Dhaka to have five more int'l hotels in next half decade : Al-Amin

Dhaka : Currently, in the hospitality industry of Dhaka, there is a bit more supply than the demand. In the next five years, there will be five more international hotels in the capital. However, the country's economy is growing with plenty of development projects and with the arrival of many international companies. This shows a positive growth of business in the following years. Meaning, the demand will grow gradually. 
Md Al-Amin, Hotel Manager of The Westin Dhaka and Cluster-in-Charge (Sales and Marketing) of Sheraton Dhaka said this while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor at his office in the capital recently. 
Since the number of star hotels will be increasing more in the capital, it will bring even a healthier competition in the market, said Al-Amin. 
This will also allow customers to have a competitive price, he added. 
Also, it will encourage all the hotels to take their service level to a better standard so that they can sustain in the business, he claimed. 
As a nation, we are very hospitable, said Al-Amin. But we need to transform this skill of ours into professionalism, he added. 
In the next 5-10 years, the country will have a good and healthy hospitality industry. This is a good news for the country as the industry generates plenty of forex, noted Al-Amin. 
Also, the increase of hotel numbers will create more job opportunities for the people and help the country's economy. 
However, to sustain business, Al-Amin mentioned the hotels should work on capacity development, especially in terms of skills. Hotels should attract good human resource to the industry in the days ahead. 
"To be in business, we should focus on our service standards and operational skills so that we can retain our guests," said Al-Amin. 
Al-Amin noted, since August 2021, the business of The Westin Dhaka has been booming. In February 2022, the hotel saw slow business due to Omicron. However, from March onward, the hotel is seeing a very good trend of business, expressed Al-Amin. 
"In phases, The Westin Dhaka has been recovering from the pandemic impacts. So far, we have been able to recover 70 per cent and by the end of 2022, we will be able to recover 75-80 per cent of our 2019 business," he said. 
"In August 2022, The Westin Dhaka had over 83 per cent occupancy. In the rest of the year, we expect to have 80 per cent occupancy," he further mentioned. 
In the capital, the hospitality business relies on international business travellers mostly and so does the Westin Dhaka. However, on weekends, the hotel gets some local package guests as domestic staycations have been on the rise after the pandemic. 
"The response from domestic guests is better than before. As the number of outward domestic flights are less now and also a bit expensive, people sometimes prefer to spend their weekends on five-star hotels and have a good experience instead of going out of the city," said Al-Amin. 
It may be mentioned here, the F&B and banquet business of The Westin Dhaka have been great after the pandemic, as per Al-Amin. 
"Banquet and restaurant business have almost gone back to pre-pandemic levels of 2019," said Al-Amin. 
Behind driving such amount of business lies the big loyal customer base and brand reputation of The Westin Dhaka. 
"Our service is excellent. We have a very good team. We are TripAdvisor's number one hotel. We do fairly better than the market in terms of revenue and we will continue doing it," claimed Al-Amin. 
We have an accommodative and flexible approach. Apart from following our global directives and standards, we customise our plans according to the demand and the situation of the country and the world," he added. 
Also, The Westin Dhaka's loyalty programme brings a lot of business, said Al-Amin. 
The brand Marriott's Bonvoy Loyalty Programme is the world's strongest and it drives a lot of business especially for rooms, Al-Amin noted, adding, "But, slowly, we are promoting our Bonvoy campaign and loyalties in F&B too. It brings a lot of repeat guests." 
Interestingly, even though Marriott has a number of hotels in the capital, they do not compete with each other rather complement each other. 
"Each hotel of Marriott in the capital has a different brand programme and positioning. Also, the customer base of each hotel is different. Hence, the hotels neither cannibalise business for each other nor undercut each other to grab a piece of the business while working in the same vicinity," said Al-Amin. 
Al-Amin finds managing two hotels - The Westin Dhaka and Sheraton Dhaka - of Marriott quite interesting. 
"My input is strategic. One does not get priority over another. My role is to balance the business of two hotels and find the right customer for the individual portfolios. Both the hotels have separate brand positions in the market as well as different customer bases," concluded Al-Amin.