A new and niche lodging experience now awaits Nigerian pilgrims to the holy cities of Makkah and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
The Pullman Hotels and Resorts, a member of the Accor Hotel Group, through Pullman Zamzam Hotel; a 5-star hotel with its sister hotels in the holy cities in Saudi Arabia, is reaching out to the Nigerian Muslim community, especially the intending pilgrims among them for value for money lodging experience across its properties in the two cities.
The Zamzam brand, which prides itself in the quality of its premium hospitality and service offerings through its warm Arabic welcome of pilgrims visiting the holy sites in Makkah and Medina, is looking forward to extending the warmth to the Nigerian guests as well.
The rationale for wooing Nigerian guests is obvious; Nigerians are regarded as high spenders and Saudi hotels and hospitality service providers have confirmed that over the years.
Bearing that in mind, Hamid Sidine, general manager, Zamzam Pullman, Makkah, led a team from the hotel group on aggressive hunt for customers in Nigeria recently.
While in Nigeria, the team intensified its marketing drive to the Nigerian audience through showcasing its facilities and services, as well as, engaging key Hajj operators and other key stakeholders’ within the Nigerian Hajj community.
Starting from Abuja, the team hosted cocktail and a networking event, which offered an opportunity for the management executives of the Pullman Zamzam brand to meet with notable Nigerian dignitaries, Hajj operators and the media.
From the Abuja visit, which lasted for three days, the team berthed in Lagos for the second leg of the Nigerian marketing drive. Speaking at Radisson Blu Ikeja Hotel, venue of the engagement session with the stakeholders in Lagos, Hamid Sidine, general manager, Zamzam Pullman, Makkah, presented world-class leisure facilities across the hotels, which he noted are top among reasons to lodge in the hotels.
Read also: Africa’s largest beauty exhibition to hold in November
He explained that the hotel group offers over 800 rooms at its Makkah facility and 500 at its Medina facility. Aside the quality of the facilities, he disclosed that the hotels are ideal and quite popular with the high end and ultra-high end Nigeria pilgrims desirous of a close proximity to the holy sites, luxurious amenities and top notch hospitality.
Speaking further on the facilities, he said the hotels are closer to the holy sites and offer large rooms. “When people are coming for Umra and Hajj they need local food, proximity to Al-Haram, we have large rooms that can host two to six people and all the conveniences they want”.
However, he noted that the group was in Nigeria to seek its share of the market because they get few Nigerian guests when compared with other less populated African countries.
“For us the Nigerian market is important because in Africa we have more Senegalese, Ivorian, Moroccan, and Tunisian guests but few are Nigerians. So, we want to get our share from this niche market through our world class offerings and facilities”, he said.
Bearing in mind that Nigerians like their local food, Sidine explained that, “Nigerians love their local food. We do not have the menu, but we are ready to hire Nigerian chiefs, as you know in Makkah we have some local Nigerian community and there are chefs among them, so we will hire them to meet the expectations of our Nigerian pilgrims”.
On affordability of the hotels, he noted their hotels are five-star and may not be affordable by all, but that they give guests chance to visit and stay close to Al-Haram with good offers during low seasons, as well as, great offers in some of their hotels in other parts of Mecca that are three-star like Novotel.
He advised that visit during off season such as after Ramadan comes with great and affordable offers.
Aside the holy sites, the general manager disclosed that guests have many attractions to see. “We also have hotels in Jeddah. We run golden triangle of Mecca, Medina and Jeddah. We have museums, tours to holy sites, among other attractions. Saudi Arabia offers visit visa and pilgrims can go beyond Mecca and Medina to further see the country”, he explained.
He described his experience for the first in Nigeria as wonderful.
“We spent three days in Abuja and three days in Lagos. In Abuja, we met executives of the National Mosque, other dignitaries, stakeholders and visited many places. The stakeholders in Abuja like our hotel because we have a special name Zamzam and niche offerings as well”, he said.
Concluding on the visit, Sidine said the marketing drive has just started as the first visit and stakeholders meeting gave them opportunity to listen and to understand what the Nigerian pilgrims want. “We will come back with our offers to meet their expectations”, he concluded.
