When it comes to winning the title of the Best Airport Hotel Middle East and 8 world-wide, a lot needs to be considered before having such an honour bestowed on a venue. And when the title is awarded second time in a row, there is definitely an outclass stream of operations taking place.
Mövenpick Hotel Bahrain’s popularity and list of achievements grow as it adds for the second year, the prestigious Skytrax World Airport Award for Best Airport Hotel in the Middle East. Perceived as a global benchmark for airport and hospitality excellence, the Skytrax World Airport Awards invites over 13 million global travellers to elect a winner. Weekender wanted to know more on how Bahrain’s Airport Hotel has managed to attain the title twice! We certainly learned a lot from our interesting conversation with General Manager, Daniel Kaan.
W.Second time in a row. How does it feel to have won such a prestigious title again?
Daniel: It feels fantastic. Interestingly you don’t even know you are signed up for it again; you just received an email stating you’ve won. Winning second time in a row, for a title that you can’t sign up or can’t influence, comes to show that it has been granted to us for everything we do extraordinarily.
W. And what is it that you do extraordinarily?
Daniel: In this hotel, we are focused on being highly creative. While, we are an airport hotel, we aim to provide facilitates that are aligned towards leisure lifestyle. Mövenpick is known to have the best Friday brunch in Bahrain, in fact the brunch gets booked out weeks in advance. Our four F&B outlets are popular and we aim our strategies at making them the best in Bahrain. Our Seafood nights on Mondays are also a favourite, besides which we also create a big party for the Thursday nights out. And while we aim at providing a great dining experience, we also aim at providing great spa services to allow guests to relax and unwind. So all these efforts and services give an extra dimension to the guest’s experience.
W. Any other special themes you provide?
Daniel: We also have had a great run of themed nights, ranging from our annual American Festival of three weeks, that included a Jazz weekend, which had a Jazz Band flown in from New York to perform. Our recent Belgium and Mexican weekend had certainly created the right amount of hype and we are always having meetings with our team, on how to tweak and twist existing and new campaigns to give travellers, visitors and residents something exciting. And with Mövenpick, they know it’s full on!
W. Is your hotel’s entire business airline-related?
Daniel: Our business is roughly 40% airline-related, maybe even a little more. Airline crew stays with us as our proximity to the airport and shuttle services, allows Mövenpick to be the ultimate choice, not just for travellers but also for cargo companies as well. Having said that, we aim towards consistent offerings that are exciting and refreshing hence we are able to maintain a strong database of tourists as well as frequent guests from the island itself, who are just looking toward having a good time.
W. With the current economic instability, does your business feel threatened?
Daniel: We are actually in a very fortunate situation due to our location. We are the only hotel at the airport. And while we are not the biggest hotel in town, we certainly are well-accustomed to cater to our business guests as well as leisure guests. In fact, Bahrain is becoming the ultimate tourist destination of the Gulf, as what people desire- concerts, world festivals, tours and road shows are already happening here in full throttle and with a fine hospitality industry in place, it’s the perfect formula for success.
W. What element do you focus on when it comes to maintaining a strong position?
Daniel: I think you can only be the best if your team is the best. So it starts from the moment the guest is picked up from the airport by a smiling bellboy who then escorts him in a brand new car and upon arrival to the airport, the guest is welcomed with a refreshing drink and checked in by a smiling front office agent. See it’s a full chain; from the time a guest checks in, till they check out, the aim is for them to enjoy the leisure activities, with a welcoming attitude by the staff. Our size allows us to cater to their needs. Sometimes I refer to us as the boutique resort, because we are able to recognize the guests and provide personalized services.
W. Can our readers know a little more about the person ‘Daniel Kaan’ and how you joined the hospitality industry?
Daniel: Well I’m Dutch. I studied hotel management in Holland and after my degree, I moved to China for my internship and stayed there for three years, after which I stayed in Dubai for three years as well. From there, I moved to Nairobi, Kenya and I must say the cultural vastness and diversity I have experienced in my travel stint has been incredibly fascinating. You get to devour into different mindsets, values, different people and places. However later my wife and two kids decided to move back home after 10 years of living in 4 countries. And that’s when I joined Mövenpick in Amsterdam.
W.How did Bahrain come into the picture?
Daniel: After 4 years, things became a little itchy and I was offered the position of the General Manager of Mövenpick, Bahrain. However I admit I had to Google the island to know where it was and what to expect. My initial impression was great and I moved with my family in April2014, taking the reins of Mövenpick Hotel Bahrain.
W.Were there any initial setbacks you had to face when moving here?
Daniel: There weren’t any major problems when settling in. Although the kids faced some challenges at school as they didn’t speak any English. They went from a Dutch country school to an International school in Bahrain and yes, there were some tears during the adjustment phase. But thankfully they came through with flying colors and half a year later, they were speaking fluent English.
W.What about your wife. How did she warm up to Bahrain?
Daniel: She already had a strong feel of travelling and settling with me around the world and she likes Bahrain a lot. She keeps herself busy, as besides her job, she is heavily involved in BSPCA as a volunteer, she’s part of the Dutch Ladies Club and is also a member of the parents-teachers association at our kids school.
W. So what can we look forward to now when it comes to your hotel’s stature?
Daniel: Our third win. We are not taking anything for granted; in fact the team is all tuned to keeping the stature a regular one. We are working on a fourth weekly theme night, probably on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, which will be interesting. We are having regular meetings with the different teams head and work 4-5 months in advance to ensure smooth running of operations. My hands-on team is involved in multiple tasks and because of our close collaboration, Mövenpick maintains a low turnover, from the lowest ranking staff to the highest. Because we believe in our services and our potential, we have managed to become more than an airport hotel.
