Dubai is experiencing a rapid growth in the tourism industry where the number of tourists visiting Dubai is projected to reach 15 million by the year 2010, according to a report by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI). This growth is posing a challenge for 2 and 3 star hotels to remain price competitive while at the same time, meet the increasing demand for accommodation. The demand is also creating challenges for existing 2 and 3 star hotels working to maintain their position in the market with the arrival of new and aggressive competition.

To address this situation, a series of workshops entitled "From Bull to Bear - maximising your hotel’s potential in the competitive hospitality market of Dubai" were held in Dubai in July and September to keep Dubai’s two and three star hotels abreast of Daex’s ongoing development and implementation. The workshops aimed to provide an insight into some of the challenges facing 2 and 3 star hotels in the region and examine strategies for how they can be overcome. Keynote speeches covered topics including sales and marketing, distribution channels, integrated rate management and making the most of the World Wide Web. Leading industry consultant Russel G.H. Sharpe, Senior Partner |m|e|z|z|e| Associates led one of the dynamic presentations. The presentation included a competitive market analysis of the UAE hotel sector with particular focus on the entry of major 2, 3 and 4 star hotel brands. According to Sharpe, the entry of these international brands has stepped up the competition in the sector and for the large part will be responsible for lowering rates and impacting the current high occupancy rates being experienced by hotels in Dubai today. In summary, 2 and 3 star hotels will not only need strong marketing and product strategies that are aligned throughout all customer touch points, but will also need robust and cost-effective distribution channels such as Daex.

Daex, the world’s first hotel inventory system, was launched in May 2006 to cater to this challenge. It is a free web service that interfaces a hotel’s property management system (PMS) to an internet booking engine or tour operating system enabling automated booking of hotel and apartment accommodation based on real-time availability. Daex's business model works on fixed fee per transactions. Daex has proven that it can save hoteliers up to 23% on the total cost of processing their reservations.

“DAEX is a global first for the hotel and travel industry. Its capability to facilitate hotel bookings and reservations in real-time, increases the capacity for a hotel to manage its inventory while reducing costs at the same time. What we are saying to these hotels today is that those who have the system in place will have a definite competitive advantage,” said Simon Lewis, the Manager of eVentures, Emirates Group. “The workshops conducted to date have been received well by the hoteliers. We strongly believe that going forwards more and more hotels will experience the benefits that DaeX brings through these interactive presentations.”