Thursday, Sep 20, 2012
Dubai: The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with Kuwaiti-owned Almadina Real Estate Development to open a 442-room Crowne Plaza Resort in Ras Al Khaimah.
The hotel is currently under development on the manmade Marjan Island, and is scheduled to open in 2015, targeted at leisure and business tourists. Spanning more than 18,000 square metres, the resort will become the second IHG managed hotel in Ras Al Khaimah when it opens, with an InterContinental due to open in 2014, the company said in a statement. It added that there are 64 Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts in more than 60 countries around the world, including five in the UAE, besides an additional 18 Crowne Plaza hotels in the global development pipeline.
Pascal Gauvin, IHG’s Chief Operating Officer, for India, Middle East and Africa, said in a statement that the company expects the new resort in Ras Al Khaimah’s Marjan Island development — sprawled across 2.7 million square metres of reclaimed land — to set a “new benchmark” for the brand.
“Ras Al Khaimah is evolving as a unique tourist destination. Combining this with IHG’s management experience and the Crowne Plaza brand, we are confident that the resort will quickly gain popularity as a destination in itself,” added Abdul Mutaleb Khraibut, Member of the Board, Al Madina Real Estate Development.
IHG franchises, leases, manages or owns over 4,500 hotels and more than 666,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories. With more than 1,000 hotels in its development pipeline, IHG expects to recruit around 90,000 people into additional roles across its estate over the next few years.
Staff Report
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
