EVEN as Rosewood Hotels & Resorts readies to open its third property in Saudi Arabia, Corniche, A Rosewood Hotel Jeddah, the company is actively looking for suitable opportunities to expand the brand within the Middle East, says managing director Gert Kopera.
“As a company, we are committed to expansion in this region. The Middle East is an extremely important market to Rosewood and the performance of our properties in Saudi Arabia over the past five years combined with the economic growth gives us nothing but confidence that more Rosewood properties would deliver similar success stories,” he says.
The group has opened a new sales office in Dubai, which has contributed to bookings. “The response has been excellent, even better than we imagined. By having a dedicated sales force based in Dubai covering the geographic territory of UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman we have been able to develop a much stronger relationship with our existing Rosewood customer in the region whilst developing new business opportunities for all our properties,” says Kopera. While the Saudi hotels continue to be the strongest destinations out of the Gulf, the office has also received a significant amount of bookings into other properties, including The Carlyle in New York, Las Ventanas al Paraiso Los Cabos in Mexico, Jumby Bay in Antigua and in Tokyo, the Hotel Seiyo Ginza, Tokyo.
Corniche
The group’s newest property in Saudi Arabia, Corniche, A Rosewood Hotel Jeddah, is set to open this September. Owned by Danat Al Corniche, the hotel is the third Rosewood-managed property in the Kingdom after the Al Faisaliah Hotel and its sister property, Hotel Al Khozama, both located in the capital city of Riyadh.
”We strive to be more than a hotel – like all Rosewood properties around the world, we offer our patrons a ‘home’ where the flawless delivery of the only true luxury in life – service with a smile – is the firm ideology! Regular patrons of the hotel will even have their own key, eliminating the need to go through any formality other than booking via phone or SMS,” he says.
At Corniche, the group will target business from both the business and leisure markets, predominantly the GCC, and in particular the UAE. The group will also seek to draw guests from the domestic Saudi market.
Corniche is a luxury hotel that is ideally situated on the Jeddah Corniche and provides luxurious accommodations with dramatic views across both the Red Sea and the city. Each of the hotel's spacious 101 guestrooms and 26 suites are elegantly furnished with handmade imported furniture and feature a wide range of technologically advanced amenities. Guest rooms are outfitted with DVD and CD players, high-speed internet access, security video-communication entry, 37-inch plasma TVs, and flat-screen LCD TVs in all guest bathrooms. Wi-Fi access is available across the hotel. Corniche will also features the city's only rooftop health club overlooking the Red Sea.
Corniche boasts six state-of-the-art meeting facilities, all with spectacular sea views. All meeting rooms are adjacent to the hotel's business centre, which offers full-service office support and individual workstations. Audio visual equipment in the meeting rooms features the most modern technology currently available, 37-inch plasma screen projection, DVD audio/video surround sound, electronic white boards and ergonomic furniture.