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Brassbell, the Egypt-based developer and operator of hospitality projects, has chosen Saudi Arabia as the cornerstone of its regional expansion strategy, citing the Kingdom’s ambitious tourism transformations under Vision 2030.
While markets such as Oman and Bahrain offer attractive tourism potential, Chairperson and CEO Ahmed Ibrahim told Zawya Projects said Saudi Arabia offers “a fundamentally different opportunity” in terms of size, policy direction, and the pace at which the hospitality sector is modernising.
He said the Kingdom’s large-scale development projects, cultural regeneration initiatives, and urban master plans, particularly in Riyadh, Jeddah, and along the Red Sea, are creating entirely new demand drivers for contemporary, design-led hospitality products.
“These conditions form a natural fit for Brassbell’s model of lifestyle hotels, serviced residences, and community-oriented hospitality concepts,” he said.
Saudi Arabia’s sizable domestic tourism base, combined with rising international visitor numbers, is also driving demand for flexible-stay formats, serviced living, and lifestyle-oriented hotels.
“This demand pattern aligns directly with Brassbell’s core strength: delivering hospitality products that sit between traditional hotels and residential living, supported by disciplined operations and a strong design identity,” he explained.
Ibrahim said the Kingdom’s evolving cultural landscape — with increasing emphasis on art, design, gastronomy and community-focused experiences — further reinforces the case for expansion, supporting the positioning of its Fanaya Hotel Jeddah and future projects.
The company is entering the Kingdom as both a developer and operator, leveraging an integrated model that allows Brassbell to define, shape, and manage the full lifecycle of each asset.
Under this approach, Brassbell is responsible for concept and brand development, translating local cultural and district-specific characteristics into distinct hospitality identities. The company also provides design and development input to ensure layouts, back-of-house efficiency and amenities meet operational requirements.
Its role extends through the pre-opening phase, including recruitment, staff training, development of standard operating procedures, technology deployment and operational readiness, before moving into full operational management covering guest experience, housekeeping, engineering and commercial performance.
“This developer-operator model enables Brassbell to maintain direct control over service quality and commercial outcomes,” Ibrahim noted.
He said Brassbell is not pursuing franchise arrangements at this stage, prioritising consistency and execution quality as it builds its Saudi portfolio.
Brassbell’s core guest persona includes culturally engaged professionals, creatives, long-stay travellers and experience-driven visitors who value design, reliability and community-focused spaces. “Guests today don’t differentiate between short, medium or long stays — they expect hospitality that adapts to their lifestyle,” Ibrahim said. “This persona informs our approach to interior design, amenities, technology, programming, and community building, ensuring that every Brassbell property, whether in Cairo, Riyadh, Jeddah, or along the Red Sea, resonates with contemporary traveler expectations.”
The Brassbell Chief reiterated that Saudi Arabia will become a central pillar of the company’s regional platform.
“As we expand, we will leverage operational learnings, market insights, and strategic partnerships to build a competitive Gulf-wide footprint,” he stated.
Excerpts from the interview:
What are the factors driving growth in the Saudi hospitality market?
Saudi Arabia’s hospitality market is set for sustained long-term growth, underpinned by structural drivers including Vision 2030-led tourism diversification, major infrastructure investment, rising demand for lifestyle-led hospitality, and the expansion of serviced living.
Large-scale destinations such as AlUla, NEOM, the Red Sea, Diriyah, and Jeddah Central are redefining the Kingdom’s leisure landscape, creating a diversified pipeline of demand that spans culture, heritage, luxury, wellness, entertainment, and nature-based tourism.
Billions of dollars are also being invested in airports, cruise terminals, cultural districts, roads and mobility systems, improving accessibility and creating more seamless guest journeys, while accelerating both domestic and international travel across the Kingdom.
Globally, travelers are shifting toward properties that offer narrative, community, and cultural immersion. Saudi Arabia has embraced this shift, with guests gravitating toward boutique-scale, design-led hotels that reflect the spirit of the district. This trend reinforces the relevance of Brassbell’s portfolio philosophy.
The Kingdom is also experiencing a surge in professionals, consultants, creatives, and long-stay travelers who prefer the flexibility of serviced residences. This segment has historically been underserved and represents a strong opportunity for operators with experience in hybrid hospitality models.
Together, these dynamics support a robust and resilient outlook for Saudi hospitality, one that aligns directly with the operating and development model Brassbell has refined across Egypt’s most active micro-markets.
Could you elaborate on your go-to-market strategy, and how it differs from or builds on your experience in Egypt?
Brassbell’s approach to the Saudi market builds on the operational, commercial, and design capabilities we have refined in Egypt, while deliberately adapting to the Kingdom’s distinct scale, regulatory landscape, and cultural expectations.
These include:
· A micro market–driven development and operating strategy
· A hybrid hospitality framework that integrates serviced living with boutique hotel standards
· A unified technology ecosystem that governs distribution, operations, inspections, and ownership reporting
· A design-led philosophy that emphasises experiential, community-oriented hospitality
These foundational elements allow us to deploy a mature, performance-driven platform from day one.
To operate effectively in the Kingdom, we are tailoring our hospitality model to local market dynamics. This includes designing programming, amenities and guest experiences around domestic leisure travel and family-centric demand; integrating into government-backed and large-scale mixed-use developments that underpin Saudi Arabia’s tourism and urban strategy; ensuring full compliance with the Kingdom’s regulatory, licensing and operational frameworks; and building a platform that can scale across larger assets, multi-tower developments and district-level hospitality clusters.
This blended approach ensures a model that is both institutionally robust and locally responsive, and aligns with the cultural, experiential, and design expectations of the Kingdom’s evolving traveler base.
Could you outline Brassbell’s existing product portfolio and explain why it is relevant for the Saudi market?
Our portfolio spans three product families: serviced residences, lifestyle hotels, and branded hospitality concepts. Each category is closely aligned with the evolving needs of the Saudi market and the emerging demand for flexible, design-oriented, experience-driven hospitality.
Our serviced residences comprise flexible, fully furnished units with hotel-level service, ideal for long-stay professionals, relocation clients, and extended family visits. Lifestyle hotels are art, design, and community-oriented hotels that appeal to travelers seeking immersive experiences. Fanaya Hotel Jeddah is the first expression of this brand direction in the Kingdom and demonstrates the scalability of this model.
Fanaya and other emerging brands are designed to be deployed across multiple Saudi cities with consistency while adapting to the cultural and architectural nuances of each location.
These products are highly relevant in the context of shifting demand in the Kingdom toward experience-driven properties. There is unmet demand for midscale lifestyle hotels and modern serviced residences. Moreover, domestic travelers increasingly seek design-conscious, culturally contextual stays. Brassbell’s portfolio directly answers these needs with concepts that are both scalable and differentiated.
What are Brassbell’s plans to scale its portfolio across Egypt and Saudi Arabia?
Brassbell currently manages 880 plus units across Egypt and is progressing toward a 2,500-unit portfolio by 2026. This trajectory is supported by a diversified pipeline that includes new hotel developments, serviced-residence expansions, branded concept rollouts, and strategic partnerships with developers and institutional investors.
Portfolio growth will be driven by new lifestyle hotels and coastal developments, expansion of our serviced-living platform, adaptive reuse projects in core cultural districts and co-development opportunities with private and institutional partners.
In Saudi Arabia, we are anchoring our entry around Jeddah and Riyadh, cities that offer scale, diversified demand, and the infrastructure needed to deploy design-led hospitality at an institutional standard.
Expansion into secondary cities will follow selectively, focusing on destinations shaped by cultural investment and tourism growth.
Rather than setting numerical targets prematurely, our priority is securing assets that preserve architectural and experiential quality, maintaining operational discipline and brand coherence and ensuring long-term commercial viability through rigorous evaluation
What are your plans to expand within the Middle East and internationally?
Saudi Arabia offers the scale, investment momentum, and cultural relevance needed for Brassbell to build a durable regional and eventually international hospitality platform.
Vision 2030 is reshaping the tourism landscape through large-scale cultural and entertainment projects, waterfront regeneration, major upgrades to airports and mobility networks, and the rollout of government-backed mixed-use developments. Together, these shifts are driving sustained demand for contemporary, design-led hospitality offerings.
Brassbell’s upcoming assets, starting with Fanaya Hotel Jeddah, serve as both commercial engines and brand platforms. The projects are designed to establish the group’s design and service identity, build operational scale in the Kingdom, strengthen distribution and partnerships, and create replicable benchmarks for expansion.
As performance data and guest insights accumulate, Brassbell said it plans to enter additional Saudi cities and selectively expand across the Gulf through partnerships, building a cohesive regional hospitality network anchored in lifestyle and design.
Saudi Arabia’s scale, regulatory clarity and tourism ambitions provide the foundation to evolve into a next-generation regional operator, with a model capable of scaling across the GCC and into selected international markets.
(Reporting by Eman Hamed; Editing by Anoop Menon)
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