The greatest growth for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has been in inter-regional demand, according to DAVID CROWL, vice president sales and marketing Europe, Middle East, Africa, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
“So, as our RevPar rose predominantly from regional demand, we have also had quite an increase in business from Europe, North America especially in our property in Cairo.”
Last year was the most successful year for the brand since its entry into the Middle East, the first hotel opening in Cairo in 2000.
“We now have two hotels in Cairo, one in Alexandria and Sharm El Sheikh. We also have a hotel in Damascus, Amman, Riyadh and Doha. All these hotels have had a remarkable year. I think the brand is really gaining traction in the region,” he said.
He admitted the group had “had a few bumps in the road in 2008. The GCC market that traditionally visited Cairo, this summer chose to visit new destinations, and so our hotels in cities like Istanbul, Paris, Beverly Hills and Geneva saw quite an increase in demand from the region, and also in places in Asia like Langkawi and Maldives,” said Crowl.
“At the end of this year we will show quite a dramatic growth and we have exceeded our targets. We are without a doubt the RevPar leader wherever we operate.”
This year the brand hopes to open a hotel in Beirut. Construction work had stopped because of the situation in the country but has now restarted.
“In the pipeline we will see properties in Bahrain, Kuwait a second hotel in Doha as well as one in Dubai. The commitment that the company has to this part of the world is strategically important to the brand.”
He felt that Four Seasons was bringing a new philosophy to the Middle East region. “We are striving to bring in international standards and we are in many ways the first hotel provider to do that, especially in markets like Damascus or Amman.”
“We have a global strategy of consistent quality in service driven by consistent culture, values and ethics and the Middle East is part of it.”
Four Seasons is also building a hotel in Marrakech, and would like to be in every strategic urban environment in the Middle East.
“We are seeing an increase of guests from the Gulf in a lot of our hotels because of the developments in the Middle East. Our demographics hasn’t really changed, the average guest age is about 40, so there is a constant flow of new guests from new markets,” said Crowl.
Globally, the new Four Seasons openings for 2008 were in Istanbul at the Bosphorus, the resort in Bora Bora, Mauritius, Macao, St Louis and Seattle. This year the Four Seasons Hotel Shanghai at Pudong, Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou and Four Seasons Resort Seychelles are opening.