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May 5 - Hilton Worldwide has announced that it will have 21 new properties opening across Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by 2014, out of which four will be in the UAE. In this regard, Hilton’s upscale Doubletree hotel will be introduced at the end of this year, with the first one being in Ras Al Khaimah, said Andrew J Clough, Senior Vice-President Development, Middle East & Asia-Pacific. He also said that…
May 4 - Occupancy rates for Armani Hotel in Dubai will be about 60 per cent this year, said Marc Dardenne, Chief Executive Officer, Emaar Hospitality Group and Emaar Hotels & Resorts.“Until now we have been running over 50 per cent occupancy, which is mostly from the GCC and the local market primarily. The international market has not started to come in yet as we have just started our booking engine," he said on…
May 4 - Marriott Lodging International will introduce 40 new properties in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by 2014, said the company’s president and managing director, Ed Fuller. According to Fuller, the Middle East, particularly the GCC, has not been affected as such by the global economic crisis, thus making it profitable to expand into the region. "In the Middle East, we have about 21 hotels opened and…
May 4 - Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH) has announced that it will introduce 17 new hotels this year in the Middle Eastern market, many of which will be unveiled at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) that will begin today at the Dubai Expo Convention Centre. "This is a landmark year for our group with a hotel opening practically every three weeks across our four brands and ATM is the perfect platform to…
May 4 - Rotana Hotels and Resorts has announced that it will expand operations into India, Pakistan, Iran and Central Europe by 2015. Talking to journalists about the company’s expansion plans, the President and Chief Executive, Selim El Zyr, said that this will take the group’s portfolio to 100 hotels. At the moment, the group has 70 hotels in the pipeline out of which 30 will be located in the UAE. "We…
May 4 - Action Hotels Group is planning to add 10 new hotels in the Middle East, three of which are under construction and seven more in pipeline, said Chairman Sheikh Mubarak Abdullah Al Mubarak Al Sabah during the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference on Sunday. This will bring the number of hotels owned by the group to 25. "Action has five properties in the region, with one in Australia. As we are a…
May 4 - The InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) is looking into bringing its boutique hotel brand, Hotel Indigo, to the Middle East market, said Kirk Kinsell, IHG President of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). "For the time being, we have looked at a few opportunities in the Middle East. We would not rule out bringing Hotel Indigo to the Middle East,” he added talking about launching new brands in the…
May 4 - Accor Hospitality Group is planning to open 17 more hotels in the Middle East by 2012, thus bringing the total number of hotels owned by the group to 50, said Chief Operating Officer, MEA, Indian Ocean and Caribbean Islands, Charlie Langlais. "We have 17 hotels in active pipeline, a dozen of which will be developed in the UAE. Over the next few years, we estimate nearly 15 per cent of Accor's global…
May 4 - Millennium and Copthorne Middle East Holdings will open six new hotels this year out of which three will be in the UAE and the rest will be in Oman, Makkah and Aden, said Ali Hamad Lakhraim, President and Chief Executive of the company. This is despite the fact that occupancy rates in the hotels of his group went down to 70 per cent in Abu Dhabi and 65 per cent in the rest of UAE. "The feature of the…
May 3 - Tourism in Sharjah is expected to grow by five per cent this year after 9 percent growth in the second half of 2009, said Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmad Al Qassimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA). Al Qassimi, addressing the gathering at the Sharjah Tourism Excellence Awards 2009, stated "Contrary to statistics issued by the World Tourism Organisation which estimated a…
May 2- There are more than $140 billion worth of hotel projects under construction in Gulf Arab countries and only 19 percent of these projects have been suspended or cancelled because of the global slowdown, a recent survey said. Hotel development projects in Dubai have slowed and become more grounded, a topic likely to be discussed at this year’s Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (Ahic) which started…
May 2 - The Ritz Carlton hotel in Dubai, which is scheduled to open at Dubai International Financial Center this month, has attracted at least seven bids. The hotel’s developer, Union Properties, is trying to unload hospitality assets in order to raise cash, as it recovers from losses caused by declining property values and lower sales, which last year reached Dh498 million (US $135.5m). Khalid bin Kalban,…
May 2 - More hotel owners are trying to increase capital through an outright or partial sale of property or through joint ventures and combination of additional supply, according to a study by Jones Lang LaSalle released yesterday. The study said that there has been construction of a large number of hotel and hospitality related developments despite the fact that the global economic downturn caused may projects…
May 1- Russelior, Tunisia’s first eco-friendly hotel was launched on Tuesday at the Yasmine Hammamet. The hotel has beene specially designed for those tourists who prefer eco-friendly destinations. All items within the hotel room such as blankets and carpets are made out of biological materials and the hotel promises to deliver high-quality services to its clients. The Minister of Tourism, Slim Tlati, spoke…
April 30 - Samaya Hotels and Resorts is participating in the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) slated to take place from May 4 to May 7 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. This will be the third consecutive year that Samaya is participating in the show. The group has a five-star hotel located in Deira and hotel apartments along the Dubai-Sharjah highway. "ATM is a very important event for us…
Pearl Investment, one of the largest investment groups in Dubai, announced on Wednesday that it plans to open 10 hotels in GCC countries and India this year, an investment of Dh500 million in the next five years. Some of the GCC states where the group is planning to venture forth include Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah while the group's Flora Hotel in Kochi will open in December. According to the details, the…
Dukes Hotel, a five-star hotel in London’s St James area (and owned by a Dubai group Seven Tides), is targeting Middle Eastern business women as well as leisure guests by introducing adies-only Duchess Rooms. “We have always appealed to guests from the GCC, whether business or leisure, but we believe that our new rooms will particularly impress ladies from the Middle East looking for discretion and privacy,” said…
Jumeirah Group, the company responsible for the operations of the Burj Al Arab Hotel, has announced the launch of its new hotel brand, Venu Hotels. The decision has been made after considering the healthy numbers for average room rates from Feb-April 2010. "Coupled with the robust performance of our business hotels in London and New York this gives us renewed confidence in rolling out our growth strategy and in…
