Despite a difficult year in the tourism industry, the 2003 operating results of the Swiss hotel group Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts (MHR) were positive at year-end.
The EBITDA (Earnings before interest and taxes depreciation and amortisation) for the 2003 fiscal year was reported at $6.2 million, and overall turnover increased by 7.4 percent.
The sound and debt-free financial situation – an exception within the hotel industry – will provide the basis for the hotel group’s accelerated growth, following three openings in 2003.
The hotel management company Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts began with the planned re-branding during the course of 2003. Further expansion was achieved and the company will grow by nearly 5,000 new hotel rooms in the near future. Over the past four years, the number of hotel rooms has risen 44 per cent to a total of 9,615. Together with the hotel owners, MHR invested significant amounts in renovation work and expansion of both infrastructure and services.
In 2003 MHR took over the management of hotels in Istanbul (249 rooms), Kuwait (98 rooms) and Dubai (232 rooms). At the same time, lease and management agreements were concluded for five hotels which are scheduled to open in the near future: Dream Castle Hotel at Disneyland Resort Paris (400 rooms); Wasserturm, Hamburg (226 rooms); Jeddah (210 rooms), Al Khobar (156 rooms), Madinah (1155 rooms), all in Saudi Arabia; and Sanaa, Yemen (315 rooms).
Other hotel projects are currently under construction or in development such as Berlin (243 rooms), Rome (314 rooms), Dubai (450 rooms), Taba (432 rooms),
El Alamein (259 rooms), El Obour (250 rooms), Accra (221 rooms) and Ramallah (170 rooms) as well as Tripoli (256 rooms). A new high class hotel with 114 rooms was opened in the Kingdom of Bahrain beginning January 2004.
Those additional 5102 rooms mean that Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts will grow in the near future by almost 53 per cent. Hotel investors appreciate the fine reputation of the leading Swiss hotel management company which builds on the proven qualities of the Swiss hotel business and outstanding competence in the gastronomic field.
Over the next two years MHR will focus on its expansion in Europe while continuing to develop its network in the Middle East and in the Gulf Area.