Katara Plans Extravagant $1.6 Billion Hotel in Qatar

A New York based architectural firm has unveiled plans for a 1000 room stunning hotel rising out of sea and ready for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The Silver Pearl Hotel will be developed by Katara Hospitality and will have more than 1000 rooms. It will be located 1.5 km off the coast of Doha and the project is set to cost $1.6 Billion.

The Hotel has been designed by the Architectural firm M Castedo architects and the unique look of the hotel is meant to showcase the culture of seafaring and pearl diving history.

The design, still pending approval, will envision a building consisting of two 30-story semicircle towers connected by a vaulted climate controlled atrium over the gardens with an ocean view. All rooms will face outwards onto the ocean with the common areas furnished and decorated in the spirit of Arabian Tradition. A conference and exhibition center will be contained adjacent to the main building, while a recreational roof deck will be located above a multi-storey parking facility.

The Silver Pearl Hotel will be one of several “icons” constructed in the country for the upcoming international football tournament. The visitors to the hotel would access the hotel through a four lane elevated causeway, by private yacht or helicopter.

The number of hotels planned and under construction in Qatar is growing rapidly as hospitality operators prepare for the spike in demand driven by the World Cup.

Official figures show the volume of visitors to the Gulf country is also quickly increasing. The country attracted a record 1.5 million guests in the first half of the year, a 7-percent jump.

Qatar’s hospitality industry is currently dominated by high-end, luxury offerings. The country’s hotel room inventory has grown by an average of 13.4 percent annually and reached approximately 13,600 rooms by the middle of the year, according to professional services Deloitte.

Accor Reaches 100 Hotels Milestone In Middle East

Accor Hotel Services Middle East has reached a major milestone of 100 Hotels in the Middle East with 66 operational Hotels and 34 more properties under development across 10 Middle Eastern countries ahead of its schedule of 2015. The Hotel group's regional network covers all segments of the hospitality market including luxury, upscale, mid-scale, economy with a total of approximately 24,500 keys. The Hotel group is one of the largest operators in the Middle East.

To mark the occasion, Accor has launched the ‘100 Unsung Heroes’ initiative to identify and recognize 100 employees from its regional operations who have made a significant contribution to the group’s success.

The 100 employees will each receive a cash prize, and the group will host a ceremony to donate 10,000 to the Red Crescent Society.

Sofitel, The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

Christophe Landais, COO for Accor Hotel Services Middle East, said: “We are delighted to reach our target of 100 hotels in the Middle East. It is a great achievement made possible by the strength of our relationships with our regional partners and the fantastic commitment of our employees. I would like to thank them all for playing an important role in our shared success, and I’m especially proud of the fact that we achieved this major milestone ahead of our scheduled target date of 2015.”

As the regional market leader in economy and midscale segments, Accor is helping to meet the growing demand for 3 stars and 4 star Hotels in the Middle East region. Accor already has a number of properties under the Sofitel, Pullman and McGallery brands in the region and many more under development.

The COO, Christopher Landais, said that “the strategy of expanding aggressively through select development tailored to each market location, in partnership with leading regional investors has delivered outstanding results so far. He also added that “This success has been underpinned by the establishment of the Académie Accor Middle East in 2003, the first training academy of its kind in the region, which ensures the development of skills and advancement opportunities for our employees. Looking ahead, we see exciting opportunities to expand our portfolio of hotels across the region in the years to come."

Melia Hotels To Make Qatar Debut in January

Melia Hotels has signed an agreement with Tanmiyat Real Estate Investment Company to open its first hotel in Qatar. The hotel will be located in Doha, the 280 room five star hotel is set to open in January in West Bay and will be the third property in GCC.

There will be 37 suites ranging from executive to Royal suite, and the hotel will also feature fine dinning international and specialty restaurants, a spa, pool and gym.

The agreement for the hotel was signed this week in Doha in presence of the CEO of Tanmiyat Qatar Rea Estate Investment chairman, His Excellency Dr. Brain Bin Saeed Al Marri, and International Vice President of Melia Hotels Gabriel Escarrer.

Melia already has one operational hotel in Dubai, while a second designed by Zahid Hadid, slated to open in 2016.

Sharjah Tourism Body Launches New Hospitality Criteria System

Sharjah has launched a new hospitality criteria system in a bid to boost the emirate’s hotel services, according to a top government official. 

Blue Souq

The Emirate is one of the fastest growing tourism markets in the world with world class infrastructure and services contributing to the nation’s economy. A number of new hospitality and tourism projects are in the pipeline, adding to the Sharjah’s growing tourism infrastructure of world-class luxury hotels, beach resort and business tourism facilities in the emirate, said HE Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Director General, Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority.

Corniche

The main objective of the system is to enhance the Emirates’ hotel services and have the latest technology. The Sharjah Tourism will also introduce new methods of gathering information from Hotel Guests.

The emirate attracted one million guests during the first six months of this year, up 14 per cent over the same period in 2013.

Al Qasba

The hotel occupancy rate was approx 74 per cent during the first half of this year while the average occupancy during the same period last year was at 70 per cent. Guests stayed for 1,87,416 nights during the first half of this year – of those 110,621 nights were at hotels and 711,206 at hotel apartments. While 1,753,866 room nights were occupied during the same period last year.

In the first half this year, Sharjah welcomed 369,485 visitors from GCC countries, which currently accounts for 34 per cent of the total hotel guests. Meanwhile visitors from European nations represented 37 percent of the total hotel guests. Visitors from Asia contributed 13% towards Sharjah Tourism market, while visitors from other Arab nations constituted 12 %. The number of international visitors from America, Africa and Asia Pacific contributed 1 per cent each.

Sharjah is aggressively boosting its presence in the UAE hospitality market, with a portfolio of 106 hotels and hotel apartments at present and could see 30 hotels in the next three years, adding 4000 rooms to the existing 10000 rooms.

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GCC Hospitality Industry Set To Reach $35.9 Billion By 2018

The hospitality industry in GCC is forecast to grow from $22.8 billion (Dh83.7 billion) in 2013 to $35.9 billion by 2018 at an annual rater of 9.5 % according to a new report by investment bank, Alpen Capital.

The UAE’s Hospitality industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10 per cent between 2013 and 2018.

Average Hotel occupancy rates in GCC are expected to be between 68 percent and 74 per cent between 2013 and 2018, while the average daily rate (ADR) is likely to be between $225 and $263 during the same period.

The growth of the industry in the region will be fuelled by the shift in global activity from East to West, a rise in leisure travel, higher demand for serviced apartments, a shift towards budget travel and quicker construction pipeline, said Sanjay Bhatia, Managing director of Alpen Capital.

The sector’s growth is also expected to be driven by increase in international tourist arrivals, and a stronger MICE segment among others, said Sameena Ahmad, managing director of Alpen Capital in the Middle East.

According to the report, Saudi Arabia is expected to continue its dominance as the largest market in terms of revenue, followed by the UAE.    

The GCC has made major investments in the airport infrastructure, with Al Maktoum International at Dubai World is undergoing a Dh 117.5 billion which is expected to begin by end of the year. The airport will be able to serve 120 million passengers within six to eight year.

Airports across the region are expected to handle as many as 250 million passengers by 2020, according to Reed Exhibitions, quoting a study.

However, as the GCC countries are set to boost their hotel room capacity in the run up to major events, they also face the challenge of sustaining the demands after the events take place. The region has made major investments in infrastructure for events like World Expo 2020 in Dubai. The six month long Exhibition will be the main driver of the hospitality industry in UAE, which is valued at 23 billion dollars according to the report. However, in Dubai the hotel room supply and demand could be balanced after Expo 2020.

Other challenge faced by the GCC region is competing with newer projects and attracting skilled labor force.

Sanjay Bhatia, also said that, the growth of the sector will be driven by supportive policy initiatives undertaken by GCC governments to enhance infrastructure; there by positively impacting the continued investor appetite for the region and tourism.

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