Caspian Energy (CE): Who are the present clients of Grand Hotel Europe?

Kemal Eratay, General Manager, Grand Hotel Europe: The majority of our clients is represented by foreigners who arrived in Azerbaijan for business purposes. Among them we have permanent clients from Iran, Turkey, Dubai (the UAE), Russia, Georgia as well as other countries. These people form our client’s portfolio for now. Visiting Azerbaijan for years these people already consider Grand Hotel Europe as their home. Creation of such a hotel is exactly what our concept is aimed at. People get used to our high-quality service. Therefore, they prefer choosing our hotel but not the other one. These   people can enter the group of so-called permanent guests. 

CE: Do you have many so called permanent guests?

Kemal Eratay: In fact we have many such guests. There are guests who become our permanent customers for many years by paying business visits to Azerbaijan. I.e. they are already used to our hotel and keep coming here again and again. We are very pleased with this fact. We also feel glad when we see among them new guests who become permanent clients in future. 

CE: What role does service play in hotel business today?

Kemal Eratay: Quality and level of service are playing the most important role in hotel business. What does client pay attention to when choosing a hotel? First of all, it is the location. Secondly, it is the spaciousness of rooms. Thirdly, it is cleanness. The fourth is if they enjoy the service they expect. These are the points that all world hotels are trying to observe today. It especially concerns hotels in capitals and big cities. We work every day over improvement of service quality since we find it a major rule of the hotel business. Trainings arranged for the personnel are the component part of this process. Another important moment is that hotels which do not belong to big brands especially in such countries as Azerbaijan can attract clients at the cost of high-level service, habitual hospitality of Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani people. The policy of brand hotels around the world is built up in compliance with standards of this brand while other hotels are able to attract clients in their own individual manner. Hospitality is the nature of the Azerbaijani people. And we try to make the client feel this hospitality and amicability. I think we are coping with this task. The work in this direction is continued regularly. 

CE: How do you set the pricing policy of the hotel? 

Kemal Eratay: There are companies with which we have been cooperating on permanent basis. We apply an individual policy in relation to them. However, we offer quite favorable prices for foreigners, who arrive in the country for the first time, as well. Considering the quality of service, we apply the minimum pricing rates. Apart from this, prices vary depending on the season. Comparing our prices with those of brand hotels, for Baku they are more than favorable. 

CE: Can you characterize Grand Hotel Europe in one sentence? 

Kemal Eratay: Yesterday, today and tomorrow. That is our motto. Our commitment yesterday, today and tomorrow, which is high-quality service, is the same.