THE Rezidor Hotel Group will, between now and June 2009, see seven new hotels emerging in various cities in the MENA region according to Craig Senior, regional director for sales and marketing, Middle East. Properties will open in Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth in South Africa; the company will debut its Park Inn in the Middle East in Muscat, Oman in February followed by another Park Inn in Saudi Arabia in Al Jaber in March, and it will also introduce its Missoni brand to Kuwait around May next year.
The group will continue to strengthen its UAE portfolio with the launch of two new hotels in the DMCC Business Park. The dual Rezidor property, which will open in the third quarter 2011, will encompass the 150 room Radisson DMCC Business Park Hotel, Dubai and a second yet unbranded 300 room hotel in a 32 storey complex located at the centre of the development.
“Currently representing 11 per cent of the group’s portfolio of operational hotels, the Middle East share will grow to 17 per cent by the end of 2009,” said Senior.
With the seven properties opening in 2009, the company will be adding about 2,000 rooms to its total room inventory.
“Our properties in Dubai have witnessed very strong occupancies this year. The summer and Ramadan periods were quieter than usual. However our year end targets are on schedule. We are currently at 95 per cent occupancies in Dubai, and Egypt has seen equally positive occupancies at 90 per cent,” he said.
He said that 26 per cent of all Rezidor hotels operate under the Park Inn brand which serves the mid-market segment and debuts in the Middle East after opening over 100 hotels in Europe.
“The brand is key to the region, especially with the growing MICE market and will work favourably near exhibition centres. Unlike in Europe, the UAE will have purpose built Park Inn properties.”
The Hotel Missoni Kuwait offering 200 guest rooms will be a luxury lifestyle hotel and the first of several properties of a joint venture between the fashion icons, Missoni and The Rezidor Hotel Group. “The hotel will target the business travellers from all key feeder markets in Europe, who are well aware of the ‘Missoni’ brand.”
“We believe this market segment with Missoni can truly develop something luxurious. It’s a very unique brand, and as a new concept for the company and with this new relationship, we will develop a brand that is stylish, intimate, contemporary and eclectic design. The opening will be followed by a second property in Edinburgh, Scotland in the second quarter of 2009.
“We certainly see great success for the Missoni brand in the Middle East. The company’s growth plans, however include other fashion capitals like London, Copenhagen, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Milan, Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Istanbul and Dubai.”
Rezidor introduced a responsible business programme in 2001, to which all properties in the Middle East have adhered, according to Senior. For example, the Radisson SAS, El Quseir in Egypt uses solar powered cars for transport guests, the Radisson SAS Riyadh has paper recycling projects, the Radisson SAS Hotel in Kuwait has organised a series of activities for the local community and the Radisson SAS Resort Sharjah has introduced a programme to convert garbage into compost to fertilise the hotel’s garden.
by Shalu Chandran