Now the hospitality industry can bag an award before opening for business, with the launch of the 2007 Development Awards at this year’s Arabian Hotel Investment Conference (AHIC).
Accordingly to AHIC spokesperson Jonathan Worsley, the initiative is the result of a 50-strong advisory panel call to acknowledge cutting-edge innovation in the region’s burgeoning hospitality sector. “With more than 41 new hotels expected to open in Dubai alone in the next 36 months, let alone the vast, often-pioneering leisure projects, we felt that the spotlight should fall on the region’s best-of-breed and so the Development Award was conceived,” he said.
The awards are in two categories, Best New Hotel Development and Innovation Award, and will be presented at a lunchtime event on the second day of the conference. sessions, April 30.
Worsley said that nominations for the Best New Hotel Development Award and the Innovation Award will be short listed to the top three in each category by a judging panel comprising of some of the hospitality industry’s leading minds. The winner will be voted for by the advisory board and sponsors of AHIC.
“Criteria is based on participants investment, scale of the project, use of new and emerging building concepts, alternative construction methods and sustainable and innovative design among others,” he said.
“With these awards, we hope to encourage and applaud projects that are trying to stay at the top of the game in making Arabia a leading business and leisure destination.
For the third year running, AHIC is being held under the patronage of Emirates’ chairman and president of Dubai Civil Aviation, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.