LEADING Family Hotels and Resorts in collaboration with new hotel management company First & Foremost Hotels will launch its first family resort concept In Dubai.
The brand will bring a new breed of exclusive and all-inclusive holiday packages to the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
This will be the company’s first hotel outside Europe on a beach location, which is the perfect alternative to its current properties which are built around ski resorts, golf destinations and thermal springs.
First &Foremost, an initiative founded by Michael Scully, managing director of hospitality at Dubai-based holding company Seven Tides, will assemble a portfolio of luxury resorts and hotels, budget hotels and hotel apartments in some of the region’s key holiday spots, beginning with Dubai.
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Leading Family Hotels welcomes beach locations |
“We looked into the market to see where there is a gap and found that the region did not have any fully-inclusive family-integrated resorts. We also looked at the demographics of the Middle East, where there is a large number of travellers with young families but no affordable, fully-inclusive family-oriented product.” said Scully.
Currently, Leading Family Hotels and Resorts has 55 fully-inclusive properties in Europe, including 51 Kinderhotels, and four four and five-star own-branded resorts.
“These properties operate at 92 per cent occupancies and give owners three times the return per room of any competitor hotel,” said Scully.
“These guests are keen on the region as a holiday destination and we are confident of attracting a new breed of tourists to Dubai, thus helping the local economy, while offering very favourable returns for hotel owners.”
The company is currently looking at suitable properties to manage with the aim of signing 12 deals within five years. It plans to have a property in every emirate, and a further five throughout the GCC.
“We have already spoken to a number of investors and the feedback we have received is very positive, thus we hope to make an announcement in the near future about our first property in the Middle East,” added Scully.
“Our main source market will be Europe from where we want to see more tourists come into the UAE and the Middle East who traditionally did not come here for the lack of family-inclusive hotels, after that we want to develop more fully-inclusive family hotels for the GCC market.”
With comfort for the kids being a key factor, the children’s areas will be specially designed with activities available for kids from birth to 16. From crèche facilities to toddlers programmes, indoor water parks, theatres and acting programmes for youngsters, vegetable patches and farms – the resorts will be fully equipped to keep kids of all age groups occupied and entertained.
The company plans to register and comply with Estidama, an initiative developed by the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council to promote sustainable development, management and operation. All properties under the management of First & Foremost will adhere to Estidama’s Pearl Rating System, a framework encompassing sustainable design, construction and operation of communities and buildings and also supporting the social and cultural traditions of the emirate.