The opening of this year can be called the new travel company Royal Crown Tourism, born in October 2004. It was founded by young and talented entrepreneurs who love to travel. We decided to ask the managing director of Royal Crown Tourism, Eduard Mikhailovich Petrosyan, how this agency differs from other travel agencies and what special it can offer on the market of travel services.
Many new travel companies are registered in Dubai every year, not to mention agencies with well-known names and a reputation that has been built up over the years. Why, however, did you venture to open your own travel agency here?
Royal Crown Tourism is part of the Imperial Continental group of companies that has been operating in the Middle East since 1995. All these years, we often received our partners from other countries in the UAE, trusting respected guests to local travel agencies. Gradually, the high demands of sophisticated customers led us to the idea of creating our own travel agency, focused only on serving VIP guests. Dubai’s major tour operators meet up to 1,000 people a day in hot periods. Of course, to provide personalized service in this case is quite difficult. On the contrary, firms offering inexpensive standard tours minimize communication with tourists to a minimum. Everything is completely different with us.
It is logical to assume that with an “individual” approach, you sell less tickets than large companies. Does this mean that hotels offer you relatively high prices?
Based on the requests of our customers, we only send them to the best hotels in the UAE. Only 20 hotels are represented in our catalog, while many agencies offer 100-150. Needless to say, we have less total sales; but for individual hotels it is comparable with the performance of a major tour operator - therefore, our prices for five-star hotels are quite competitive. We focus on high quality service: we carefully select the hotel, transport partners and staff. After all, we offer an exclusive vacation - and the best can not be cheap.
What is included in the concept of "exclusive relaxation"?
First of all, a high level of service. Before the guest arrives, we try to collect as much information as possible about him. We are interested in everything: his previous travel experience, eating habits, degree of knowledge of foreign languages, hobbies and interests. The presence of this information allows us to create a truly "handmade tour" in accordance with the wishes of the guest.
Our company provides only an individual transfer. Our representatives are responsible for the accommodation, who transfer the passport copies of the guests to the head waiter in advance and check the availability of the room. When checking in, we arrange a short tour of the hotel for our clients, help them book tables in restaurants and time on tennis courts, and give advice on organizing vacations.
There has been a retinal scan at the Dubai airport for over a year; Taking this procedure into account, passing customs and passport control sometimes takes more than an hour. That is why our tourists book VIP services at the airport, which we offer at affordable prices.
Wealthy people are known for their whims and extraordinary requests. Have you come across any customer wishes that you could not fulfill?
Our guests did not win their fortune in the lottery. If they earned money, it means they have entrepreneurial talent and unique knowledge. This should be respected in the first place. We try to fulfill even the daring and crazy desires of our guests. Whether they want to fly by helicopter, ride around the city on a camel or in a pink limousine - please. If something nevertheless proves impossible for us, we find the right words to explain it, and we will certainly offer an alternative.
The more complicated the order, the more interesting it is to work with it. We already have examples of large celebrations. This unique experience is a good basis for our future success.
What are your next plans?
In September 2005, Moscow will host the first international exhibition on business tourism - MICE Industry Convention. Along with many European countries, the Emirates will occupy a worthy place among the participants. We hope that this event will contribute to the further development of the Russian business market by UAE tour operators. After all, the ability of our compatriots to adopt all the best is well known. We consider participation in MICE a promising and priority direction of our development.
And the last question. Everyone knows that working with tourists is an irregular working day, continuously ringing a mobile phone and chronic stress. How do you deal with all this?
The concept of "chronic stress" is unfamiliar to me. And with everything else that you have listed, I am not fighting. Work is an integral part of our life, and it should be fun. This becomes possible with the competent organization of the work process and the close-knit work of a team of like-minded people, where everyone tries to realize their creative potential.
Rather, I am familiar with the feeling of pleasant tiredness, the best way to combat which is travel. To work well, you must definitely find time to relax. And so that the holiday was not spoiled, it is important to choose the right company for its organization.
The hint is clear ...
