Apo Demirtas, chief marketing officer of Jumeirah Group (pictured left), believes in being bold when everyone is fearful. “That’s when you can make the difference.”

Which is why you will not see the Dubai-based group cut back on its marketing spend during this period which Demirtas says is a “slowdown, not a downturn”.

Citing Coca-Cola, which survived two world wars and umpteen crises, he said the company has remained consistently the number one brand. “Is an investment you make in your future.”

On travel companies cutting back on staff travel, he said, “It is what it is. It’s a bit like saving a tree today at the cost of losing a forest tomorrow.”

Demirtas is also a man who believes in balance. The industry, he feels, is more exploitative than exploratory currently and there needs to be a balance between exploitation and exploration in the business model.

Indeed, if there is one thing he’d like to transform in the hospitality industry, it’s finding that balance between gut and science in making marketing decisions. Right now, he said, the industry goes more by gut feel than science and more discipline needs to be brought to rate setting, yield management, revenue optimisation and other marketing disciplines.

Asked if he could afford to take the higher ground because Jumeirah is part of the wealthy Dubai Holdings empire, Demirtas said, “We are lucky to have their tremendous support and vision behind us but we are not immune to what is happening around the world.

Having said that, he asserted that Jumeirah’s expansion was happening through management contracts in developments in which it had no equity. ‘Sure, the wealth in Dubai is great but we are expanding based on our own efforts.”

Demirtas said the company was taking the appropriate risks to invest in the future. “We are taking calculated risks to make the right investments for the future. As we expand, two things happen – we attract good people and we invest in technology.”

The advantage of being a new player is that it does not have legacy systems to support. “We are using web-enabled technologies that enable us to be more efficient in both back and front systems.”

In particular, the company is hoping to make strides in travel distribution. The big companies have their sacred cows, their legacy reservations systems. “That technology was built years ago, it’s not easy to change. We opened our first hotel 10 years ago and Jumeirah Group was formed five years ago. That’s an advantage.”

Demirtas said Jumeirah would harness the new tools of the Web – social networking, mobile, digital distribution – to reach out to the customers directly. “Of course we will work with partners but it is important to own the zone. Distribution is changing.”

He believes the emergence of Generation X leaders in hospitality marketing would bring new science and thinking to the business.

“We will see a more economic approach to the hotel business, in the way we price, position and distribute.”

Right now, only 10% of the group’s business comes through the Web. The group will launch a new website on December 1 which he said would be “experience-driven”.

“The current website is transaction-driven. We are in the business of selling experiences – stay different. We want the web to inspire people to buy.”

Asked if luxury travel could become a dirty word in today’s environment where there might be a backlash against overt and conspicuous consumption, Demirtas said there was a difference between tangible luxury and intangible luxury.

The tangibles, he said, are easy to copy and everyone’s interpretation of that is different depending on backgrounds and cultures.

“But how the intangible is delivered in the local context is the number one factor for customer loyalty. That’s what our “stay different” means.”