Preview

Winning Over the Arab Market: Hospitality Tips and Guest Relations

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
6842 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Winning Over the Arab Market: Hospitality Tips and Guest Relations
THE ARAB GUEST The Arab travel mentality can vary greatly as the Arabian region stretches over a vast area encompassing 22 countries from Mauritania in the west to Yemen in the east. As the majority of Arab guests are from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), consisting of Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, the advice given here pertains mainly to this important region. The above-named states have in common rapid economic growth due to the large oil and gas reserves. These states have been catapulted from a tribal life to relative wealth, although Dubai has always held a significant role as a trade centre in the Middle East. Tourism in the UAE is booming, and luxuries, the newest technologies and excellent service have become the norm. No wonder then that the most expensive and luxurious hotel in the world, the Burj al Arab, is in Dubai. Apart from expecting exclusively furnished hotels, Arab guests also expect respect and tolerance for their lifestyle. To the majority of Arabs, Islamic rules are the foundation of daily life. Courteous and attentive service is a prerequisite. 1. Tolerance and Sensitivity Personal recommendations and networking between Arab families are of the utmost importance and recommendations by acquaintances are given more heed than extravagant advertising brochures. The chance of winning over the Arab market through a few families is therefore very high, but at the same time, a single ‘mishap’ by an employee can ruin the reputation of an entire hotel. Family consciousness is highly regarded in the Arab region. Unlike in the West, the family is the basic social unit, not the individual. In Arab society the weak are respected and protected, and the elderly are always afforded special respect. Arabs behave in a reserved manner towards Europeans and react very sensitively to a lack of respect and intolerance. To avoid such conflicts, sensitivity and empathy are of great importance. 2. Travel The majority of Arabs travel with their entire families.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    5) Wilson, R.M.S. Gilligan, Colin, ‘Strategic Marketing Management ‘, The Business Intelligence Providers, OCLC NetLibrary, Chapter 4, pg 119-131…

    • 3573 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The following essay provides input to the marketing strategy for the first half of 2012 for The McKenzie Hotel Group’s newest hotel. This luxury 5 Star property located on the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The input provided will cover consideration of the service on offer, target markets, cost analysis, supply and demand effects, market structure, pricing strategies, the impact of recession and consideration of currency effects. Through analysis and comparison with economic theories, recommendations will be made to guide the marketing…

    • 1496 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Arab culture emphasizes the importance of honor, relationships, friendship and traditional religion. Relationships to people are more important than contracts to companies. Hospitality is a core value and cannot be offended or rejected. Arabic men show a lot of feeling such as kissing on cheeks while public intimacy between men and women is strictly taboo and prohibited.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    a) One of the trends that are occurring in the hotel industry is the increase in construction in certain pipelines and areas. The Spanish influenced countries of Latin America and South America are seeing the largest increase. The increased interest in the Hispanic culture by society is driving many consumers to want to escape to the sandy beaches and the tropical oasis. The other trend is the decrease in the African and the Middle Eastern Pipelines. Much of this can be contributed to the political unrest in these countries that is covered by the media. While many still want to go on vacations to their holy lands for religious purposes or visit many ancient areas of art and documented history not many consumers are wanted to travel with young children to these areas due to the unrest and military presence and rather are looking for rest and relaxation rather than additional intellect and experience.…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nydell, M. K. (2005). Understanding Arabs: A Guide For Modern Times (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Intercultural Press.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. Expert felt that one of the biggest challenges faced by MTV while launching MTV Arabia was the prevalent culture in the Arab world. Discuss the Arab culture. How is it expected to pose a challenge to MTV?…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    I have conducted a participant-observation research in an Arabic hookah café in Georgetown, the Zenobia Lounge. While I was expecting to get more insight about the way Arabs practice Islam in their daily lives, my observations were about the service sector in collectivist cultures and expression of cultural identities. I realized that the intimate relationship between a business and customers was more important than the service itself in collectivist cultures. I also realized that Arabs expressed their belongings to two distinct cultures, Arabic and American culture, in their outfits by carrying both modern and oriental elements.…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hospitality can be defined as the practice of entertaining strangers graciously. It was a very important trait in Biblical times. In the New Testament, the Greek word translated as hospitality literally means “love of strangers.” In the Old Testament, Abraham was the host to angels unaware; he invited strangers into his house, washed their feet, prepared fresh meat, had Sarah bake bread, and later accompanied them as they left (Genesis 18: 1-15). Even today a traditional greeting by Bedouin people of the Middle East to their guests is “You are among your family.” This paper will cover five occurrences as they pertain to hospitality: removing the shoes, entering women’s quarters, the Levite and his concubine, the drink of water, and lastly…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    You are the marketing consultant of Disneyland and you are thinking of a new market to enter in one or two of Arab countries.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Distribution Channel

    • 9004 Words
    • 37 Pages

    Encyclopedia of Hospitality and Tourism, edited by M. A. Kahn, M. D. Olsen, and T.…

    • 9004 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    After greeting, one might invite others to his house- as Arabs are best known for their hospitality- and prepare a hearty meal for them. Then, he would use certain politeness formulas after bringing the meal for guests such as…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The United Arab Emirates enjoys diverse and multi-cultural heritage. It is known for its folklore, folk music, folk dance and other traditional art forms. The traditional dances are meaningful movements, which are symbolic of common ideas and likes of a given community. Traditions in the UAE are influenced by Islam, which is the country’s predominant religion. Therefore, nearly all the population supports Islam. The official language in this country is Arabic. However, currently, new categories of sites are actively being encouraged. These sites include cultural landscapes, itineraries, industrial heritage, deserts, coastal and marine sites, and small island states (Michael,…

    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ancient History of U.A.E

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The culture of the United Arab Emirates has a diverse, cosmopolitan and multicultural society.[1] The country's cultural imprint as a small, ethnically homogenous pearling community was changed with the arrival of other ethnic groups and nationals — first by the Iranians in the early 1900s, and later by Indians and Pakistanis in the 1960s…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    UAE Culture

    • 1116 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The culture of UAE is both rich and interesting from the early history of this territory and people, but instant changes are continuously being observed by the time of oil discovery and from the influence of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and immigrants. A few decades ago UAE was consisted of vast pieces of deserts where Bedouin tribes were living peacefully in fishing villages and vast deserts. Culture of Emirates was originated from Arabs and Persian culture and name of UAE culture is Emirati in Arab it is called in Arabic, Al-Thaqafa Al-Emaratiya. UAE culture is strongly influenced by its region and environment having terrains, deserts, oasis, beaches and dedicated traditional lifestyle grown over time periods. With the passage of time and modernization tribal system has been converted to large big cities mud houses into luxury apartments and houses but traditions, values, norms, religion, language and ethics are still deep inside rooted among UAE nationals. Traditional food was meat of goat, sheep and camel, other food items in daily routine were rice, bread, fish dates and homegrown vegetables. Life in north and east mountains was different from the sandy territories in terms of clothes, food but way of business was same among adjacent of coastline by doing trade through sea.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marketing Management

    • 43468 Words
    • 174 Pages

    Marketing ManageMent hamed imad Salah Kevin PhiliP Kotler Keller hassan Baalbaki Shamma Pearson Arab World Editions — Business & Economics The Arab world’s location between three continents ensures its place at the centre of an increasingly integrated global economy, as distinctive as any business culture. We think learning should be as dynamic, relevant, and engaging as the business environment. Our new Arab World Editions for Business & Economics provide this uniquely Arab perspective for students in and of the Arab world. Each Arab World Edition integrates cases, companies, research, people, and discussions representing the diverse economic, political, and cultural situations across the nations that span the Arab world, whilst retaining the quality, research, and relevant global perspectives of the world’s leading business thinkers.…

    • 43468 Words
    • 174 Pages
    Good Essays