The award-winning Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, currently operating four luxury properties in three Arabian countries, is further committing to the Middle East with confirmation of five more hotels.
The new properties, including a second hotel in Cairo, will be completed over the coming three years.
The company opened its first property in the Middle East, the 269-room Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at The First Residence a little over three years ago and further underlined its confidence in Egypt when Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh opened in 2002.
The second Cairo property, Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza, with exquisite river views, has a projected opening date of late 2004.
The new 374 -room hotel will boast one of the city’s largest ballrooms, a number of specialty restaurants and an exclusive nightclub.
Its positioning on Corniche El Nil Street in the heart of Garden City ensures a prestigious business address for short and long stay guests.
Four Seasons is also planning to open in Alexandria. The 120-room hotel, within a multi-component project under construction on the site of the former San Stefano Hotel on Shari El Comiche, will offer spectacular views over the Mediterranean.
The Canadian-based luxury hotel group’s present property portfolio also includes Four Seasons Hotel Amman, which opened in December 2002 and Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh which opened in February this year in the city’s Kingdom Centre complex.
“Our strategic move into the Middle East came at the end of exhaustive research,” said Antoine Corinthios, president, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
“We studied the market and identified a gap for the type of personalised, high-end properties that Four Seasons operates.
“Middle Eastern residents continue to travel extensively for business and leisure throughout the region and the more discerning traveller is demanding luxury coupled with locations which are just that little bit different,” Corinthios added.
Four Seasons Hotel Doha, which is due to open in late 2004 in the prestigious West Bay Development, heralds the second Gulf-based property for the group.
Other properties in Beirut and Damascus, in the early stages of construction, illustrate Four Seasons long-term strategy of commitment and growth in the region.
“The Middle East is an increasingly important market for us and our brand is fast gaining recognition with local travellers,” said Corinthios.
“Listening to our guests we realise they are travelling frequently between the leading business cities in the region - Cairo, Riyadh and Amman for example - and wherever they go, they want to experience the same luxurious levels of service, comfort and amenities which we provide,” Corinthios said.