AL HOKAIR Group is one the biggest hospitality and entertainment groups in Saudi Arabia and with more than 35 hotels operating in the kingdom as well as Dubai, Jordan and Tunisia, the group also operates Mena Hotels & Resorts.
Its portfolio includes more than 50 amusement and theme parks and a number of international restaurant franchises in the Middle East.
And executive vice president Sami Al-Hokair is looking to grow the group’s hospitality arm with the expansion of Mena Hotels & Resorts by undertaking more management contracts for hotel apartments and serviced residences across the GCC. “Today, we have about 7,000 rooms in the pipeline and expect to take this number to more than 10,000 rooms by 2014. Most of the new properties will open in Dubai, Jordan, Al Aqaba and a large number in Saudi Arabia, which remains our key market,” he said.
“We will continue to work in partnership with hotel brands like Golden Tulip, Novotel and Hilton Garden Inn, but the focus for Al Hokair Group has moved to developing Mena Hotels & Resorts, our hotel management company which was established in 2008. The first Mena hotel to open in Saudi Arabia was the Mena Hotel Riyadh.
“Mena Hotels & Resorts also took over the management of the five-star Mena Grand Khalidiya, Riyadh. The Mena Suites Olaya, Riyadh, is scheduled to open by November 2011, Mena Hotel Muscat, Oman, and our suite property, Mena Suites Hotel – Al Khobar, are due to open in the summer of 2012, with more locations including Abu Dhabi, Lebanon and Jordan.”
The Al Hokair Group’s founder and chairman, Sheikh Abdulmohsen Al-Hokair, was one of the earliest investors in the entertainment business in Saudi Arabia, with the company’s roots stretching back to 1965.
Now the group has projects in development amounting to an investment of more than SR300 million($79 million).
“Our long term vision is to grow the Mena Hotels & Resorts division in Saudi Arabia, a market that is seeing immense growth in the hospitality sector today. Mena is a local, regional brand and if you look at the success stories of other regional brands in the area, we aspire to take Mena Hotels & Resorts to such heights. There are lots of serviced residences in Saudi Arabia that are managed individually – this is a market we want to develop. This will be our niche,” says Al-Hokair.
Mena Hotels & Resorts encompasses three brands: Mena Grand, Mena Suites and Bayti Suites.