ROYAL TAKES CITY BY STORM

The Radisson Royal Hotel opens its doors in the heart of Dublin. General Manager, Michel Schutzbach explains to Niamh MacSweeney why this hotel is positioned to be a roaring success in what is renowned as being a hugely competitive sector

Trendy and eloquent design combine with dramatic contemporary features in this new exclusive hotel in the bustling city centre. Ideally located, the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, is a newly built deluxe hotel at the crossroads of Golden Lane and Chancery Lane, adjacent to Dublin Castle. Within minutes stroll from all the key shopping, business and commercial sectors, the hotel promises to be a modern hotel, chic and stylish, designed for the discerning business and leisure traveller.

TARGETING THE MARKET

According to General Manager, Michel Schutzbach, this new hotel will be targeted towards the corporate customer, but he also points out there will be plenty on offer to satisfy the leisure traveller as well. “We will be targeting the corporate customer but we would also like to target the Irish leisure market, because there is a big leisure community coming to Dublin over the weekends and during holidays. The third market we are targeting is meetings and events with an over night stay,” he explains.

Designed by Anthony Reddy & Associates with interior design by Graven Images, the hotel’s spectacular lobby will have striking, modern décor, with a dramatic central staircase. Bedrooms will be lavishly restrained, with calming combinations of colours and lavish textures.

DOMINATING A COMPETITIVE SECTOR

Schutzbach says the hotel is ideally located and he plans to repeat the success of other Radisson SAS Royal Hotel with the new one in Dublin. “It is going to be very innovative and modern, its very centrally located and we are pitching this hotel on a very high level when it comes to service delivery,” he says. There are a number of superb hotels with a lot of good product offerings in Ireland and in Dublin particularly. So how will this Radisson stand out from the rest and survive in an increasingly saturated market place? “We will be an uncomplicated hotel; a hotel that anticipates the needs of the customer and makes it is easy for them to book with us and easy to do business with us. Basically we would like to extend the Irish hospitality to our customers so that they will come back and when they come back they will chose to come back to our hotel,” he insists.

Schutzbach will be relying on his experienced staff to ensure they deliver a world-class service to customers and he will be encouraging them to adopt the ‘yes I can’ spirit and attitude to ensure customers are not disappointed. “We are pitching on service and on the people working at the hotel. We have extremely experienced staff on board with 55% of our staff members coming from other Radisson Hotels. So from day one I apprehend that they will bring this knowledge and spirit to the hotel,” he says.

ANTICIPATING TRENDS

Schutzbach will have to extend strong entrepreneurial skills to the job if he is to guarantee sales growth for the hotel and in order to continually attract customers, a challenge he says he is ready to embark on “We have to really keep the finger on the pulse and really be innovative with the offerings that we are giving. I think it is less about the price and more about the level of service we are going to give,” Schutzbach admits. He adds that the role of a hotel manager is shifting from being front line to focusing on revenue coming in over a longer period of time. “You have got to be innovative and you have got to understand the dynamics of the market and when different customer segments require your product. Its very important that one listens certainly to the customer but also looks ahead and sees whether the bookings are coming in on time and if the reservations are not in on time, you shift your focus into another segment,” he concludes

Published in the July/August 2007 Issue of Irish Entrepreneur