TI’ME Hotels is an independent chain of hotels, serviced apartments and residences that was founded in Dubai in 2012.
What sets TI’ME apart from other upscale bleisure brands is the incomparable passion that they put into every aspect of their business 一 from growth, to corporate responsibility, to the guest experience.
But TI’ME also discovered that “high-tech” platforms can be a concrete foundation for creating exceptional guest experiences. When Joseph Fayad joined TI’ME as the Corporate Director of IT in 2015, he spearheaded efforts to invest in a series of advanced, cloud-based platforms designed to streamline communications, increase efficiency, and truly delight guests:
“Simply put, we don’t just use technology for the sake of adding it to our list, but we make sure that the technology we are using is relevant to our business, and most importantly to our guests. Our technological investments have been able to eliminate communication gaps and make our staff more effective and efficient.”
The direct result of these investments is a multi-layered technological ecosystem that touches every stage of the guest journey, including targeted advertisements pre-stay, personalized service and activity recommendations during stay, and automated guest satisfaction surveys post-stay.
Fayad believes that a guest’s experience is positively heightened when hoteliers marry advanced technology with a solid philosophy of service:
“A great guest experience must be delivered with a realness and simplicity of purpose, in a manner that is energetic, genuine and straightforward. TI’ME Hotels delivers that experience by placing the customer at the center of everything we do.”
Pre Stay
- Targeted advertisements
During Stay
- Personalized service
- Activity recommendations
Post Say
- Automated guest satisfaction surveys post-stay.
Exceptional Service Comes Down to Three Words: “You Really Matter”
A passion for hospitality runs through every aspect of TI’ME properties, from room features, to culinary choices, to the skill and enthusiasm of their hotel staff. Two of their flagship properties are the TI’ME Oak Hotels & Suites in Barsha Heights, and the TI’ME Grand-Plaza Hotel in Dubai.
TI’ME Oak
TI’ME Oak is an upscale bleisure hotel, ideal for short business trips, leisurely family vacations, or extended-stay assignments. Located in the vibrant business district of Barsha Heights, TI’ME Oak features 55 standard rooms and 161 suites. The property is also home to four restaurants, including their flagship Pranzo, an open-market Medeteranian style eatery, Al Bal Restaurant, an Arabic-themed restaurant and shisha bar, Mugs & Munch, a modern styled cafe and lounge, and a snack bar connected to their temperature controlled pool and jacuzzi.
TI’ME Grand Plaza
TI’ME Grand Plaza is a luxury hotel located only ten minutes away from the Dubai International Airport. The Grand Plaza fully represents the opulence of Dubai, with expansive meeting rooms and lavish rooms decked out with city views, plush king-sized beds and shades of gold. The Grand Plaza also has a variety of dining options to choose from, including Brio, an all-day dining establishment with live cooking stations, Courtyard, an upscale cafe for coffee, tea and pastries, and the Splash Pool Lounge, a relaxing poolside restaurant serving sandwiches, salads, and mocktails.
Yet the one thing that keeps guests returning is TI’ME Hotels’ dedication to the art of international hospitality. Fayad says that his brand’s approach to delivering an exceptional guest experience can be surmised in three words: “You really matter.” He expounds on this concept by way of example:
Recently, a married couple was staying at one of our properties. When one of our drivers picked them up at the airport, he noticed that the wife was celebrating her birthday. He discretely informed the Front Office, who immediately notified housekeeping and F&B. By the time she checked-in, she was greeted with a warm “Happy Birthday,” and upon entering her room, she found a birthday cake along with some surprise decorations from our happiness team.
This level of warm, personalized service is what distinguishes the TI’ME brand from its competition. And this commitment to exceptional service has paid off: Since its founding, TI’ME has grown from two properties in the UAE, to 17 properties across the Gulf region, with four more expected to open in 2019.
And these properties have received impressive critical acclaim, with 12 industry awards in 2018 alone, including Best Family Hotel, Best New Business Hotel, and a Service Excellence Award. They also recently received dual awards from Travel Tech Middle East for best Tech Savvy Budget Hotel and Tech Savvy B2B player.
Hospitality Runs on Communication, Collaboration, and Technological Connectivity
Many hoteliers see a conflict between focusing on technological investments and prioritizing exceptional guest service. Not so at TI’ME. In fact, Fayad makes his technological investments with a keen eye towards enhancing the guest experience.
“Today, connectivity is a critical aspect of the hospitality industry,” Fayad says,” it is essential to have proper infrastructure to provide the reliable service our guests need.” – Joseph Fayad Corporate Director of IT of IT at TI’ME Hotels
Service cannot be genuine if it is mired in outdated bureaucratic processes and overly complicated user interfaces. A central component of TI’ME’s technological ecosystem are its cloud-based workplace and contact center solutions. These platforms automate basic services such as wake-up calls and reservation reminders, while also providing guests with real-time, multi-channel support options, including telephone, web chat and mobile. By automating more basic service functions, TI’ME not only gives guests additional convenience and control over their stay, it allows staff to focus on what they do best 一 truly personalizing and enhancing the guest’s stay. The system also enables TI’ME employees to extend their desktops to their mobile devices, enabling them to provide passionate, purposeful service, “on the go” from anywhere in the hotel. Fayad estimates that these advances saved the hotel over 30% in operational and capital expenses, while also empowering staff to better serve their guests.
TI’ME employs a full-service, cloud-based point-of-sale solution to streamline operations and service at its numerous hotel restaurants. It also uses a guest-facing, mobile check-in system to reduce wait times and free staff from the confines of the front desk. That way, they can interact with guests and process requests from anywhere in the hotel. If passionate service is facilitated through mobility, consistent service is facilitated through thorough guest data management. TI’ME records data from numerous touchpoints along the guest journey to inform a myriad of technological platforms, including behavioral alerting systems, CRM and loyalty systems, instant surveys, and other related reporting.
Fayad offers a detailed example of this marriage between high technology and passionate service:
During a group lunch at one of our properties, a waiter noticed that one of the guests was only eating soup, while the rest were enjoying the full buffet. Upon noticing this, the waiter discreetly approached the guest and asked if he wanted to have something that wasn’t available in the buffet. The guest was surprised with this level of attentiveness, and shared his dietary requirements along with some examples of dishes he couldn’t find in the buffet. The waiter went into the kitchen and returned with one of the dishes that the guest requested.
It was a simple action, but emblematic of our commitment to serving our guests with genuine warmth, a sense of purpose, and specific attention to detail. This guest’s specific information was immediately captured in our database so that our staff would be aware of his dietary needs during future stays.
TI’ME’s Quality Management and Guest Satisfaction Tracking systems create a dialogue between guests, staff and technology, allowing guests to share their experiences for immediate action and feedback.
A Passion for Service for their Guests and the Community at Large
The commitment to exceptional service extends beyond guest satisfaction and into local and regional corporate responsibility. TI’ME’s efforts include supporting a children’s cancer hospital in Egypt, collaboration with a marine conservation program with the Emirates Wildlife Society, and a breast cancer awareness walk.
TI’ME was awarded back-to-back Green Globe certifications for implementing a variety of tech-centric green policies, including installing an energy consumption monitoring system, and tying the lighting in public areas to motion sensors to cut down on wasteful consumption. The objective is to reduce energy consumption, general waste, and CO2 emissions by 2% across the board YoY.
This article was originally written by the GX Spotlight team. It has been moved here as part of the Shiji Group family of hospitality technology brands.
