Commercial business plan with 100 days transformation plan. Exploit the good time to be able to endure the lean. Sample business plan.

1. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
1
Hotel Unique– In the Grip of The seasons
“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for
improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to
manage the change that is inevitable”
William Pollard

2. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
2
Executive summary:
The purpose of this document is to provide a hypothetical commercial business plan draft for the first
100 days at Hotel Unique in a very condensed format. This report will examine MACRO environment
and comp set and propose an action plan based on public data available on the subject hotel.
This research is using public data mainly from online travel agents and mice platforms as well as brand
websites; desiring therefore to present myself to your organization with some testimony of my
experience - there is no reference to specific KPIs hence rather the main focus is the MACRO potential
and action plan to improve/ sustain performance.
Introduction:
A plan is sought is to increase the stakes of success, exploit the good times to endure the lean and must
remain tuned to cope with different emerging challenges, endless cycle of change and ever growing
vying competition; Therefore a range of strategies should be always be considered, since even for the
most skillful, success is never guaranteed.
Sales and marketing plans have often been the subject of debate amongst stakeholders due to
unjustified spent, weak relation between investment and ROI, and overall poor effectiveness. From lack
of strategic intent or weak sales drive to ineffective action plans, I will enumerate some of these
teething areas of opportunity:
 Insufficient focus on key source markets
 Ineffective productivity per sales person
 Poor production tracking reports by segment, by sales person
 Poor connection to decision makers
 Revenue, Sales, Marketing and Events working in silos
 Ineffective sales trips
 Poor marketing campaigns ROI
 Rate increment resistance from clients
 Lack of diversity of business mix
 Inadequate audience led approach
 Mismatch between demand and performance
 Poor market research
 Rates disparities caused by leaked wholesale rates
DUBAI MACRO ENVIRONMENT
Market overview
 Dubai attracted 14.9 million tourist arrivals in 2016 which is 4.9 percent higher than 2015.
 Demand lags behind the 7-8 percent growth target set by the Dubai Government required to
reach 20 million visitors by 2020.
 Increased tourist arrivals translated into a 6.0 percent growth in occupied room nights to 28.0
million from 26.4 million.
 Average length of stay remained static at 3.6 nights.

3. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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 India remained Dubai’s top source market with 1.8 million tourists, closely followed by KSA with
1.6 million. Pakistan, China and the Philippines witnessed the largest growth with an 18 percent
increase over the previous year.
Performance
 The continued growth in visitors offset an increase in overall supply, allowing the market to
generate a 1.3 percentage point growth in market wide occupancy to 79.3 percent.
 The impact of a stronger US Dollar and the shift in key source markets to lower spending
regions, forced hoteliers to adopt aggressive pricing policies which lowered average room rates
to maintain occupancy.
 An 11.2 percent reduction in average room rates to US$ 231.6 was offset by marginally higher
F&B revenue, resulting in a 7.6 percent fall in TRevPAR to US$ 311.6.
 Payroll expenses were slightly higher in 2016, due in part to the lower overall revenue and when
coupled with higher non-operating expenses, saw GOPPAR fall 9.6 percent to US$ 127.3 while
profit conversion dropped 0.9 percentage points to 40.9 percent.
 The corporate and leisure markets remain the key sources of demand for Dubai hotels, although
hotels are witnessing a continued increase in demand from Online Travel Agents (OTA’s).
Hotels performance indicators
2015 2016 2017
forecast
2018
Forecast
2019
Forecast
Occ% 78 79 82 84 86
ARR$ 260.0 231.0 235.0 239.7 251.5
REV PAR$ 203.0 183.0 192.7 201.3 216.5
Trev PAR$ 337.0 311.0 320.5 333.3 360.0
Payroll % 23.9 24.0 25.0 25.1 25.3
GOPPAR$ 140.9 127.3 136.8 142.3 150.8
GOP% 41.0 40.9 41.5 41.9 43.6
(TRI CONSULTING – THE MIDDLE EAST HOTEL MARKET REVIEW)
Top 20 Source Markets
(DTCM)

4. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
4
Hotel Unique Current Positioning
Business Bay Hotels
Downtown Dubai Hotels

5. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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Gap Analysis
Market
Class BAR Booking.com Age Trip
advisor
# 545
No of
rooms
Basic
room
size
No of
suites
Outlets No of
meeting
rooms
Ball room
size
"Theater"
Hotel Unique Upper
upscale
863 8.6 1.62 117 353 32 29 6 5 450
The Oberoi
Dubai
Luxury 1230 9 4.04 7 252 52 28 7 14 450
The Westin
Dubai Al Habtoor
City
Upper
upscale
1300 8 0.78 203 1004 41 142 6 16 1200
The St. Regis
Dubai
Luxury 1700 8.7 1.62 42 234 51 52 8 8 700
W DUBAI AL
HABTOOR CITY
Luxury 1500 8.3 1.04 190 356 44 52 4 7 500
JW Marriot
Marquis
Luxury 1148 8.7 4.62 17 1608 40 240 10 32 1548
Vida downtown Upper
upscale
1274 8.8 10.37 49 156 32 10 4 4 200
Manzil Upper
upscale
1019 8.7 10.54 25 197 32 8 6 5 157
M Hotel
Downtown by
Millennium
Upper
upscale
800 7.1 6.13 203 242 30 22 2 8 150
Sofitel downtown Luxury 1360 8.7 3.12 41 350 49 76 6 11 460
Roda Al Murooj Upper
upscale
638 8.4 12.04 84 387 41 8 15 1500
Sheraton Grand Upper
upscale
900 8.4 2.62 82 654 45 7 7 400
Fairmont Dubai Luxury 850 8.3 15.38 44 394 44 140 11 20 200
Shangri La Luxury 935 8.6 2.62 16 302 45 31 17 570
Taj Dubai Luxury 893 9 2.21 13 296 33 31 6 6 450
The Meydan
Hotel
Luxury 849 8.7 7.29 64 284 62 29 8 84 4500
Grand Hyatt Luxury 1046 8.8 14.05 39 674 39 42 13 14 2500
H Dubai Luxury 1046 8.4 9.62 22 183 50 20 10 15 734
(Cvent.com, booking.com, brand.com)

6. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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Luxury & Upper upscale performance
 loss of nearly 100 AED ADR 2016 Vs 2015 with flat occupancy
 loss of nearly 180 AED 2017 Vs 2015 with flat occupancy
 Luxury class occ% average is 74% with rate 1380 AED 2016, 1274 AED16
 Yield actions to be in place to stop the ADR decline without compromising Occ% performance
(STR)
Date
Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry Industry
Total 2015 74.4 -2.0 1,380.55 -7.4 1,027.04 -9.3
Total 2016 74.8 0.5 1,274.74 -7.7 953.05 -7.2
YTD 2017 82.7 2.7 1,454.97 -1.6 1,203.22 1.0
Period 75.2 -0.5 1,337.68 -7.0 1,006.20 -7.4
This Year
RevPARADROccupancy
% ChgThis Year % Chg This Year% Chg

7. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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Hotel Unique data (Unique value propositions)
SWOT analysis
Positive Negative
Internal
Strength
 A brand new luxury 5-star hotel
 Iconic land mark in Dubai Canal and next
to Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa
 Rooms View -Dubai Canal, Burj Khalifa
view
 Attractive location
 Excellent leisure facilities including Spa,
Gym, Squash
 Competitive price
 Diverse gourmet options
 Stunning club lounge with Dubai Canal
views
 Large swimming pool
 Adequate number of rooms
 Excellent guest review
 Awards
 Rates parity
Weakness
 New brand in the market
 Small rooms 32 sm
 Possible Low MPI performance
 Possible Low ARI performance
 High turnover in sales and marketing
 Business mix challenges leading to wrong
price positions
 Poor Market Research and Development
 Comparatively small ball room to new
supply
External
Opportunities
 Attractive for key source markets: GCC,
German, East Europe, China
 Attractive for party goers
 Increased footfall
 Dynamic City with world class attractions
 Business and Leisure segments
 Weddings
 Getaway and Escape hotel
 Small and Midscale MICE groups
 Small and midscale leisure groups and tour
series
Threats
 Incoming hotel supply due to low barriers to
business
 Aggressive market competition from
Business Bay and Downtown hotels
 4 stars hotels with 5 stars services
 Luxury class hotels dropping rates
 Bargaining power of customers
 Availability of substitute products
 Competition rivalry leading to price wars
 Increased government regulations
 Domestic shortage of skilled labour
 Rising costs of raw material

8. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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Critical success factors:
 Capitalize on location convenience and accentuate in all sales and marketing messages
 Create a stronger bond with Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa and provide easy access to these facilities
 Capitalize on footfall of Dubai Canal and penetrate traffic already going to this area
 Organize active sales trips to KSA and GCC market. Create packages with Fly Dubai
 Augment OTAs performance – this can be a very strong area of improvement
 Build a strong base of Corporate/ MICE business capitalizing on strong location
 Work on brand recognition in the market. Not easy but the market in Dubai is open for new
business.
 Capitalize in brand new product whilst average comp set age is over six years – this is a key
selling point
 Unique F&B offerings pricing need to be vigilant to other business bay hotels. This is critical to
increase footfall. This is also key to brand recognition
 Invest in an online customer journey platform
 Improve brand.com contribution through flash sales, social media and tripadvisor business
listing
 Create a strong upselling programs to sell suites and club concept
 Invest in up to date photo shoot with lifestyle models, pool shots, kids shots
 Invest in multi lingual website – especially Arabic, Chinese, Russian.
 Invest in a dynamic website with dynamic shots as opposed to still shots.
 Host Famtrips from key source markets in Dubai to augment awareness
 Host key partners regularly in the hotel
 Keep abreast of comp set through regular visits and inspect ball room. Keep a very close eye on
online pricing for this will key considering the aggressive competition. Flash sales and offers
need to be aggressive and value driven.
 Create a MICE ceiling and online group rates to speed up quotation cycle to a maximum 2 hours.
 Create a pool party concept to augment the name and increase footfall. This area has
transformed into a hub for entertainment and gourmet and hotel need to be part of it.
 Be part of Ramadan Iftar and sohour by building a tent. If managed properly can be a very
lucrative avenue of business considering the location.
 Invest in Cvent business listing and distribute more attractive MICE/ Events related pictures
 Maximize use of social media to engage with audience and generate qualified leads
First 100 days plan (14 Weeks)
Activities and actions are not in a chronological order, hence some of these actions can start at the same
time.

9. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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 Review performance
o Market Share STR
o Market segment performance
o Channel performance, OTAs, GDs, Brand.com,…etc
o GOB performance and bench mark Vs Dubai top GOB. Identify opportunities
o Accounts management
 New business
 Retention business
 Lost business
 Top producers per segment
 All reports should have RNS, ADR, Revenue, F&B, Other, Total Revenue, LOS,
Lead time
 Sales manager productivity
 Any existing development plans per segment
o Cross check portfolios with market portfolio per segment and identify any missing
opportunities
o Review production of ASO
o Review demand peaks and valleys and existing pricing in place
o Review sales activities, ENT reports
o Review past FAM Trips, ENT activities and review related productivities
o Review past campaigns and productivity
o Review GRC report
o Review brochure participations and if there are any missing opportunities
o Review groups business report and identify top 5 lost reasons
o Review Social media reports
 Likes on Facebook
 Followers on twitter
 Brand.com activities
o Review CSR activities
o Review marketing activities. HTMLs, SMS, SEO. Any marketing projects in the pipeline
 Call for a meeting to establish competitive advantages
o Only focus on unique value propositions
o Meeting should include FO, Sales, Executive office, and other important stake holder.
 Visit top 20 clients per segment
 Develop a list of A, B,C accounts
o A accounts to be visited weekly
o B accounts to be visited bi weekly
o C accounts to be visited monthly
o Organize existing sales calls events to office with VHRs, Flash Sales, Breakfast in the
offices, Giveways,..etc

10. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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 Allocate sales team based on industry. Pharma, Retail, Banks, Schools,…etc
o Proactive sales team to generate leads
 Corporate/ MICE
 Leisure
 Main focus on GCC, Germany, India, China
o Reactive sales team – sending offers in a maximum 2 hours
 Events team
 Wedding planner
o Create a master portfolio for each segment and continue to grow the portfolio.
o Distribute the portfolio equally between sales team
o Create ratios to show sales efforts and results
 Establish a monthly report to review sale activities, ENTs, Sales Calls, Site
inspections Vs target
 Establish a PDP plan for each sales person for top 30 accounts
o Establish a daily morning briefing and evening debrief
 Include restaurant reservations, E. Concierge in the reservations team
 RFPs
o Make a GDS audit
o Review all rates loading in CRS and Lanyon
o Review all GDs descriptive content in CRS
 Understand comp set hotels
o Schedule weekly visit to the comp set hotels
o Review comp set pricing closely through rate survey’s or 3rd
party
o Enlist companies names found in research in a target list
 Review international sales trips plan
o Review DTCM sales trips participations
 Review Marketing plan
o Create 360 rolling calendar for rooms and F&B, other revenue streams
o Create 360 rolling calendar for social media postings
o Participate in trip advisor ads
o Participate in trip advisor business listing
 Embark on KPIs 2018 and budget assumptions 2018
o Propose KPIs until 2020
o MACRO, MICRO environments
o SWOT per segment, per outlet
o Write budget assumptions based on company standard
o Create pricing per segment
 Wholesale rates pack to be done by Mar 17, and contracts out by Jun 17.
 Corporate pack to be done by June 17 and contracts out by Oct 17.
 Review BAR rates, most used BARs, unused BARs, evaluation and review

11. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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 Review Meal allocation/ Meal supplements
o Once budget is approved – propose to GM a kick off budget meeting activity for HODs to
announce and get their buying and support
Major KPI Assumptions (High Level)
KPI 2017 2018
Room Sold
Occupancy
ADR
Revenue
RGI
Covers
Avg. Spent
Food and Beverage Revenue
Other Revenue
Total Revenue
Guest Review score
GOP
 Develop a full commercial plan per segment, outlet
 Set sales targets based on budget KPIs and distribute amongst sales resources’,
channels
 Monitor progress and review weekly, monthly actions, targets
 Create a Lean Canvas format:
Problem
Top 3 problems
Solution
Top 3 features
Unique Value
Proposition
Single, clear,
compelling
message that
states why you
are different and
worth paying
attention
Unfair Advantage
Can’t be easily
copied or bought
Customer
Segments
Target customers
Key Metrics
Key activities you
measure
Channels
Path to customers
Cost Structure
Customer Acquisition costs
Distribution costs
Hosting
People, etc.
Revenue Streams
Revenue Model
Life Time Value
Revenue
Gross Margi

12. Prepared by: Mohamed Shawky
Prepared on: 14 June 2017
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PRODUCT MARKET
The main idea behind this canvas is to summarize the plan and dissect it for versatile use
Conclusion:
This report has come across Dubai MARCO environments and provided SWOT analysis based on the data
available publicly. The hotel indeed has a lot of potential as seen in location convenience, awards
winning. Focus though need to be on brand recognition in the market. Rates need to be in PAR with
comp set however managing the demand peaks and valleys smartly to optimize performance hence
smart revenue management strategies must be at the heart of the strategy.
The hotel should avoid low rates segments and build on growing exposure in key source markets –
mainly KSA. This realization should be translated into a full maximization plan for this lucrative market.
Thank you
Mohamed Shawky