Thierry Perrot on managing Dubai’s oldest five star hotel

The seasoned hotelier came onboard as the Cluster General Manager, with Valor Hospitalty Partners assuming the management of Radisson Blu Deira Creek earlier this year.Taking on the iconic 48-year-old property, Perrot describes the challenges and opportunities ahead as the hotel continues to navigate an ever-changing Dubai landscape.

As a seasoned hotelier, Perrot has spent more than 25 years in the region, of which the last 10 years have been in the UAE in cluster roles for IHG Hotels & Resorts and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. His international experience of over 40 years across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, covering multiple high-value hotel assets, has seen Perrot carry the transition, renovation and delivery of hotels and clusters to maximum performance through his stewardship.

Together with Valor Hospitality Partners, his purview now comprises a portfolio of 800 plus keys and more than 20 food and beverage outlets, covering two, three, four and five-star ratings across the four properties, with one of the most diverse scale of properties in the market. At the heart of Perrot’s new remit is Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek, which came under the management of Valor hospitality in January of this year.  Opening in 1975, the property has become iconic in the history of Dubai’s hospitality and culinary scene.  

The hotel, which originally opened under the IHG Intercontinental brand, has become a legendary part of the creek side skyline, building a reputation of over the years as a culinary destination; the property has won many awards including a Michelin Bib Gourmand for its well-known Persian restaurant Shabestan. Despite its age, the property has also led the way in sustainability, winning awards for its innovative approach and committed investment to maintaining the property’s legacy and place in the future of Dubai.

Five months into his new role, Perrot describes the challenges and opportunities, which lie ahead for the historic hotel:

“The hotel has undergone extensive renovation of the last few years, including rooms, all day dining, some F&B outlets and the spa. These changes have really helped to maintain our reputation as a luxury hotel.

We’re still continuing to make changes to our front of house, with more refreshments planned over the next two years. When it comes to F&B though, it’s important to keep changes relevant to ever evolving palettes and consumer choices This hotel has really helped to pioneer the Dubai culinary scene. In such a competitive and highly saturated F&B market, we still maintain some of the oldest home grown and award winning restaurants, we want to make improvements while still remaining authentic and relevant to our customers, old and new. Some of our guests have been joining us to stay and dine since our opening.

One of the biggest challenges we face in our day to day operation is our back of house, and so we want to turn our attention to renovating these spaces, not only to ensure we are more cost effective and energy efficient, but also to look after our employees. Our engineering and IT teams in particular do an amazing job to maintain such an old property. We’ve already refreshed our team break areas and begun an overhaul of our IT and finance systems, making our daily operation much more seamless.

Since joining the cluster, we have implemented changes to  help tackle some of the biggest challenges in hospitality right now- staffing and inflation. With our shared services teams, managing four properties, we are able to put a focus on cross training and development opportunities for our team members, who we refer to as ‘hotelitarians’. Our cluster finance and purchasing team has also helped us to reduce some of our operating costs.

Managing such an iconic property comes with its pressures, but I’m really excited for the future as part of our new cluster. Together, we hope to re-energise of Deira as a destination. Our properties are all close to metro stations and we host some of the most amazing views of Dubai, together with our exemplary service, and diverse F&B offering and price points, we have something for everyone. Dubai’s reputation as a whole is moving towards a more accessible holiday destination with a lot to offer, and our cluster of hotels fits well within that. “

For more information, please visit: https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-dubai-deira-creek