Emaar Hospitality Group launches innovative service culture programme to enhance guest experience

Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure business of Emaar Properties PJSC, has launched an innovative service culture programme that aims to transform every touch point of the guest journey into a genuine lifestyle experience.

Further building on the brand values of Address Hotels + Resorts, Vida Hotels and Resorts and Rove Hotels, the three hotel brands operated by Emaar Hospitality Group, the new ‘service culture programme’ focuses on employees, and includes a series of workshops and training sessions to inculcate the ‘service mindset’ further. On the business level, the programme is expected not only to build guest loyalty but also drive long-term value creation.

Olivier Harnisch, Chief Executive Officer of Emaar Hospitality Group, said: “Ensuring highly guest-centric experiences has been fundamental to our operations since our inception ten years ago. Service excellence is what sets apart hotel brands, and we are taking the whole ‘guest experience’ to the next level through our ‘service culture’ programme. At the heart of this innovative initiative are our employees, every one of them being a brand ambassador, who will bring add-on value to the guest experience at every touch point. As Emaar Hospitality Group expands its geographic footprint globally and focuses on digital transformation, lending an enhanced human touch is vital in ensuring that we deliver genuine value to our guests.”

The new service culture programme is based on the ‘Reverse Thinking®’ approach, developed by Performance Solutions, which focuses on the desired guest experience for determining the optimal staff behaviour, working climate and leadership. This is underlined by research by Bain & Company that while 80 per cent of companies surveyed believed they deliver a ‘superior experience’ to their customers, only 8 per cent of the customers agreed to it. This ‘experience gap’ between the service provider and customers is being addressed through the Reverse Thinking®.

As part of the programme, Emaar Hospitality Group will roll out a collaborative experiential approach – both internally and externally – and empower staff to make sound decisions around those experiences.  A seven-phase programme, this would involve training sessions – practical and insightful learning – to work together and challenge outdated norms. Emaar Hospitality Group and its three distinctive lifestyle brands will benefit from direct customer insights and help shape a more robust customer experience mindset, applied across all its entities and operations.

By fostering positive staff experience as a fundamental part of the organisational culture, the programme also provides the freedom to act upon guest nuances and insights relevant to each context. All employees thus become aligned to best practices and values across all touch points.

During the rollout of the programme that covers 18 months, all Emaar Hospitality Group employees will live and experience a ‘Guest Experience Blueprint’ at different levels though several experiential trainings, activities and workshops, executed by trained internal ‘Brand Experience Coaches’.

The Experience Blueprint will also be used as a basis for recruitment and selection tools ensuring that new staff will connect with the values and service culture of Emaar Hospitality Group in a real manner, delivering the desired guest experiences. A ‘rewards programme’ designed to recognise each employee, who facilitates the desired guest experience will sustain the service culture. There will also be regular follow-up activities including daily challenges.  

With 11 operational hotels and three serviced residences in Dubai, Emaar Hospitality Group now has a pipeline of 29 upcoming projects, a testament to its home-grown competencies and its expansion strategy to operate hotels in key locations in high-growth markets.