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Ishraq Hospitality to focus on expanding sustainably

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Alexander Suski

Ishraq Hospitality, a leading hotel management group and a subsidiary of Mohamed & Obaid AlMulla Group, company will amp its portfolio of Holiday Inn Express hotels, which are expected to complete over the next five years.


While the third-party hospitality management company will further expand its hotel portfolio across Egypt, Oman and the UAE with eight hotels in the pipeline, the focus is on sustainability.


Alexander Suski, Acting CEO, Ishraq Hospitality, tells TTN: “We are looking at expanding our portfolio of Holiday Inn Express hotels in Egypt, Oman and UAE, as well as introducing more third party management hotels in Egypt and Oman, where Ishraq Hospitality will provide management services and support.”

 

SUSTAINABILITY PUSH
“Guests expect hotels to make more effort towards sustainability and provide a more lifestyle experience. There are more expectations on how we deal with waste, energy, plastic etc,” Suski tells us.


“We’ve been very conscious in the last years on how we manage our energy as a company and how we manage our footprint when it comes to waste etc, participating in activities like Earth Day or making sure that our buildings consume energy efficiently.”

 

“Millennials generally prefer to spend on lifestyle experiences - food, activities and tourism - rather than on hotels”
– Alexander Suski

For example, at Holiday Inn and Staybridge Dubai Al-Maktoum, 70 per cent of the energy used to produce hot water for the property comes from solar energy and chiller heat recovery system.


“Moreover, we are looking into making it our goal to eliminate plastic from our offering. Currently we are looking into partnering with a local company to eliminate all the plastic bottles from our hotels, which alone represents 1.5 million bottles annually,” says Suski.

 

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS
The resilience of the Holiday Inn Express brand, its recent operating model and its ability to provide a premium yet an accessible hotel experience with seamless modern technology, has driven stronger owner returns and guest satisfaction scores.


In Dubai, the group’s portfolio of hotels manifested its success with over 80 per cent occupancy in 2021 alone and it has increased to over 95 per cent since January 2022.
Holiday Inn Express is one of IHG’s fastest-growing hotel brands with over 3,000 hotels – a first choice for the increasing number of travellers who need a simple, yet engaging place to rest, recharge and conduct business while abroad.



BUDGET BUT LIFESTYLE
Guests today are very well informed when it comes to travel - they know everything before their arrival through the internet and digital influence, Suski says. “Therefore, it is important that hotels match guests’ expectations and adapt to the new normal as we go back to 100 per cent capacity.”


A definite trend is Dubai booming with travellers looking for budget-friendly hotels and resorts. “More than 50 per cent of guests nowadays are millennials and because of how Dubai dealt with Covid-19, Dubai has become a preferred destination for them to visit.


“Millennials generally prefer to spend on lifestyle experiences - food, activities, tourism - rather than on hotels. Therefore, we at Ishraq Hospitality, being experts at managing budgets and midscale brands, understand how important it is to offer guests a friendly and smart budget experience to enjoy the destination. That’s why our plans are focused into expanding the largest budget brand

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