WITH plans to open eight new properties across the Middle East and Africa in the next 12 months, Rotana is certain that the hospitality industry in the region has overcome the worst. The company will add some new destinations to its portfolio of hotels including Bahrain, Oman and Jordan.
Speaking to TTN at last month’s World Travel Market, Omer Kaddouri, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Rotana Hotels said: “Nothing has changed on our expansion plans. We will see eight new properties opening in the next 12 months, that keeps us on our target to reach 11,000 rooms by next year, a 10 per cent increase, which is a fantastic growth for us.”
The eight properties include the Majestic Arjaan by Rotana in Bahrain, the Salalah Rotana Resort & Spa in Oman, the Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana in Amman, Jordan, City Centre Rotana, their second property in Doha, the Capital Centre Rotana in Abu Dhabi, the Al Ghurair Rayhaan by Rotana and Al Ghurair Arjaan by Rotana in Dubai, UAE.
Besides the development of these new properties, the brand is looking to boost its properties in Egypt as the country’s tourism industry slowly picks up following its political revolution.
Kaddouri says: “Egypt has been through turmoil since the beginning of this year and things have been looking pretty grim, however we are beginning to see some changes. Our hotels are in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada which was not largely affected. Since August, occupancies have seen much improvement; however rates are still behind, in some cases up to 40 per cent behind.”
Airlines from the UK and the traditional European feeder markets to Sharm and Hurghada have increased their flights as of November and Rotana Resorts are already gearing up to welcome guests.
“Visitors willing to return to Egypt is a good indication and this continues to be our key message as well. Rates is something we can build moving forward, but only when the tourists continue to return to the country,” he added.
“Our four-star hotels are performing stronger than the five-star properties, and that is again based on rates. So we can see that guests are willing to return, but are hesitant to spend.”
Looking ahead, Khaddouri aims to popularise the brand outside the Middle East. “However it needs to be a managed growth. We are constantly talking to people in India, Africa, Europe as well as for more hotels in the UAE. We would like to see the growth more in the immediate neighbourhood in markets like South of Europe, Turkey, and India,” he says.
In line with this, Rotana has opened three new sales offices in China, India and Russia, bring the number of international sales offices to 12 including those in the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (Jeddah), Lebanon, Sudan, the UK and Germany.
Kaddouri adds: “China, India and Russia are key feeder markets for Rotana and it is important for us to grow the Rotana brand and stature in these respective markets. The objective is to increase our market share, whether business or leisure outbound travellers, to all Rotana properties.”
Within the UAE, Khaddouri says that he is extremely confident of retaining Rotana’s market share despite the a number of new hotels opening doors. “Abu Dhabi is experiencing a surge in five-star properties but Rotana, not all our properties are five-star properties and this is not the only segment we cater to, so they will not affect us directly. We feel that these properties will enter the market at higher room rates, thus creating a niche for them. Keeping that in mind, we have budgeted ourselves for 2012.”
“When we started out we never anticipated to be operating 43 hotels with another 70 in the pipeline. Abu Dhabi 2030 is a vision with plans to develop across all industries and thereby increase arrivals into the emirate. So, the growth of Abu Dhabi is part of this long-term process,” concludes Khaddouri.