positively to this exposure and become more aware of the local environmental issues through their stay. We do see that without exception guests appreciate that their visit makes a direct contribution to the environmental and conservation work being undertaken.
Which (soft) educational elements do you offer at the Al Maha?
Silvis: Guests have the opportunity to choose from any two activities per day, and most of the activities are offered in an educational manner, but emphasis placed on doing this in an enjoyable and relaxed manner. In addition we have an extensive library, filled with interesting reading material and photgraphic journals of the region, all made easily accessible to all our guests to enjoy at their leisure. We do not make an issue of `preaching` to our visitors, but we do make a point if asked, to elaborate on our work, and the environmentally sensitive designs used in the resort development and operations.
Which effects does the desert resort have on guests and their holiday behaviour?
Silvis: Most of our guests live a very fast paced lifestyle, and this is very noticeable when they first arrive; after a day or two within this tranquil desert setting almost everybody is visibly more at ease with themselves and their surroundings. Solitude and the wide expanse of the desert has a very healing effect on most people, and most remark on how great it feels to get "back to basics". We try to build on this experience by giving guests the ability to enjoy their space, and to observe what is around them; the sketching and painting materials, found in every room, is a popular way for guests to respond to this.
How does the hotel itself work in terms of energy and water savings? Please, give some examples how much money you invested and what pays off meanwhile.
Dinner with a view....
photos: map
Silvis: We have used energy savings where feasible, with some of our power supplied by the local authorities. We have installed solar power across the staff accommodation complex, (which has the highest permanent number of residents), with great success and substantial cost-savings. We estimate that this has produced a cost saving of over one million AED (over 176,000 Euro) since the opening ten years ago, paying off the investment many times over. All the water is recycled through a series of collection and purification systems, with the water then used for resort irrigation purposes.
Why are luxury and eco no contradiction?
Silvis: The number of guests and visitors to the resort is highly regulated, and one of the basic concepts to be understood is that the low number of guests in the resort at any time means that impact is kept to a minimum. In doing this high value needs to be given to the individual guest, and we therefore focus on the quality of everything we do, from personal attention, menus, facilities, and services. The fact is that with our minimum impact due to the number of guests we have, we have reduced the environmental impact on the location from what was uncontrolled and unsustainable activities which were prevalent.
We've successfully ended the previous over-utilisation of water resources in the area by farmers, overgrazing is no longer a problem, and rehabilitation of the ecologically sensitive desert environment is now ongoing. All of this was only made possible through the valuable contribution received from our guests, many of whom are regular and repeat visitors.
Recent US studies say that more and more customers are willing to pay at least 10% more for a "green stay". Do you share these results? Do you think your hotel guests would be willing to pay extra money for environmental protection supposed you declare it?
Silvis: We have not conducted surveys of this nature on any of our guests, but our understanding is that most visitors to the protected area would like to contribute to the environment, and I'm sure that many will support this without hesitation should it ever be implemented elsewhere.
The spa at the Harbour Hotel & Residence in Dubai is a "copy" of the Al Maha spa, but very different in size and ambiance. What is similar, what is different?
Silvis: For continuity between our various hotels we have decided to ensure that the treatments, and the environmentally friendly nature of the products we have developed for Al Maha are maintained throughout all our spas. Our "Timeless" range of treatments will be used in all future Spas. Obviously the location does make a difference as well, and the tranquillity of the desert setting is very conducive to delivering enjoyable and relaxing treatments.
The Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa only allows hotel guests access to the resort, your average room rate is high, the average occupancy is at about 80%. Which elements turn it into a financial success: eco or luxury? Would it be as successful without the eco-approach?
Silvis: Our financial success is attributed to both elements of rate and occupancy. Our rates are, dependent on season, between 1000 to 1400 USD per day, but please note that this is inclusive of all menus and activities at the resort. I think the resort is certainly partly successful because of its conservation and environmentally sensitive nature, (as this is appreciated by all guests). However, we believe that it is the total luxury environment and experience the guest has of the location that makes Al Maha successful, and this can only be done where a resort focusses on the total environment, makes a contribution to protecting the total location and is active on ensuring sustainable development.
What THE GUESTS think
about the 1st hospitalityInside.com readers' trip:
"I'm very happy to have taken part in this trip. Thanks to your excellent travel planning and impressive and exclusive contacts, it was anything other than a simple tourist trip.
At the Al Maha Desert Nature Reserve: (from left) Cornelia
Markus-Diedenhofen, Michael Willems &
Maria Puetz-Willems, Klaus & Martina Fidlschuster
(front) and Andreas & Daniela Fay.
Beginning with the very pleasant Emirates Harbour Hotel in Dubai Marina with its very generously sized apartments, the planning of the daily programme was also just top... The exclusive viewings of interesting architecture (Four Seasons Golf Club, Burj al Arab etc), the boat tour and the viewing of a villa on the Palm, the helicopter flight over Dubai and last but not least the breathtaking trip to the desert resort with sun-downer and feast made it all a top quality programme!...
All in all: We returned from the trip very inspired and fulfilled after having the opportunity to take some of the positive spirit of the people we were lucky enough to meet back home with us. Many thanks once again for your untiring efforts, we all had a wonderful trip and - by the way - where and when is the trip next year? You can certainly count me in!"
Cornelia Markus-Diedenhofen, Interior Designer, Reutlingen
"Many thanks for the excellent informative trip ... where's the next trip headed?"
Prof. Andreas-Norbert & Daniela Fay, FAY Projects, Mannheim
"We commenced our journey with curiosity and a healthy scepticism of the shining PR giant Dubai. And we returned - thanks to the unsurpassable planning of hospitalityInside - full of new experiences and inspired by the many conversations with esteemed experts. We learned what the pull of the desert state was, we felt how the positive energy of a ruler with vision (and capital) shone from even the smallest luggage porter and we understood that the multicultural Dubai has all it takes to become the capital of the Middle East: not only as finance and trading centre, as largest exchange airport and as congress and holiday destination, but as centre for culture and education and as motor for the modernisation of an entire region. Here something has been set in motion which even the unavoidable bursting of the real estate bubble won't be able to stop; here the Third World is emancipating itself from the often arrogant West. We Europeans must get ready."
Klaus & Martina Fidlschuster, Hotour Consulting, Frankfurt
Continuative Links:
- QUALITY MANAGEMENT / Emirates Hotels as practical supporter of the environment and nature: How the Al Maha created a national park
- QUALITY MANAGEMENT / Emirates Hotels as practical supporter of the environment and nature: How the Al Maha created a national park
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