Ras Al Khaimah Hotel Revenue Up By 47% In Q3

The Tourism chief at Ras Al Khaimah announced recently that the hotel room revenue grew by 47 % in the third quarter of 2014 as the emirate is a popular destination among the tourists.

Last year the 1 million barrier was not broken until November, demonstrating the rocketing tourism growth being experienced by the Emirate, which has 65 kilometers of prime beach coastline.

Steven Rice, the CEO of RAK TDA said that “Our percentage growth in guest nights for the third quarter of 2014 compared to the same period last year was 72%, so extremely impressive.” He also mentioned that “We are also seeing significant increases in the number of people searching for Ras Al Khaimah in Google, in visits to our website, and in the levels of engagement via our social media presence. In addition, hotel room revenue increased in the third quarter of 2014 by 47% compared to last year."

RAK is a very popular emirate among the residents for a getaway during Eid and public holidays. The emirate attracted over 63,870 guest nights during 5 days of Eid Al Adha, domestic UAE travelers accounted for 32%, UK 12%, Russia 12% and Germany 10%.

According to data gathered from Smith Travel Research report, Ras Al Khaimah’s average daily room rate (ADR) was 19% higher than Abu Dhabi, which was supported by new openings on Al Marjan Island and Waldorf Astoria, which was Hilton luxury brands’ first property in the UAE.

Rice also commented on future prospects “Forward bookings are looking strong, interest in the emirate across multiple business sectors is on the rise and overall we expect the positive growth patterns experienced in Ras Al Khaimah to continue."

Earlier this year Ras Al Khaimah said it was launching a new tourism branding, pitching the emirate as a “world class leisure destination” and retreat from the urban cities such as Dubai. RAK TDA is considering building a mountain village and establishing mountain climbing and zip lining to attract tourists and to add to the list of activities.

Photo credit: deluxblog.it

Booking.com, Hilton, Emirates and Etihad - World’s Most In-demand Employers: LinkedIn

LinkedIn recently announced the 100 most attractive employers its members would like to work for, and a few renowned companies from the Hospitality business, online Travel & Tourism, and Aviation industry made it to this list.

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, announced the rankings at its 2014 Talent Connect conference held recently in San Francisco. Booking.com was ranked as the 68th most in-demand employer among other notable companies, including Google, Apple and Unilever.

The companies on the list represent 17 countries, 59 cities and 33 industries. While the top 3 represented industries on this list were Tech, Telecom and Media, Retail & Consumer Products, and Oil & Energy.

Among the Travel and Tourism industries that make the top 100 list are booking.com (68^th), Airbnb (60^th) and Expedia (65^th).

Booking.com was one of the top tech disruptors to enter the attractive employers list as they were not featured in the 2013 list. Booking.com is owned by Priceline and the parent company (Priceline) has acknowledged that retaining Booking.com’s motivated and capable management allowing the brand to operate independently and offering Booking.com’s breadth of hotel supply have contributed to its phenomenal growth. The tech developers at booking.com make decisions based on real time data by analyzing the behavioral patterns of consumers and by using these search results they tailor their offering to the consumers. Employees at booking.com work hard and play harder. The work environment at booking.com is friendly, supportive and casual. They have a dynamic task force that contributes towards their success which makes it a very popular employer in the online travel and tourism category. 

Among the hospitality business, Hilton Worldwide came in 55th place, while Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts came in close behind in 59th place.

The UAE’s two major airlines, Emirates (52) and Etihad (82), also made it to the Linkedin rankings.

The ranking is based on the analysis over 35 billion interactions between companies and members on LinkedIn. The way companies are ranked boils down to LinkedIn member awareness of a company (e.g. how many people have viewed an employees’ profiles within the past year) and engagement on LinkedIn (e.g., how many members have followed a company’s Company or Career Page within the past year). Higher talent brand awareness and engagement among members on LinkedIn equal a more effective talent brand and a higher InDemand ranking.

637 Hotels Under Contract in MENA

The Middle East and Africa has 637 hotels under contract, with 151,205 rooms, according to STR Global’s September construction pipeline report.

139 hotels opened year to date, with 33,232 rooms in the region, according to the global research firm. It expects 82 hotels, with 18,538 hotels to open in the remainder of 2014.

The most rooms are planned to be added in the upper scale segment (5419 in 18 hotels), followed by the unaffiliated segment (4626 rooms in 22 hotels), the upscale segment (3,531 rooms in 13 hotels) and the luxury segment (3480 rooms in 150 hotels).

By 2015, 145 hotels, with 32,271 rooms are due to open in the region. The upper upscale segment is expecting to add the largest addition of rooms. i.e. 38 hotels with 12,516 rooms, followed by the luxury segment (26 hotels with 5,318 hotels) and the upper segment (31 hotels, with 5,024 rooms)

A number of hotels have opened in the UAE, in 2014, such as the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel and Residences in Al Barsha-Dubai, Sofitel Downtown and Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi downtown.

According to the data provided by the Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, more than 7000 rooms were added in Dubai since June last year bringing the total to number to 88,680 rooms across 634 properties.

Photo credit: http://steigan.no/

Hilton Eyes Gulf Cities To Launch New Hotel Brand

Hilton Worldwide has identified major cities across the Middle East including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Bahrain as possible homes for its lifestyle brand – Canopy by Hilton.

The company launched the brand last week at an event for owners and developers in Orlando, Florida, specifying how it would take the emphasis off design and target the leisure and business travelers.

The company has announced just one location outside the US, i.e. in London, and is also eyeing other opportunities elsewhere, including the Middle East.

According to Hilton Worldwide luxury & lifestyle brands global head John Vanderslice, “Canopy by Hilton is something our owners have told us they want from a Hilton brand. It is an  energising new hotel offering simple, guest-directed service, thoughtful local choices, and comfortable spaces, so guests simply feel better going forward.” 

John Vanderslice, said that Hilton has identified a number of prospects across the region to expand including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Bahrain, where there is a wealth of local flavor and culture which is suited to the brands offering. He also mentioned that Canopy by Hilton is an accessible lifestyle brand and that they could build a bigger and a brand than the competitors have in this segment.

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