Firms join forces for 'hotel health checks'

The Life: Tara Marlow, head of hospitality practice at Al Tamimi law firm, discusses the strategy of how a new "hotel health check" service aims to drum up new business.

Tara Marlow says Al Tamimi helps hotels grow by providing a critical overview of their assets and business structures. Lee Hoagland / The National

Boosting business can be a tough task during uncertain economic times such as these. Yet the law firm Al Tamimi & Company as well as the property services company Colliers International launched a joint venture to do just that. Tara Marlow, the head of Al Tamimi's hospitality practice, discusses the strategy behind the two companies' new "hotel health check" service in the UAE and wider region.

How active is Al Tamimi in trying to find new areas of business, particularly in this uncertain economic climate?

We are being very proactive at the moment, particularly in the hospitality industry. Certainly when things were busier we had a lot of owners and developers who were building hotels, and we advised on real estate and development aspects of it. But, obviously, the environment has changed, and our workload as a firm has changed, and you need to adapt to that.

How did your firm and Colliers come up with a hotel health check service?

Filippo [Sona, Colliers's head of hotels and resorts] and I were chatting about the market and how it's changed. There are new developments in the region, but not like there were four or five years ago. Even the [hotels] that opened in the boom time are just starting to hit their stabilisation. If you look at their operational positions, [and] how the markets and financial situations have changed, a lot of businesses are looking to restructure. Actually, it's a really good time to offer a different service.

Your service is designed to help a hotel grow by providing a critical overview of its assets and underlying business structure, as well as areas of risk. How else are you hoping it will help?

Also just operating issues. Do you have the right brand now? Is it in the right position? Are you in the right location for your brand? We both came to the solution that if we could combine our services to deliver the overall analysis and advice, it would be incredibly useful.

But don't some hotels have in-house experts who would be able to look at the same areas you do?

There are some firms that have very good internal people. They have their own asset managers, financial analysts and legal team, and I think some of the very sophisticated owners may not need this service. But I think what it does do is bring them peace of mind that it's an independent audit. Obviously, the [in-house] experts have detailed knowledge of their business but not [of] the industry as a whole, and that's where consultants can add that information.

How are you hoping this service will boost your business?

I'm certainly hoping it will boost the business, particularly for the hospitality practice, which is really my baby. One of the reasons for doing this is we can offer another service I don't believe law firms do in the Mena region. I hope it'll give me further reach than what I've already got.