The rise of an iconic hotel brand

The Tower Plaza Hotel, a property with 401 rooms and suites rebranded under the new management and leadership of General Manager Wael El Behi, is a bleisure destination in the best location a tourist can think of while being in Dubai.

Shehara Rizly

Location – a key driver for guests

One of the key drivers of visitors or tourists to any hotel is the location and accessibility of it. The Tower Plaza Hotel has both these key elements that determine the visitor numbers or guests to the hotel. Wael El Behi, General Manager, The Tower Plaza Hotel, shares, “We have a prime location on Sheikh Zayed road with direct access to Emirates Towers Metro station and this is a unique selling point to attract tourists from different nationalities, who wants to take the Metro from Dubai International Airport directly to the hotel. Also, another major advantage is our proximity to The Museum of The Future, DIFC, DWTC as well as other key landmarks in the city.”

Rebranding and vision for future

Currently operational with an inventory of 401 rooms and suites, the hotel, after its rebranding, has a new vision to add more into its inventory and ensure more luxury and comfort for the guests. El Behi shares, “The Tower Plaza Hotel is a new brand created from inception with the objective to position the property as an iconic hotel among its competitors on Sheikh Zayed road. At present, we have a total of 401 rooms and suites and by the next winter season we will increase the room inventory to 417 units by adding 16 studios and then by early next year to 431 by adding 8 panoramic premium rooms and 8 panoramic duplexes. We also have Metro, our all-day dining restaurant, Views@61, our panoramic restaurant and lounge on the 61st floor, Le Café Coffee and Bake Shop, Cooper Chimney Indian restaurant, a state of the art health club, a dedicated SPA, ladies beauty salon, an infinity pool, 16 banquet and meeting rooms, and retail shops.”

Unique Bleisure hotspot

A few steps away from the business precinct and the iconic hotspots in Dubai, the hotel has all the ingredients ready made for delivery. El Behi with his expertise shares the way in which he will attract the business and leisure, or bleisure visitors as the term goes, and the varied markets he targets this year. “Location, accessibility, room size, room inventory and meeting space are the key USPs of our hotel. Our strategy is to focus on our neighborhood to attract more corporate business from DIFC, Sheikh Zayed road business buildings, and also to attract exhibitors and trade visitors to DWT Convention Centre. We are looking at developing new source markets to the hotel to add them to the classic and key performing markets such as CIS, German, French, Indian and other markets.”

Travel agents key revenue drivers

Middle East market is still essentially a market that believes in the human element when it comes to making their domestic or international trips. Before the world came to a standstill, there were various predictions on how the personal touch or the relationship with the travel trade such as agents, operators and bookers will be of the past. However, studies just before the pandemic showed the importance of the human touch to make it better. Come pandemic and the world saw the need to have the human element incorporated in everything they engaged in. El Behi has been working together with the travel trade for many years in his previous stints and he shares his thoughts on the role played by the most important people behind the scene, the agents. “Travel agents will represent the base business for the hotel and no doubt their contribution to our business is pioneer. I have developed a professional and friendly relationship with the major players in this market over the past 20 years and this will definitely have a positive impact on the business flow to the hotel.”

ATM followed by summer

As the world meets in one platform annually at the Arabian Travel Market, it is one of the most important international exhibitions for the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors and will always be followed by summer. El Behi reiterates, “Arabian Travel Market is a major travel exhibition that we will use as a platform to market and showcase our hotel. We are hosting during the ATM some key potential partners, who are showing interest to work and develop business with us.”

Right after the great meeting will come summer. El Behi responds, “For the international markets we have in place attractive rates and promotions with a decent room inventory to push traffic. With regards to the domestic market, we will put in place attractive staycation packages too.”