MARRIOTT International has announced the signing of five hotels for its new Mena region as well as the establishment of a regional headquarters in Dubai.
The hotels are scheduled to open under long-term management contracts over the next 36 months.
They will add 1,126 rooms to Marriott International’s previously announced regional development pipeline of 44 hotels and 10,800 rooms now under construction or in advanced planning.
Mark Satterfield, currently area vice president for the UK South and Ireland, will be chief operations officer for the region based in Dubai.
Opening between now and year-end 2015, the new properties will boost Marriott’s regional presence to more than 70 hotels across six lodging brands totalling nearly 20,000 rooms in 12 countries. The portfolio includes JW Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton hotels in the luxury tier; Marriott Hotels and Resorts and Renaissance Hotel properties in the upscale segment; Courtyard by Marriott in the moderately-priced tier and deluxe Marriott Executive Apartments for extended stay travellers.
The newly announced hotels are:
Marriott’s first hotels in Algeria – the 227-room, upscale Algiers Marriott and the 180-unit Algiers Marriott Executive Apartments. Both are planned to open in 2012 and are owned by Trust Real Estate.
Marriott’s sixth resort on the Red Sea and eighth in Egypt – the 294-room Sahl Hasheesh Marriott Beach Resort, scheduled to be rebranded in 2011, is a conversion from the existing The Old Palace Resort and is owned by Red Sea Hotels Co.
Marriott’s first hotel in Sub-Saharan Africa is the 209-room Accra Marriott in Ghana which is scheduled to open in late 2010, owned by African Hospitality Ltd, and its first hotel in Morocco – the 216-room Marrakech Marriott Palm Golf Hotel which is expected to open in 2012. The hotel is owned between J Partners and Domaine Palm Marrakech.