Stephane Masse back to Dhaka as new GM of The Westin Dhaka, sees robust hospitality market

Dhaka : The hospitality market of Dhaka is quite robust currently with only a handful of premium hotels, offering less than 1500 overall rooms in the capital on a given day. Demand on the midweek is quite strong from the business travel segment and it is continuing to grow. With the Third Terminal of Dhaka Airport opening in May 2024, inbound travel is expected to increase quite significantly.

Hence, there will be a huge change in the supply and demand landscape over the next few years.
Stephane Masse, General Manager of The Westin Dhaka said this while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor at the hotel premises recently.

It may be mentioned here, after 13 years, Stephane Masse has returned to Dhaka as the new General Manager of the premier five-star hospitality property.

By the end November 2022, revenue per available room was back to 94 per cent of 2019 recovery level at The Westin Dhaka, shared the new GM, foreseeing, in 2023, revenue per available room will exceed pre-Covid times.

Occupancy at The Westin Dhaka has returned to pre-Covid times, claimed the GM.

The Westin Dhaka just celebrated its highest revenue achievement in November 2022 since Covid hit. Occupancy ran over 83 per cent in November 2022 which is a fantastic sign for robust demand, particularly from midweek business travel segment, noted Stephane.
"While we have some F&B capture from the in-house guests, F&B guests are mostly our valued local guests. We are privileged to be recognised as the most premium F&B experience in our community. We are happy to say F&B outlets at The Westin Dhaka is doing extremely well with frequent visits from our repeat high profile guests as well as dignitaries," he added.

However, F&B business is slightly behind pre-pandemic levels. It has the potential to reach pre-pandemic level, however, the hotel is challenged with offering premium items in its menu due to unavailability of imported goods.

The room mix is mostly transiently driven by the business travel segment over midweek and staycationer on the weekends at The Westin Dhaka. Group segment is gaining a good momentum too.
“We  have just hosted ICPC in November 2022 (international collegiate programming contest) in both Westin Dhaka and Sheraton Dhaka, where guests travelled from worldwide.”

“We are also hosting a BPL team in The Westin over the next couple of months.”

"We need more of these international calibre events to grow our demand," he further mentioned.
The GM shared the customers are loving the staycation packages being offered by the hotel. It is a great way for the local guests to relax at The Westin Dhaka, taking a break from the regular hustle and bustle of Dhaka city.

"It is also a great way for us to take care of our local guests providing an opportunity to offer urban resort experience extending four food & beverage outlets to dine in, Westin Spa to relax in or a pool to just hang out by. If wellness is your passion, Westin Dhaka also offers a well-equipped gym with modern equipment for the wellness benefit of our guests," Stephane noted.

The Westin Dhaka is always running promotions leveraging the upcoming events, holidays etc. For local room guests, staycation will be available on an ongoing basis on the weekends to enjoy their facilities.

The GM shared their banquet business for weddings has declined in 2022 comparatively to the same time in 2021 (all postponed weddings occurred in 2021 plus new ones). However, the business rebounded slowly with an increase in December 2022 and for January 2023, expressed Stephane.

"After Ramadan, the renovation of our ballroom is slated to start, and it aims to substantially increase its capacity, allowing us to host bigger parties," he also said.

As the new GM, Stephane's targets for the premier hospitality outlet of the capital, includes to remain number one, he shared. Consequently, the hotel has to keep the best service and high standards consistently, being digitally updated, continuing promoting and reinventing itself with new creative ideas or concepts.

Stephane shared that the difference between The Westin Dhaka and other hotels lies in its dedicated and long-time associates, who are very professional and connect daily with its guests. "Our training programme in place from Marriott International, helps freshers in the hospitality industry to gain faster knowledge and skills," he added.

The owning company of the hotel Unique Hotels and Resorts has already planned to renovate its ballroom first, then public areas and guest rooms after Ramadan 2023 to keep the hotel in line with the competition.

In the hospitality market, demand is expected to be pre-Covid level by 2023. "We have additional supply in the market now which we think will absorb additional demand in 2023," the GM said.
"More hotels are expected to arrive in the market with our own St Regis, also another operator for Acropolis will be soon announced."