As the Middle East’s hotel industry looks optimistic, luxury hotel group Fairmont Hotels & Resorts outlines importance of tailor-made guest experiences in putting new offers and programs into practice in 2011.

With the brand expanding its presence globally and specifically in the Middle East with a number of exciting hotel and mixed-use projects in the UAE, Cairo, Oman and Fujairah afoot, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts sheds insight into what travelers can expect to see in over 60 diverse destinations worldwide this year.

“While travelers are starting to spend again, there is a desire to seek value for money. While this doesn’t necessarily mean the cheapest rate, the discerning traveler is looking for a unique experience that is reflective not only of destination they are traveling but of the individual needs that they have, making customized, natural service a cornerstone of the Fairmont philosophy.  We hope that this is something that travelers within the GCC will experience not only here in the region throughout our properties in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Cairo and Saudi Arabia but will additionally encourage our guests to visit Fairmont resorts in markets further afield,” said Kent Cooper, Vice President of Regional Hotel Sales, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Middle East and North Africa.

Designed to deliver truly unique stays for our guests, Fairmont’s President Club, complimentary to join, offers guests a specialized, eclectic loyalty programme through recognizing inclinations on an individual basis with exclusive on-site benefits such as pre-assigning room choice and high-speed Internet access, advantages that keep FPC members coming back to Fairmont hotels throughout the world. With Great Rates - Great Dates, FPC members can take advantage of exclusive rates offered at a choice of around 20 luxurious Fairmont properties, rotated monthly to offer guests a diversity of locations to choose from. Great Escapes and Fairmont Moments are further an immensely popular attribute of the Fairmont President’s Club programme with experiences built around member’s passions, from meet and greets with celebrities to exclusive access to first run products. Furthermore, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts are actively partnering with international brands such as SAKS and TaylorMade whose support has been invaluable in developing bespoke offerings for guests, with EMI Fairmont are looking to launching a tailor-made regional CD while the RU Ready campaign recently saw US fitness guru Scott Lancaster come to the UAE to launch a dedicated fitness programme that encourages healthy competition among children, being rolled out in Fairmont hotels worldwide.

This January, Willow Stream Spas, the award-winning signature spa brand of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, announces the launch of the Stay Active Rx program. As a leader in the spa industry, Willow Stream Spas are addressing the discomfort and challenges associated with recurring aches, pains and joint inflammation that effect spa-goers of all ages and levels of physical activity, offering a targeted spa menu to provide relief and re-energize with everything from Back Soothers to Total Body Recovery treatments. In seeking destinations, travellers are much more conscious of the wellness offerings and products they can find, measuring their “well-thy-ness” in terms of health, fitness and beauty. With this trend on the rise - spas and fitness facilities are set to become a central factor in what a hotel can offer to the individual, with properties prioritizing these offers to favor their guests.

As of January 1, 2011, the luxury hotel brand now offers Lifestyle Cuisine Plus, a new menu available upon request catering to guests with specific diet-dependent conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and gluten free, as well as unique dietary preferences including, macrobiotic, raw and vegan diets. A typical Fairmont Lifestyle Cuisine Plus menu includes a selection of appetizers, entrees and desserts to address diabetes, heart healthy, vegan, raw, macrobiotic and gluten-free diets and will contribute to guests’ well-being, vitality and energy. Guests with specific food allergies and sensitivities are invited to have a direct conversation with the chef in order to plan their food options during their stay.

Fairmont is consistently seeing growth in Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events business across its properties, abundant meeting space and large lobbies have made Fairmont properties a natural choice of meeting planners and their unrivalled presence and in many cases, distinctive architecture, such as Fairmont Heliopolis & Towers in Cairo, or The Savoy, A Fairmont Hotel in London has turned them into enviable locales for conference delegates and vacation travellers alike. Continued growth in key international city centers, as well as more intimate new builds, has greatly expanded the appeal of the Fairmont brand to individual business travellers and this too, has begun to play a role in the evolution of the brand. With Fairmont hotels being distinct, one-of-a-kind properties, offering authentically local experiences, they are the perfect destinations to cherish special moments; especially as we see the wedding and honeymoon season reach its peak later in the year.

As a renowned follower of sustainable tourism, Fairmont will continue the work of its 20-year Green Partnership Program, working with organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The National Geographic Society to promote environmental awareness in the region and throughout the brands global portfolio, notably Fairmont Dubai has partnered with the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), a local non-government organization enhancing environmental awareness, eco-knowledge, and capacity building. A key initiative in 2010 Fairmont successfully has been the water-themed H20 travel packages for active, socially responsible families and the eco-consciously inclined in hotels worldwide, with Fairmont Bab Al Bahr donated mangrove seeds to a nursery plantation on Jubail Islands for every package booked. These kind of campaigns play a key role for hotel groups going forward as guests reveal that a hotel’s efforts to implement green programmes in their property will encourage travellers to make the decision to stay - in an environmental survey conducted by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in 2010, over half of the guests surveyed said a hotel’s environmental policies and practices would affect their choice of accommodation as consumers look to respectable companies with moral values.