Safir Hotels expands relationship with Preferred Hotels & Resorts

Marina Hotel Kuwait is the third hotel in the portfolio that extends Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ privileges to its guests.

SHR’s chief operating officer Patrick de Groot and Preferred Hotels & Resorts executive vice president Saurabh Rai met at the Preferred Hotels Group Dubai offices earlier this month to put pen to paper, signing a third agreement between the two partners.

2018 marked the start of Safir’s relationship with Preferred Hotels & Resorts, when Safir Fintas Kuwait and Salalah Gardens Oman joined the global market representation company’s network of 700 participating hotels. Marina Hotel Kuwait is the third Safir property that will be taking advantage of the collaboration with Preferred.

Gaining access to a global network of sales offices and to Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ 3-million-member I Prefer Hotels Rewards loyalty programme has been lucrative for Safir. De Groot said: “Business travel in the region is certainly influenced by booking incentives and loyalty programmes, and we have seen substantial incremental revenue from the relationship in the first 18 months.”

Having access to a dedicated sales team in the region that assists in maintaining relationships with travel trade channels and selected corporate accounts was also an important reason for Safir to expand its relationship with Preferred. Ahmed Seleit, corporate director of business development, said: “The decision to sign with Preferred is in line with our business development strategy. Recently, we established a Kuwait Cluster Business Development team, and to have both our Kuwait properties represented by ‘Preferred’ makes good business sense.”

Safir Hotels & Resorts is interested in growing its collaboration with Preferred Hotels & Resorts to include more of its portfolio of hotels into the agreement. However, a number of properties Safir manages are currently too small to justify a full-fledged market representation relationship. For these hotels, Safir and Preferred are discussing ways to tailor their cooperation to a “distribution only” relationship that would grant these properties access to the I Prefer loyalty programme and to the Preferred Hotels & Resorts Central Reservation System (CRS) platform. This collaboration will provide a coordinated, portfolio-wide relationship that will streamline and centralise the hotel booking process and allow clients and guests to be rewarded for staying at any of Safir’s locations as opposed to just a few.

Safir Hotels & Resorts (SHR) is a hotel management company, owned by Kuwait Hotels Company (KHC), which is part of the KIPCO Group. Established in 1993, the company manages a portfolio of eight hotels in Kuwait, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Lebanon and Syria. Most of its hotels are managed under the Safir brand, except for its flagship property “Marina Hotel Kuwait” and the “Salalah Gardens Hotel” in Oman. Its portfolio strategy is aimed at growth in the Mena region in the midscale and upscale segments, managing both hotels and serviced residences. As the first Arabian hospitality management company in the region, the company has a wealth of experience in bringing value to hotel development projects and profitable hotel operations. - TradeArabia News Service