Sharjah-based investment company Faisal Holding and its hotel management arm, Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH), are launching a new hotel brand known as Ecos Hotels, with the first property set to be built in Dubai's Al Furjan district by 2020.

Speaking to Zawya at the Arabian Travel Market event on Monday, Brett Schafer, chief executive of Faisal Holding, said the company would invest 120 million UAE dirhams ($32.7 million) in the property, which he said the company hopes to use as a "benchmark" to showcase to hotel investors looking for brands to manage their properties.

“We bought the land some years ago, specifically for a hotel,” Schafer said, explaining that its location close to the Expo 2020 site was a key attraction.

“We've almost completed the planning and we'll be awarding the main construction contract within the next three months," Schafer said.

"We'll be on site by the middle of the year, and it's about a 20-month construction programme," he said, adding that the hotel's opening will take place early in 2020. "All of the infrastructure is in place already. The new metro line comes right past our property."

Schafer said the hotel is geared towards millennials, with a focus on sustainability and technology.

"We're tapping into the latest digital technology right from check-in," he said. "Everything's paperless and the staffing levels in the hotel will be different. There will be a lot more automation.

"We are the owners of HMH and we own our own hotels, plus we manage other people's hotels, so we're also looking to create a niche for investors," he said.

Faisal Holding currently owns and operates 13 hotels, including the Coral-branded hotels in Deira and Al Barsha in Dubai, the Coral Sharjah, the Bahi Asjman resort hotel and the four-star Corp business hotel in Amman, Jordan.

Aboudi Asali, chief executive officer of HMH, said that the company is opening four new hotels this year, including two properties in Saudi Arabia - a 403-room, Coral-branded hotel in Medina set to open in July and a new hotel in Jeddah set to open in June.

Asali said details of the Jeddah hotel - including the brand and the number of rooms - will be announced next month.

"We have a huge pipeline for Saudi Arabia - not yet announced because they are not signed, but obviously we are looking at the key cities - Jeddah, Riyadh, Khobar. (We are) also looking at the secondary cities - especially with the Ecos concept," he added.

"Easily, I can see Ecos alone having 10 hotels in Saudi Arabia today. As Saudi Arabia evolves and grows the number of visits, I think we want to grow in parallel, at least," Asali said.

(Reporting by Michael Fahy; Editing by Shane McGinley)
(michael.fahy@thomsonreuters.com)

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