The surge in tourist numbers from China and the GCC has been well received by the new Marriott & Marriott Executive Apartments, Abu Dhabi Downtown, which reported positive results in terms of occupancy during its first year of operation.

Ideally located in the heart of the UAE’s capital, the hotel and apartments - developed by Bloom Holding - gives guests the amenities they need to achieve a brilliant stay in Abu Dhabi.

Marking the completion of a successful first year, TTN speaks to David Lance, general manager of the two hotels, to know more about its journey over the last 12 months:

Q. How have operations been during the first year?

A. It has been a challenging 12 months. Being the first Marriott-branded property in the UAE capital, the first year for us was more about creating awareness about the hotel. Moreover, we worked and are continuing to work with Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA) to lure more people to the city.

Our hard work did pay off, as we had a very successful summer for our first year. The numbers were good in terms of occupancy, and we had a lot of support from the tourism authority as well through their promotions.

Q. Moving into the second year, what is your outlook for the Marriott properties?

A. With winter soon approaching, we expect to have a really good run for the next six months. Moreover, a lot of special events have been lined up in Abu Dhabi for the coming months.

Q. Where do you see most of your tourists coming from?

A. China has been a huge surprise for us. The change in the on-arrival visa policy for Chinese travellers has really changed the numbers. India is also a great market for transit tourism as many people travel to visit friends and family. UK tourist numbers are as much as India but the biggest by far is from the GCC. We see a lot of local, government and business people, especially from Saudi Arabia.  

Q. How does the trade contribute to your overall numbers?  

A. Our goal is to always to work with trade as much as possible. We look at Marriott.com  to drive business from the free independent traveller (FIT) sector, but we try to work with all of our partners to drive trade bookings through the global distribution system (GDS) and so forth.

There is a very clear market segment for the trade and a clear market segment for direct bookings. OTA’s also play a big part. We are equally focusing on what we do to promote our hotel on Marriott.com but we are placing the same time and effort in promoting on GDS’s, offering fam trips, etc. We work closely with our global sales offices, TCA and Etihad on fam trips for the trade and key markets like Russia. So it is a very important segment for us and we will continue to work with the trade.