Dubai’s Hotel Holiday Supply and Demand Problem

Understanding Dubai’s hotel supply and demand problem is a story of three hotels, poor timing, stubbornness, and poor planning.

It was a week before Christmas and I had just arrived in Dubai after spending six weeks in Southern Africa. I knew that I would be leaving the UAE soon to travel Oman before heading over to Nepal, but, in my own stubborn attempt to keep my plans open-ended, I still didn’t know when. I settled in at The Savoy Suites, a quaint boutique hotel just south of the creek only a few hundred metres from the Burjuman Mall. It had been a long gruelling overnight flight out of Nairobi and, though it was early in the morning when I arrived, I was exhausted. The room was just the right price and had everything: a hot shower, two televisions, a king-size bed, air conditioning, a sitting room, a roof-top pool, a kitchenette, and speedy internet. With winter approaching, the comparatively brisk 29-degree weather was a welcome relief from the stifling temperatures in the Southern African summer. Everything I could ever want was just a short walk away at the mall and I was in the mood for pampering myself. I slept well. When I awoke the next morning, for a moment, I thought I could stay in Dubai for the rest of my life.

I always flirt with ways that I can save a couple of dollars here and there and deciding how to book a hotel room is part of that process. The key decision is whether to book online or try walking in. I had done my research on The Savoy Suites and in my mind had settled on it as the place to stay but decided to take my chances walking in. Ravi, from Mumbai, looking dapper in his blue suit and tie, greeted me at reception with a wide smile and a deft bob of his head. There were the customary inquiries of whether I had a reservation and what kind of room I was looking for, and our encounter was cordial to the point where, after I had settled the bill for the room, when I would inquire whether or not I would have access to certain amenities, Ravi’s head bob suddenly became a bow and an “of course, sir”.

My visa in Oman would only be good for ten days and the carrier with the cheapest flights from Dubai to Muscat did not fly every day, so I had to get the timing right. There is also more to the UAE than just Dubai so I decided to add a brief stop in Abu Dhabi onto my itinerary. Four nights had become the standard stay in most cities and so I booked my stay at Savoy for four nights.

After four days of exploring Dubai and replenishing my energy stores, it was time to check out and head south to Abu Dhabi. Ravi greeted me every morning with his customary head bob and his wide smile and when it was time to go, with a deep bow, he wished me a pleasant journey. Knowing that Christmas was approaching, that I would be returning to Dubai for at least a few days, and that the demand for hotels would likely rise, I doubled back and inquired with Ravi what the status of the room would likely be in a few days hoping that I would be able to return right to where I was after my brief sojourn. He reassured me that it would most likely be available and that he could hold onto it for me. Dubai had proven to be an easy place to navigate for travellers, so I said that there was no need since I was uncertain of my exact return date.

I deliberated over which of the two cities was most likely to offer me the opportunity to approximate my family’s Christmas traditions and within a couple of days of exploring Abu Dhabi decided that Dubai would be the better option. As I walked through the sliding glass doors upon my return to The Savoy Suites, there was Ravi at the reception desk looking dapper as ever with his suit pressed and his hair finely coifed. There are so many aerosol scents wafting around every inch of the city and there was something distinctly familiar about Ravi’s odour that reminded me of when I had first arrived. There was a comfort in now feeling that I knew the city and that I had somewhere friendly and familiar to go and my mind was transported to that first feeling of having every comfort I could desire.

“Good afternoon, Ravi!” I bellowed. “It’s wonderful to see you again”.

“It is good to see you too, sir,” Ravi replied with a bob of his head and a wide smile. “Welcome back. I hope you had a pleasant trip”.

“Is room 412 still available?”

“It is, sir,” Ravi said bowing this time. “How many nights will you be staying, sir?”

I needed to figure out how to get wiener schnitzel and wine soup in a city where both pork and alcohol were prohibited that I still had not settled how or when I would be travelling to Oman – but it was Christmas Eve, so one thing at a time. I explained my situation to which Ravi kept repeating, “I understand, sir” and I finally settled on staying three nights.

The price Ravi quoted me had doubled the nightly cost of the room from my previous stay. I reminded Ravi that I had been there just two days ago and paid half the price he had just quoted me. I understood that it was Christmas and that I could justify paying a small price increase, but I was upfront with Ravi that I thought that doubling the price on a returning customer felt like bad business. Ravi went to inquire with his manager, but the manager reiterated that the price I was quoted was already the sale price for a returning guest. I then asked about reserving the room online and whether they would honour that price which they said they would. I had initially done my research to find a hotel by seeing what was available online and sure enough, the walk-in price that Ravi quoted me was even a few dollars less than what the online price had risen to.

I asked about booking just two nights, or even just that night, and it did nothing to affect the price. Ravi and the manager had dug in.

“Is the hotel almost full?” I asked.

“We have rooms available, sir” Ravi replied with another bob of his head and a wide smile.

“So we can’t compromise on a price that works for both of us?”

“The price is the best I can do, sir.”

“Right, but I can’t do that price especially in light of the fact of what price I know that room normally goes for. And if I leave, instead of getting the same money as I paid before, and even a little extra which I am happy to do, you get nothing. Are you both okay with that?” I said making my closing argument to Ravi and the manager.

They spoke in unison with their heads bobbing robotically and wide grins stretching across their faces, “Again sir, this is the best price for the room that we have available.”

They let me leave. This is Dubai, I thought, there are MANY hotels to choose from.

A few clicks on a few apps on my phone and I settled on The Gateway Hotel in the Al Souq Al Kabeer district which was just a short 15-minute walk away. I liked the look of Cindy, from Shanghai, who manned the reception desk that day and who, with an alluring grin, reassured me that she would offer me the best available price. Sure enough, she hit the mark and the price per night was almost exactly what I had paid per night previously at Savoy, so we had a deal. While going through the check-in process I made it clear to Cindy that my itinerary was open-ended and that there was a strong likelihood that I would have to extend my stay for more days. Though the room at Gateway was smaller and didn’t have a kitchenette, everything about the room was slightly better than at Savoy. The television was newer and larger, the linens were softer, the bathroom had newer and crisper-looking renovations, and even the internet was slightly faster. They even included a buffet breakfast in the price which increased the value of the room.

For three nights I had peace of mind and was able to enjoy Christmas in the Middle East with a clear head and hunt down the various ingredients to uphold my various holiday traditions. During those three days, I also planned out my trip to Oman and onward to Nepal and the way the flights worked out meant that I needed to book another 2 nights in Dubai.

I asked Cindy about extending my stay for two more nights reminding her that we had previously spoken about this possible eventuality. When she explained the cost of extending my stay, the price tag per night had doubled just as it had at The Savoy. I was disappointed but I still liked the look of Cindy and asked if there was something that we could do. I understood the economics of the situation and, now that Christmas had passed and New Year’s was just some days away, I did not want to interfere with them reaping the profits were they able to fill that room at the price that they were quoting me. I asked about staying just one night and she reassured me that the room was available, but the price I was quoted was still double the nightly cost.

With the same logic I tried to use on Ravi, I explained that I was happy to stay there at an additional cost but that it would have to be nominal and, that if I chose not to stay there at double the cost, they ran the risk of the room remaining totally empty and receiving no money instead of some money. There was the usual conferring with managers, but in the end, they dug in and held firm on their price.

They let me leave. This is Dubai, I thought, there are MANY hotels to choose from.

I took a ferry across the creek into Deira where my research on the various apps on my phone had uncovered some cheaper hotel options. Deira retains a bit of an Old World charm compared to the rest of the city and has some rougher edges. Up until now I had been a bit spoiled and could no longer avoid the ballooning prices that hotels were demanding in the lead-up to the New Year celebrations. I could, however, lower my own expectations. After walking in and out of a few options feeling that I could do better, I finally decided to hunker for two nights at the Al Farej which was only a short walk from the Gold Souk.

The reception desk was disorganized and overwhelmed. Maria, a middle-aged woman from the Philippines, was desperate to keep things organized but with so much activity with people checking out and waiting to check in, everyone’s patience was being tested. The room was slightly more expensive per night than The Savoy and The Gateway and, as far as comfort was concerned, it was a shade of them both. By all accounts, it was a respectable room but for everything being just a notch-less luxurious than what I had grown accustomed to. The room was dark and musty and occasionally the smell of cigarette smoke, though it was prohibited in the hotel, would waft in from various corners of the ventilation; There were burn marks in the rug and stains on the drapes; The television was tiny and the sound was terrible; The bathroom was cramped and water spilled out onto the floor causing a small flood when I had a shower. Still, I settled in and made peace with the fact that I could make this small sacrifice of my comfort, and of my psyche, knowing that there were better options out there because I would be leaving in just two days.

The last couple of days were grim compared to my first impressions of Dubai. By the end, I was happy to be moving on though I might have felt different about Dubai had I been able to live out those last few days at The Savoy or The Gateway. But what was the most irksome part of everything was that both The Savoy and The Gateway had been so rigid in their ways of doing business.

There were unknowns in each case. For all I knew, in the intervening hours between my walking out disappointed and the end of the day, both The Savoy and The Gateway were able to rent out the room at the price that they had quoted me – though, given their constant availability according to the various apps on my phone, I have my doubts. If they were unable to rent my room it meant that they were more inclined to hold firm on their constantly inflating price rather than keep a returning customer satisfied – and there was something about that which seemed sleazy and opportunistic. That attitude flew in the face of everything I had believed about business: that customer satisfaction and repeat business was at the core of what made a company successful and built to last. That attitude existing at the company level is one thing, but for it to filter down to the employees and lower management was even more disappointing. Ravi and Cindy and their respective managers were following the rules set out for them by the company that they worked for, but that does not excuse them, and the smiles with which they carried out their compliance proved the gravest insult and the most telling indicator of what a place like Dubai stands for when it comes to doing business. Even worse, it explains how Dubai has been so successful at doing business.

I once heard Simon Sinek say: “We don’t trust people to follow the rules, we trust people to know when to break the rules” and that “The rules are there for normal operation but there’s always an opportunity to break the rules because it’s the right thing to do”. If those rooms remained empty, then meeting me halfway would have been the right thing to do. But as it stands I cannot recommend The Savoy Suites, The Gateway Hotel, or The Al Farej. But hey, This is Dubai and there are MANY hotels to choose from.