Burak Baykan: The Best Investment Is the Destination

Many yachtsmen know Burak Baykan, who is responsible for Dogus Group for all the activities in our region, now for more than fifteen years. He was staying behind significant D-Marin development in Croatia and lives here since then. We asked him about his activities of today: ‘Besides hospitality, we have also some activities related with a construction company that is creating infrastructure projects in the region, not only in Croatia, but also in Serbia, in Macedonia, even in Albania, which are related with European funds. We have an office building in Zagreb, where our office is also located. The biggest luxury hospitality thing for now is still Hyatt Regency Zadar. After the season, we will start to build the residences project at the back of the hotel, which is also owned by us. This first step might be followed by another, branded residential project, it is also near the hotel’.

YOU HAD A VISION MORE THAN 15 YEARS AGO TO START INVESTING IN LUXURY HOSPITALITY AND HOW THE CROATIA WOULD DEVELOP? 
The first investment was not a big one, in Šibenik, because we entered as a minority shareholder together with the American and Croatian company. Then during these visits, we have realized two, three things about Croatian tourism. One of them is that you have an amazingly nice country, nice coast, food, gastronomy, it’s safe... But the facility level and the variety of facility in hospitality was missing. At that time, people were mostly saying the Croatian level attracts specific kind of tourism, which is much related to mass. But our vision and our thoughts about Croatia were different, as the profile of the tourist was very much related with what the destination was offering. If you provide higher level tourism, then you can attract also higher profile guests. And in all of our projects, it showed that our approach was correct. Hospitality is something that comes as a chain with a destination. It's very, very difficult to have only one or two investors to change the nature of the destination, because you can build the most beautiful hotel, but the question stays, okay when I go there, what I will do in that destination? So, our Šibenik showed, first of all, with the marina, then with the hotel, an increase in the profile and the level of visitors spendings in all of our facilities.

NOW HYATT REGENCY IS A CROWN JEWEL OF YOUR HOSPITALITY OFFER?
Hyatt Regency Zadar was a combination of our many, many experiences in Croatia. Myself and most of my team members, we live in Croatia. So, all of our team is very much aware of what is missing, because we are trying to develop projects that we would also like to have in Croatia, where we live. Definitely, another very, very big plus is, through the experience of the Group and our chairman, I have had a lot of chance to visit many high-level destinations, I have been at all the upscale destinations of Europe. We started to combine what is missing that can make sense in Croatia. For example, even when you look at the cafes and bars that we developed in our ex-marinas, they are also answering to some needs that we have seen. We collaborated with Hyatt International very much, and we have given them a lot of feedback during design and planning the facilities in the hotel. Now you can see the success with the restaurants in the hotel, the menu in the hotel, the success of the cafe, the size of the pool... Everything fit in terms of size and style. Another thing, we choose Hyatt because of their recognition and as a way of attracting more international attention. In hospitality, brands are very important, and Hyatt gave another value to the whole mix. Our regional experience of 16 years is combined in Hyatt Regency Zadar, and I think it is the main reason of the success.

AT THE TIME, YOU HAVE BEEN DOING PROMOTION OF THE MARINE BUSINESS THROUGH SAILING SPORTS. WHY?
This was a combination of a lot of experience. First of all, I started boating with sailing, during my period when I lived in Šibenik, I was sailing around the islands and I was very much aware of how secure and nice sailing was in Croatia, it is an amazing place for sailing and of course for regattas. Together with our chairman, we were racing in Wally class between 2015 to 2019 and with a mostly Croatian crew. We had amazing sailors, champions in the team and we were very happy. During this period, I had the experience of racing  in places like Palma de Mallorca, Porto Cervo, Saint Tropez and then - I was so jealous. I was jealous that these locations can host many regattas during shoulder season of the summer, bringing entertainment, bringing high-level visitors and also promoting their destinations. With all the perfect natural conditions for sailing, Croatia was out of the sailing calendar for that kind of events. So we made it an ambition to bring that to Croatia and that was also very much related with our marinas business at that time. As you know, we started with Hvar, then we managed to bring TP52 in Šibenik and Zadar. But why did we start with smaller events? Because before the big ones we wanted to show that in Croatia we can deal with such an organization. And then what happened, we managed to host the ORC World Championship in Šibenik, which came to us. All of these boat owners and many, many international sailors with America Cup experience, make the network of sailing and we managed to make them ambassadors of Croatian sailing. Their one-to-one positive reference for Croatia would really help the country to develop more in that area.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO YOU SAW THAT CROATIA WILL HAVE ITS PLACE IN THE LUXURY SEGMENT OF THE INDUSTRY. WHAT DO YOU SEE FOR THE FUTURE? 
Let me put it this way: we believe that Croatia can also do good in luxury. It has all the reasons to do it, because you know how much they are investing to create nature in the Middle East, to create destinations. And Croatia has it naturally. Also, in the existing global environment, safety became a very important issue and Croatia is one of the leading, if it is not the best, in terms of that. And after that, we need a lot of entertainment and other facilities to keep people here longer and to make them come more and more again. When we look at the developed, famous worldwide destinations, people go there many times during their life. There are many restaurants, many entertainment events, different environments, different beaches. So what we have seen in Croatia, especially personally, when you stay in a region three, four days maximum, you experience everything. The offering of hospitality in terms of restaurants, entertainment, bars, events is still very limited. I always emphasize this and I will further emphasize that, for a spender the alternatives on the Croatian coastline and in resort destinations are very limited. I'm not talking about only branded beaches, but service on the spot, one that has proper infrastructure, proper services, showering, changing rooms, some nice restaurants or café… These kinds of things are missing. Many years ago, the question was, where you go for your holidays? Now, it is more what you do in your holiday. Today people are willing to show that they are having fun in nice locations, often branded locations. We need more concept facilities in terms of restaurants, bars and other. We need more entertainment. We would like to see more and more upscale development in the region.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF LIVING IN CROATIA?
I would not give a political answer, but I would really give a fair one. I think I live a really ideal Croatian life that is a combination of the coast with an office in Zagreb and that mix is what I find perfect.