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29 March 2024

Two hotel chains to add 4,300 rooms, generate 13,000 jobs

Rotana said the new properties will create significant employment opportunities and it plans to hire more than 10,000 individuals. (KHAMIES AL HEFAITY) 

Published
By Waheed Abbas

Two major hotel groups Rotana and Hyatt will grow their portfolio in 2015-16 by opening 20 new properties, adding 4,341 keys hence creating thousands of new jobs.

UAE-based hotel group Rotana said it would add 11 new properties – all of which are scheduled to open before the year-end – in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Turkey, in addition to its first property in the African market. It will add 2,765 rooms to its existing 13,359 rooms across the region.

Hyatt hotels said at least nine new hotels are expected to open across the GCC by 2017 with six of them will be in Saudi Arabia. It will open six properties in 2015-16, adding 1,576  keys. It currently has 10 properties operating across the GCC.

International Finance Corporation, a subsidiary of World Bank, estimates that higher-quality hotels create 1.5 to 3 jobs per room means the two groups will create will between 6,500 to 13,000 jobs during 2015-16 in the UAE and neighbouring countries.

Rotana said the new properties will create significant employment opportunities and it plans to hire more than 10,000 individuals over the next five years to operate the hotels.

The UAE group will open two hotels with a total of 318 rooms in Turkey on June 1, 2015 while its two new properties in Doha – City Centre Rotana and Centro Doha – will have a combined inventory of 600 rooms.

In Abu Dhabi, Rotana is set to open Capital Centre Arjaan by Rotana Abu Dhabi while opening Downtown Rotana in Bahrain. A further three properties are set to open in Saudi Arabia – Centro Shaheen, Jeddah; Centro Waha, Riyadh; and Rosh Rayhaan by Rotana, Saudi Arabia – adding 772 rooms to its existing inventory in the country.

The hotel chain will also open the 100-room Kinshasa Arjaan by Rotana this year in Congo. Other new Rotana properties set to open in 2015 include Burgu Arjaan by Rotana, Istanbul; Tango Arjaan by Rotana, Istanbul; and Dalga Residences by Rotana, Istanbul.

Omer Kaddouri, President and CEO of Rotana, said: "Faster economic growth and the globalization of travel have meant that middle income groups are contributing more and more towards tourist inflows into regional markets, and as a result, budget hotels have emerged as one of the fastest growing sub-sectors within the hotel industry."

Hyatt said it will introduce its upscale extended stay Hyatt House brand in the region for the first time with Hyatt House Jeddah/Sari Street and Hyatt House Makkah.

Properties opening doors in 2015-16 are 657-room Hyatt Regency Makkah, 126-room Hyatt Place Dubai/Baniyas Square, 428-room Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotels and Residences, 261-room Hyatt Regency Riyadh Olaya and 104-room Hyatt House Jeddah.