The manager of the Barceló Saïdia hotel is throwing in the towel, withdrawing on tiptoe from the seaside resort of the Oriental. The Spanish group has put an end to the concession agreement binding it since 2009 to H Partners. This investment fund in tourism assets has now entrusted the management of this establishment to Atlas Hospitality Morocco. And it is this brand that will now market the hotel under the name: Oriental Bay Beach. "Our taking over of management in Saïdia meets several objectives," confides Kamal Bensouda, CEO of Atlas Hospitality Morocco (AHM). According to the CEO, "entering into the management of the former Barceló Saïdia comes to reposition the hotel on the markets and integrate it into its seaside and golfing environment". AHM intends to operate a change in the operating mode of this establishment by getting out "of the vicious circle of All Inclusive, deemed not very remunerative for the unit and for the city". To establish its recovery strategy, the new manager intends to place the hotel on the normal tourism market with Bed & Breakfast (BB) and half-board formulas. The challenge is to ensure greater flexibility during holiday periods. To compensate for the quiet periods and extend the hotel's reopening duration, Atlas Hospitality plans, from next winter, to open the establishment in a reduced format. This is a first that will be declined by an offer of 100 to 150 rooms out of the 600 operational ones. The objective is to receive incentive operations, seminars, golf operations and clients during weekends. The manager is betting big on domestic tourism.
On the national market, campaigns will start from next April for aggressive packages tailored to purchasing power in order to allow nationals to be able to enjoy this product without being forced to take the "All Inclusive" formula.
On the marketing side, Atlas Hospitality plans to place the unit in important tourist-generating basins such as Spain, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic... "Our teams are currently convincing operators in the Russian market to programme the destination during the Moscow fair," announces Kamal Bensouda. Moreover, the Oriental Bay Beach will be marketed on the Net through important operators such as Booking, Expedia, Late Rooms, Hotels4you which are driving a new trend of clients opting for à la carte trips.
At the origin of this change of manager are constraints of a technical nature, seasonality, entertainment or even positioning. Since its opening, the Oriental resort has never operated permanently. In the opinion of a professional, "closing a resort completely for 6 months cannot make the investment profitable nor place the site in a virtuous circle of management". The observation today is that from mid-October, the resort becomes deserted. The site closes and the hotels thank the staff, responsible for taking them back in the summer period.
Besides these constraints, the difficulties that precipitated the departure, not leaked, of the Spanish manager suggest that they are deep and structural. Indeed, from the launch of the Saïdia resort, several failures marked its deployment. The delay in delivery, the non-completion of basic infrastructure works... caused numerous inconveniences. Furthermore, the isolation of the region, the flight schedules discourage tourists from embarking on stays presenting inconveniences linked to logistics. Yet, despite the gloomy climate of the tourism sector, crisis in Europe, Arab Spring... Saïdia has done well. Indeed, the number of overnight stays, recorded in the hotels of this resort, saw a jump of 47% in 2011, according to the Tourism Observatory. However, this improvement was not enough to make this resort a popular destination. Furthermore, the All Inclusive formula practised by Barceló, combined with the low annual occupancy rate, could not generate significant revenue.
The HR issue is one of the most complicated in the Oriental. Aware of this constraint, AHM is deploying a new HRM approach in the region. Precisely, to compensate for seasonality constraints, the buyer of the former Barceló is adopting a new strategy. "We have opted for a formula that has proven itself at Club Méditerranée. We have launched a call for applications among our 1,700 single agents on permanent contracts to operate in Saïdia," announces Bensouda. Furthermore, during the peak months of July/August, it was planned to redeploy employees from other units of the AHM chain.
