TGS - 20th January 2022

Welcome to the first TGS of 2022! We’re almost through the first month of the new year and I think we were all glad to see the back of 2021. I had the chance to (re)visit Muscat for a couple of days just before Christmas to train the fine folks from the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology on change management strategies and techniques, so 2021 ended on a high note. 2022 started with a flurry of law changes in the UAE, many of which will likely have a massive impact on businesses in the Emirates, but also on companies looking to do business in the country. What’s more, dark / cloud kitchens are showing no sign of slowing down and the game’s getting more and more sophisticated, which means that F&B revenue management isn’t just “a thing” anymore, but, increasingly, a necessity for restaurants and F&B-centric hotels. Lastly, if you’re based in the GCC or are marketing to businesses or customers in the Gulf countries, you need to get organised, because comprehensive new data protection and privacy laws have just been introduced in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which require businesses to adjust the way the collect and manage data.

Did you know that just a one-star increase in your company’s online reviews leads to a 5 - 9 percent increase in revenue? When consumers judge a business, the star rating is the number 1 factor, followed by the pace and quantity of reviews. I recently wrote a number of articles about online reviews and reputation management and you can find the links here:

If you’re concerned about your business’s online reputation - perhaps after reading the recent piece from the Secret Hotelier in Hotelier Middle East - there are a few quick and easy things you can do immediately to take control, but ideally, you’d create a solid reputation management strategy for your business. Your strategy shouldn't only cover how you deal with negative reviews, but also how to increase review pace, volume, and, of course, review scores. Not sure how to get started or whether you’re on the right track? Just click here and schedule a FREE, no obligation, 100% entertaining, discovery call with me and find out how I can help you save the world.

Sunday, 2nd January 2022 won’t just go down in history, because it marked the first “new” (Saturday & Sunday) weekend in the United Arab Emirates, but also because it heralded the arrival of, undoubtedly, the biggest and most sweeping law changes in the country’s 50-year history. The changes include, in part, measures to protect personal data and to tackle fake news (please also see “data protection in the GCC” below), stronger copyright rules, and increased protection for domestic workers. The new laws also allow investors and entrepreneurs to establish and own onshore companies in almost all sectors and regulates new work models such as part-time work, temporary work, employment of teenagers, job sharing, and freelancing and self-employment.

The new laws are very forward looking, create many new opportunities, and will definitely help to make the UAE more attractive to investors and more competitive in the hunt for global talent and ideas.

Restaurants, hotels, but also retail businesses should be particularly interested in the wide-ranging changes to the country’s labour law, which may see the UAE pivoting from an importer of qualified professional to an exporter. I recently wrote about the impact of the labour and residency law changes in Hotel & Catering News ME and you can read my article here. If you’re looking for a quick overview of what has changed law-wise in the UAE, you can click here or here.

COVID’s been a game changer for many of us, but restaurants, cafes, and hotels were probably most affected and the pandemic forced many of them to elevate their online ordering and delivery game. Across the GCC, online ordering already enjoyed considerable popularity pre-COVID, but has surged during the lockdowns and social distancing, while in other markets, e.g. Europe, the pandemic has kicked things up more than a few notches. Restaurants, which, pre-pandemic, relied on steady dine-in trade and didn't bother overly much with the intricacies of online ordering and delivery suddenly found themselves in somewhat of a pickle - hotels were even worse off in many cases and, often abruptly, faced empty breakfast rooms and restaurants and shiny, but idle kitchens.

Dark and cloud kitchen operators and delivery aggregators were quick to take advantage of the rising online ordering trend and launched new brands and offers backed up by, seemingly, ceaseless online advertising.

Here’s the thing: Restaurants cannot “out-advertise” delivery aggregators just like hotels cannot outspend the likes of booking.com, hotels.com, or Expedia. Aggregators spend millions on making sure they’re ever present, top of mind, with consumers, so the question isn’t “Should I use an online food aggregator?”, but “How can I make online food delivery platforms and cloud kitchens part of my business mix and increase my sales and grow my profits?”. The answer to this question is “Revenue Management”. Previously virtually exclusively the domain of revenue specialists working for hotels and airlines, revenue management is increasingly becoming a necessity for F&B operators, regardless whether they run stand-alone, single outlet, or large, multi-brand, multi-location, operations.

The problem is that restaurants, by and large, are unfamiliar with how food delivery platforms rank restaurants and offers, and what impact commission rates and discounts really have. The back-offices of popular delivery platforms like Talabat, Deliveroo, or Foodora now have almost as many buttons, bells, and whistles as the back-offices of travel booking platforms. You can push individual dishes or entire brands, permanently or just for a few hours or days. You can use a variety of tools to drive orders and make sure the platforms prioritise your dishes over your competitors’ dishes. You can also create location or time-specific offers for either your entire menu or just your bestselling dishes. Knowing what’s possible is one thing, though. Knowing what’s effective and profitable is often an entirely different thing. In short: It’s about time, F&B operators get revenue specialists on board.

My February 2022 column for Hotel & Catering News ME will be dedicated to F&B revenue management and it should be live mid-February. I’m also available for F&B revenue management consulting and advice including creating cloud / dark brands, which operate out of existing kitchen(s), and complete, 360 degree revenue strategies. Interested to find out more? Click here and schedule a FREE, no obligation, 100% entertaining, discovery call with me and let’s grow!

The UAE now has, for the first time ever, a federal data protection law! The technical term is Federal Decree Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data, but it is probably easier to refer to it by its abbreviation, PDPL, which was introduced as part of the recently announced law changes (please also see “sweeping UAE law changes” above). PDPL was announced on 2nd January 2022, but will not fully come into effect until the summer, while next door in Saudi Arabia, a similar new law will enter into force on 23rd March.

There were data protection regulations before in various Emirates and freezones, but the new federal law is much more extensive and largely mirrors the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Just like GDPR, PDPL has “extra-territorial reach”, which means it applies to virtually all organisations in the UAE that process the data of people inside or outside the country, but also to organisations outside the UAE that process data of people inside the UAE. Compliance will be monitored by the newly created UAE Data Office and the law aims to “protect any data related to a specific natural person or related to a natural person that can be identified directly or indirectly by linking the data”.

You have approximately six months from 2nd January 2022 to ensure your business is compliant and while the exact details of fines and enforcement aren’t known yet, looking at other countries with similar laws suggests that fines for non-compliance or data breaches can be considerable.

You can read my analysis of the new law here or if you’re looking for a more general overview, you can find information for the UAE here and for KSA here. If you’re unsure whether you (e.g. if you’re a freelancer) or company is affected, how compliant your current data protection practices are, or what you need to do in the run-up to the implementation deadline, you can check out my in-depth article here or a TL/DR overview here.

2022! What a time to be alive, hey?! Empty fridge? Get groceries on demand ( for example from my friends at Yalla!Mart) in just a few minutes. Need to go somewhere? Book a limousine or taxi on demand. Need fuel or cooking gas? Sure, you can get these on demand, too. Consulting? Ah. Until now, you couldn’t really get “consulting on demand”. Soon, though, the Sloth will launch an all-new, sparkling, and super affordable consulting on demand service: The Sloth on Demand (TSOD). Not sure if you need consulting on demand? Consider this: You’re faced with a new challenge at work or think you’re stuck fixing a problem that’s arisen. Sure, you can have a quick gander at Google, and you’ll probably find more than a handful of possible solutions or, if you’re either very unlucky or very unique, none. How do you decide to proceed? Sometimes, a pair of fresh eyes and an opinion from someone “outside the bubble” is just what’s needed to get things moving and TSOD does exactly that - insightful consulting, independent advice, and fresh perspectives at the click of a button and for the price of a cup (or two) of coffee.

If you’re not a fan of on-demand service or if you’re simply not overly in a hurry, you might enjoy the Sloth’s new Office Hours: Fixed times when I invite you to pop into my virtual offices without having to book in advance. Simply turn up and off we go. Coming very soon, the Sloth’s Office Hours will be advertised on my BMC and Twitter feeds and on my Facebook page and you can simply stop by to ask questions, bounce ideas around, or discuss opportunities, challenges, or obstacles.

After taking some time off over the festive season, I’m currently finalizing my plans for Q1 under the motto “Do only shit you love!”. For example, I love diversity, but had never heard of neurodiversity, so when Peter Regelous approached me during a recent Otolo mentoring session and started a discussion about it, it sparked a swift learning journey, which (so far!) resulted in my first event for 2022: Hidden Talents - What is neurodiversity? Why should you bother, and how can neurodiverse hires benefit your company and your bottom line? - an online presentation as part of the 42nd Online Forum for Hoteliers on 18th January 2022. If you missed the session, because you’re not following the Sloth on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, but want to know more about the topic, you’ll sound find a recording of the session and a copy of the slides on my #FlowPage or over on my BMC.

What else is going on?

• e-Books on “Innovation & Change in Hospitality” and “Email Marketing”: I’m working on my first two e-Books and they’ll soon be available via my #FlowPage.

• GIHE Innovation & Entrepreneurship Committee: If you studied at Glion Institute of Higher Education and are interested in innovation and entrepreneurship, do give me a shout! Together with some other Glion alumni, I recently created a working committee for innovation and entrepreneurship and we’re gearing up to support entrepreneurial alumni. I’d also like to hear from you, if you’re a VC or angel investor.

• Have a story to tell? I recently started working with Travel Daily News and I’m always on the lookout for new stories, interview opportunities, and case studies. Travel Daily Media aside, I also write for Hotel & Catering News ME, Hotelier Middle East, and Bored Panda.

• The Global Serviced Apartments Industry Report: A little while ago, I finished my contribution to GSAIR 2022, the definitive voice of the global serviced apartments industry. I, once again, curated the Middle East and UAE sections of the report, which will be out very soon. You can grab a copy of last year’s report or register to receive this year’s report here.

• The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders → A pop-up restaurant run by patients with dementia, The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders, is unlike any other restaurant I’ve ever been to. It’s both, an awesome social experiment and a fresh take on dining out.

• The Modern Mentor → The Modern Mentor podcast is your guide to leadership and communication. Subscription is free and you’ll get a new, short(ish), episode every week with tips to help you balance your work and personal life, effectively invest your time, and lead better.

• Sell Yourself Authentically → Overzoomed? Tired of online meetings? One of the Sloth’s friends, Jessica Breitenfeld, who’s an expert team whisperer and trainer, put together a short guide to selling yourself authentically within the first 5 seconds of a video encounter.

• Five Green New Year’s Resolutions for Businesses → My friends at fiftyshadesgreener.ie have put together a handy guide to running a greener business in 2022.

• Quick, Draw!

• MapCrunch → Travel the world to far flung places with just a click of your mouse. Click the go button and you’ll be transported to random street views all over the globe.