Rotana Hotels to Increase Its Presence In Middle East And Turkey

Rotana, the Middle East’s leading hotel brand said that it plans to add 3,360 rooms to its portfolio, creating more than 10,000 jobs over the next five years.

The Company has released details of it 12 new properties some of which are due to open before the end of 2014. Omer Kaddouri, president and CEO, highlighted that the company’s construction pipeline focuses on countries outside its traditional market, including countries like Jordan, Turkey and Bahrain.

Rotana, which has a vision of operating 100 hotels by 2020, said that the new properties will also create a significant amount of employment opportunities with plans to hire approx 10500 new staff in the next five years.

Omer Kaddouri mentioned that, openings in Jordan and Turkey represent a key milestone for Rotana Hotels and important achievement for the group. The development pipeline includes new properties in Amman, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Istanbul, Turkey, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.

Properties opening in Q4, 2014:

• Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana, Amman, Jordan, will feature 391 suites.
• Sedra Residences by Rotana, Qatar, will offer 250 rooms and suites.
• ART Rotana, Bahrain, will boast 311 luxurious rooms and suites.

Properties opening in Q2 2015:

• Banader Rotana, Bahrain will offer 251 rooms.
• Burgu Arjaan by Rotana, Istanbul, Turkey will have a total 0f 222 hotel apartments.
• Tango Arjaan by Rotana, Istanbul, Turkey will offer 188 hotel apartments.
• City Centre Rotana, Doha, Qatar will include 287 rooms.
• Centro Doha, Qatar will be complete with 229 rooms.
• Capital Centre Arjaan by Rotana, Abu Dhabi will feature 259 studio rooms and suites.
• Rosh Reyhaan by Rotana, Saudi Arabia will be complete with 236 modern rooms.

Properties opening in Q3, 2015:

• Capital Centre Rotana, Abu Dhabi, with 315 luxurious rooms.
• Amman Rotana, Jordan will feature 412 contemporary rooms and suites.

MEA Hotel Occupancy Up By 13.1% in September

The Middle East/Africa region reported positive performance during September with a 13.1 per cent increase in occupancy to 65.5 per cent, a 1.3% increase in ADR (Average Daily Rate) to $145.12 and a 14.5% increase in RevPAR to $94.99, according to STR Global Data.

Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global said that “It is positive to see consistency in performance in spite of instability leading to uncertainty in certain countries.”

“Amongst the high performers, Saudi Arabia is one of the region's strongest in September as the country was gearing up for Hajj, which took place the first week in October”, said Winkle. “Cairo, whilst still in recovery mode, achieved occupancy levels of 51.8 percent with significant year-over-year growth of 107.5 percent”.

Some of the key trends from the regional key markets for September 2014 include:

• Egypt recorded 138.3% increase in occupancy to 60.8 %, and a 15.6% increase in ADR to EGP 523.76 and a whopping 175.4% increase in RevPAR to EGP 318.49.

• Saudi Arabia reported an increase of 26.7 % in Occupancy to 66.3%, a 28.1 per cent increase in ADR to SAR 858.62, and a notable increase of 62.3% in RevPAR to SAR569.12

• In UAE, Occupancy decrease by 0.1% to 72.9 %, ADR was down by 3.3% to AED 575.83, and RevPAR decreased by 3.4% to AED 419.85.

Four markets achieved double-digit or more RevPAR growth: Cairo (+133.9% to $55.82); Beirut (+68% to $82.99); Jeddah (+21.9% to $216.34); and Doha, Qatar (+12.2% to $127.50). 

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Dubai Hotel Revenues In H1 Top $3billion

The hospitality industry in Dubai benefited from a record number of visitors in H1 and revenue at Hotels in Dubai hit AED12.47 billion (US$3.18 billion). The industry also experienced growth from emerging source markets.

According to figures from Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), the revenues, for hoteliers and hotel apartment operators was up 10.9% compared with the same period last year, with room revenue up 15.3% and F&B up by 3.8%.

During the first half of the year, a record number of guests checked in across all Hotel establishments with numbers reaching 5,828,449.

Total guest nights went up by 6.7% for hotels and 4.1% for hotel apartments, while the average length of stay increased with an average of 3.9 days. This was split out into 3.4 days at hotels and 5.7 days at hotel apartments.

His Excellency Helal Saeed Almarri, director-general of DTCM, said: “The figures for the first half of 2014 are encouraging and we continue to build on this growth to ensure a successful second half of the year.

“The figures show an increase in visitors from many of our key source markets – for example we are seeing strong growth from China, Brazil, Australia and many countries in Europe.

“The increase comes despite the reduction in flights due to the refurbishment and upgrading of the runways at Dubai International, which is testament to the work conducted by Dubai Airports and our industry partners in ensuring minimal disruption.” 

Saudi Arabia continued to be Dubai’s primary source market, while there was a huge influx of visitors China, up by 26 %. Dubai has added more than 7000 hotel rooms to its inventory up until the end of June, with the total reaching 88,680 across 634 establishments.

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