India’s Suba Hotel enters UAE, aims to add 500 rooms in region

India’s Suba Group of Hotels has forayed in to the UAE and plans to expand to other Gulf countries over the next three years, company executive said.

Mansur Mehta, Managing Director, said Suba opened its first property - a 4-star 92-room hotel – in the region in Dubai last month.

“We have an expansion plan to open up a couple of hotels in the Middle East and the GCC. We have planned to open up at least 3 hotels in the next 3 years. We are scouting for available venues. The next probable hotel will be in Doha. At the moment the priority region is the UAE as well as Qatar,” Mehta told Emirates 24l7.

Foreign hotel players continue to increase their presence in the region, particularly Dubai. Last month, Australia’s StayWell Hospitality group announced expansion to the UAE, announcing 7 properties in the UAE and 15 in the region by 2015-end.

Mehta said the group’s target is to have around 300-500 rooms in the next three years in the Middle East and Africa region. “Currently, we’re beginning with 92 rooms, but as we expand we would like to add on the number of rooms. If we get a better opportunity, we may extend it to 500 rooms as well,” he added.

He said the group has tied up with the Europe markets, US markets as well as the Australian markets through quite a few big travel agents and is exploring more opportunities in those markets.

Commenting about Dubai property, Mehta said: “We opened doors to our guests on the 1st of September and we are expecting a high occupancy rate in the last quarter of 2014. We have had good tie ups with the Iranian and Russian markets as well as the European market, and we have back to back contracts with these markets which will ensures a base occupancy percentage of 45-50%. We are hoping to attain 80-90% occupancy in the next 4 months.”

He said the group is also exploring the lesser known markets such as Mauritius, Tanzania, Africa, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. These markets have a lot of potential as multiple tourists travel to the Middle East from these regions.

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing said last month that the emirate’s hotels welcomed more than 5.8 million tourists in the first half of 2014, up around one per cent compared to the same period last year. Hoteliers and hotel apartment operators’ H1 revenues reached Dhs12.74 billion ($3.18 billion), an increase of 10.9 per cent year-on-year.

Suba Hotel Dubai is a completely non-alcoholic hotel offering single rooms, double rooms and suites. The group claimed that it’s the first 4-star hotel in Dubai to have iPad room control technology, which enables guests to control lighting systems, TV channels and in-room dining menu with an iPad available in the rooms. This technology is currently available only in 5 star hotels and this is the first time it has been made available in a 4 star hotel. “

Revealing the group’s India expansion plan, Mehta said: “We have four hotels planned in India in the next few years, the first being in Baroda, followed by Goa, Bangalore and Bhuj. We are targeting the secondary cities in India, since there is a lot of scope there. With the new government in place, we are also expecting a lot of inflow of Foreign Direct Investment, so there is definitely a lot of scope for good accommodation that can be made available in these regions.”

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