Day D5: The Old Dubai

February 10, 2025

In keeping with this overall market theme, I decided to ask ChatGPT for some advice on what the deal was with the luxury hotel and their aggressive staff tactics.

In short, the synopsis was that "the price of 40 dirhams ($11) for a Coke seems excessive, but it’s common in upscale venues or luxury hotels to charge significantly more for drinks to boost profitability. Many high-end venues rely on the sale of alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic beverages at premium prices to increase margins, often using events like this to make up for other lower-margin aspects like the venue space or staff costs."

"The behavior you observed of staff constantly coming around with the POS terminals might be tied to a culture of high-pressure sales tactics aimed at ensuring that customers don’t just enjoy the event but also spend as much as possible. The venue wants to capitalize on every opportunity to sell drinks without letting the customer have too much time to think about it. It’s frustrating for guests, as you experienced, when they feel like they can’t enjoy the social aspect of the event without being constantly interrupted for sales. Your attempt to use mini vodka bottles to cut costs, paired with the staff being watchful like hawks, suggests that the hotel had a zero-tolerance approach to guests trying to avoid the upsell or circumvent the pricing model. Many luxury venues have strict policies about outside alcohol (such as your mini bottles) because it directly impacts their revenue. This is why they were likely so vigilant—staff were likely trained to spot potential cheats and prevent it.

"The hotel's agenda seems to have been geared toward ensuring the guests were continuously entertained (through music and dancing), which interfered with the more relaxed social interactions that you were looking for. If the staff or the event planners had planned a smoother transition into the dancing part, the night might have been more enjoyable for everyone. Instead, it created a conflict of agendas, where the fun aspect of the evening was overshadowed by the commercial aspect of selling drinks.

"You mentioned how many guests broke away from the DJ and started leaving early, which reflects a typical reaction when the event becomes too one-sided (in favor of the hotel’s revenue goals, not the guests' enjoyment). The diminishing returns you experienced—where the excitement from the initial socializing and dancing faded because of the invasive sales tactics and lack of a comfortable space to relax—is a key issue with events like these. When the experience shifts too heavily toward commercialization, it can alienate guests. People are aware that they are paying a premium for the experience, and part of that cost is absorbed through high drink prices and other hidden costs. However, the fact that many guests started leaving points to frustration with the lack of balance between socializing and being sold to."

But in the end, chalk it up to experience. This kind of behavior is absolutely typical of the short-sighted approach to fast money, and is analogous to those chasing quick profits in the stock market. These are the type of people that would fixate on the noise, i.e. they get fearful or greedy based on what happens with a one-minute candlestick. In the long term, none of that is going to matter.

It was still a win. I was determined to go to a different event every day for the rest of this trip anyway. The next one proved to be an even bigger win but it took time and persistence to make it happen. There were about 300 people at the event. When it came time to socialize, I noticed about 5 tables at the back of the foyer where the coffee was, and huge queues to access the free coffee. By my estimation, at least half bounced immediately. That left around 150 people and around 2/3 of them were queuing up for the coffees. So we'll estimate that 100 people were in these queues and maybe about 50 people around the room with the majority in small groups where they already knew each other and were not mixing. This was going to be a very tough nut to crack. But my goal was to take the initiative and meet 5 new people with next to no expectations. Just a quick chat and whatever happens happens.

The coffee queues represented the biggest inefficiency of them all. It would consume nearly all of the socializing time and opportunity to stand there and get a coffee and for what purpose really? You could get a coffee anytime and anyhwere in Dubai for just a few dirhams. Chances are the people in the queue would be talking to those they know and it's all just a waste of time to stand there if you aren't part of the group. Instead I noticed several empty water tables and walked around to assess each one. People came up and did the same. I used this as the "in" to joke about why others would spend ages to stand in a coffee queue while the water and biscuits were right here. 3 people were met just doing this, and I tried to remember names.

Next was random walking around the room socializing and I met several more people this way. At the very end I noticed a welcoming group of Africans and we got along great. By this time the coffee queue had gotten shorter and I mentioned I wanted to get one. One of the girls from Uganda offered and said, "Would you like cream and sugar in it?" I said sure why not, thank you. She cut the queue and got one immediately. This was appreciated. We talked some more and I mentioned about the bus ride and the part of the city where the park was that they sold African food. They said, "Would you like to come with us and check it out? We're heading there on the metro." I said sure why not. What I didn't know was there was a free shuttle bus directly from the hotel to the metro station.

I said, "I'm glad I met you guys because otherwise I would have no idea about this shuttle bus. I took a taxi here directly."

They asked, "How much did that set you back?" I told them 70 dirhams

They said, "That's ridiculous. Next time this is what you do, you get off at this metro station and you will see the bus right outside Exit 1 that leads you to this hotel."

This was proving to be exactly the kind of advice and information I was looking for on this trip. In short, fuck the tourist thing. All that would do is drain your money on superficial experiences. To some extent this had already happened at the social event last night but it was more than made up for by meeting all sorts of interesting people from around the world. The typical tourist thing wouldn't even offer that. There might only be one worthwhile thing to do which is the top of Burj Khalifa (highest building in the world) but I had already checked that box on the last trip. What I really wanted was to see how normal people went about their day in this city and to get somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of the place. Call it field research. This African park would be much more interesting than a boat trip or whatever.

So at the park, we walked around and they showed me what really goes on. They explained, "See all those goes on the push scooters? They are doing illegal money exchange." Sure enough, I saw several transactions take place that would have otherwise been missed. They also said, "Police will come and do raids frequently. Immigration will deport our brothers without asking any questions or even checking ID. And you thought Trump was the only one who did this."

I said, "No, you're right. He is only part of this global trend. I could probably think of a dozen countries that do this. Thailand is an example where I just came from. They also do frequent deportations and it's usually the ones from Pakistan who are most affected. I would like to say that Canada would never do this but who am I kidding."

The changed the subject and said, "Would you like to try some delicious Kenyan food? Only 10 dirhams. Let's go and talk to our sisters over there." We introduced ourselves and yes, sure, I was the only white guy in the park and getting a lot of interested looks. One of the girls said, "You from Canada? I want to go to America. I wanna be a black American." I had no idea what to say to that. The dream for many Africans is in fact to be African Americans. The brothers and sisters in America are afforded a higher status than those living abroad (including Dubai) as they had "made it". What I couldn't and wouldn't tell them is that the American Dream is a lie, it is the biggest marketing experiment on earth. They would be in for unparalleled racism and other sub-human experiences that were perpetuated by white privilege that even I myself felt responsible for.

So instead we joked a bit more and then all of a sudden, these delicious dishes of ground nuts and healthy rice appeared. It was amazing! I said, "This is my first time trying Kenyan food and it is so healthy. I love this! As someone who goes to the gym every day and wants to eat healthy, this is a meal that could totally work." They appreciated that and said, "Welcome to our country! And eat more too. You're not fat, why do you want to lose weight and go to the gym excessively?" The answer to that question would take too long. This was a really positive experience. We relaxed a bit more in the park, they needed to go after that and I then walked around for a bit in the area. Part of that ended up discovering an absolutely packed shopping mall where mainly the Africans, Indians, and Pakistanis were buying stuff. The prices were at incredible discounts too. I couldn't help but wonder: was this stolen property at some point? Who really knows, but I got a huge bag full of stuff for only 90 dirhams.

Then it was time to head back on the metro which was another sardine can.

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