Golden Tulip Hotels and Resorts is bullish about 2012 as this year will see the opening of several new properties across the Middle East.
Amine Moukarzel, senior vice president and managing director for Golden Tulip, says: “The budget hotel sector will remain a key factor for our future growth. Our focus will also be on assets and brand conversion as it provides faster growth.”
Looking back, Moukarzel says that 2011 was definitely a testing time for the hospitality industry with the Arab Spring and political unrest sweeping across the region. “We were definitely affected in countries that were hit by hostilities but the recovery was fast in the second half of the year,” he points out.
This also meant that operating costs rose in some countries while earnings rose in others, he adds.
During this period of instability and violence, one of Golden Tulip’s biggest challenges was ensuring the safety of its staff and its guests, in addition to the logistics involved in running the business in the face of all the unrest and riots, from Tunis to Egypt to Bahrain.
However, thanks to its expertise in crisis and safety management, Golden Tulip initiated a programme of action under which it monitored the situation carefully while reducing the operating costs of the affected hotels in order to maintain their profitability for their owners and ensure that no staff were made redundant, he says.
Across the group, occupancies and rates were under pressure, but Golden Tulip posted strong recoveries in the summer, he says.
In countries where RevPar rates were negatively impacted, efforts were made to redress the situation by offering better packages, amenities and freebies to recoup some of the losses.
Moukarzel says that Golden Tulip will continue to focus on expansion and growth as a strong brand by further building on customer relationships and networking, while striving to be and employer of choice.
“Our expectations are high and we remain positive that 2012 will see an improvement over the previous year,” he concludes.
Golden Tulip Hotels & Resorts is on schedule for several new hotels this year. These include the Golden Tulip Mahdia Palace Resort & Thalasso in Tunisia with 452 rooms, the Golden Tulip Galleria Hotel in Lebanon with 176 rooms, Tulip Inn Al Qusais in the UAE, Golden Tulip Al Jubail, Golden Tulip Dar Al Khalil Makkah and the Golden Tulip Suites Dammam in Saudi Arabia, the Tulip Inn Bahrain, Tulip Inn Bahrain Residences and Golden Tulip Jiyeh Marina & Spa in Lebanon.
“Our aim is to be in every capital and every city in the Arab world reaching 100 hotels in the next three to five years under Golden Tulip, Tulip Inn and Royal Tulip brands as well as to open 50 Campanile and Premiere Classé properties in the next three to five years,” says Moukarzel.