Jumeirah to venture into Germany with five-star property

Undeterred by the global economic crisis, the luxury international hospitality management group, Jumeirah, plans to foray into the German market by launching Jumeirah Frankfurt Hotel, a five-star property, as a part of PalaisQuartier, the city's new mixed-use leisure and retail development.

The move comes a few weeks after Jumeirah Group revealed its plans to open hotels in key gateway cities of India such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Goa.

Jumeirah Group plans to launch a 219-room luxury hotel in Frankfurt in mid-2010 alongside the launch of the 112,000 square metres PalaisQuartier, a Mab Development project, Jumeirah Group said yesterday.

The five-star city centre hotel serving business and leisure travellers follows an agreement to lease and operate the hotel element of PalaisQuartier.

"The Jumeirah Frankfurt Hotel is an important development in our company's global expansion plan. It will serve Germany's financial centre and one of Europe's most important international business and travel hubs. Germany has traditionally served as the third largest inbound market for Jumeirah's properties. It's a key market for us," Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman of Jumeirah Group, said in a statement.

With regard to Jumeirah's international expansion plans, Lawless had told Emirates Business recently that the company's plan to open 60 hotels by 2012 "remains achievable, even in this challenging environment".

"By 2012, 45 per cent of our hotels would be in the Gulf, about 30 per cent in Asia-Pacific, and the rest located evenly in Europe and the Americas," said Lawless.

On the other hand, Jumeirah Group said early this year that it has deferred plans for the opening of its first China property in Shanghai, amid the global financial downturn. The Jumeirah HanTang Xintiandi Shanghai, originally scheduled for launch in August 2008, would now be open for business sometime this year, Lawless had said.

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