Friday, Apr 28, 2017

Dubai: Hyatt Hotels and Resorts said it is expanding its geographical footprint across the region, with plans to open three hotels in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) by the end of this year or early next year.

The US-based hotel operator is also planning to expand strongly in Saudi Arabia, and is expected to open at least eight properties there over the next four years.

“We’ll have our first property at Palm Jumeirah island (in Dubai). Hopefully, we’ll open by the end of this year or first quarter next year, and it will be a Hyatt Centric property. It’s going to be the first Centric in the Middle East, and the second one will be next year in Doha, Qatar,” said Tareq Daoud, Hyatt’s regional vice-president for sales for the Middle East and Africa.

He added, “Another project we have is the Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi, 450-plus room hotel and residence. Again, this will hopefully open end of this year or first quarter 2018.”

In Dubai, Hyatt will also open a four-star property in Deira also by the end of this year. This comes amid stronger demand for more affordable hotels in the UAE as that segment of the market has traditionally been underserved.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), an annual hospitality and aviation event, Daoud said he was not concerned about an oversupply of hotel rooms in the UAE as he expected demand to rise over the next few years aided by the Expo 2020.

Average room rates across the country have been on the decline over the past year due to a slowdown in demand as well as an increase in the supply of new hotels.

Asked about hotel performance in the UAE during the first quarter of 2017, Daoud said, “No one can deny the challenges the market faced in the last couple of years in room rates and the number of visitors, but in the first quarter we noticed a bit of growth in the number of visitors and number of room night bookings compared to the same period last year.”

In Saudi Arabia, Hyatt recently opened a property in Riyadh, and will be opening another one, a Hyatt Place hotel, in the city by the end of this year. It also has two projects under construction in Riyadh.

“We have strong expansion plans in Saudi Arabia. In Jeddah, we have three properties under construction. One of them is Hyatt Regency, one is a Grand Hyatt, and the other is Hyatt Place, the selected services (four-star) brand,” Daoud said.

Additionally, Hyatt is expected to open Hyatt Place properties in Mekkah, and one hotel in Al Khobar. Elsewhere in the GCC, the chain will open two properties in Qatar, and one in Kuwait (planned for 2019).

“Now, we have almost 700 properties around the world. Our target in three years is to have 1,000 properties,” Daoud said.

By Sarah Diaa Staff Reporter

Gulf News 2017. All rights reserved.