Athul LalDubai: Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure business division of Emaar Properties, has touched a historic milestone with 50 hotel projects in its kitty, including 35 upcoming ones in the UAE and international markets, as well as 15 hotels and serviced villas that are operational in Dubai.
The Group’s upcoming international projects are spread over Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Turkey and the Maldives, with new destinations to be added shortly. In the UAE, the Group has expanded its presence from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.
Emaar has three hotel brands – the premium luxury Address Hotels & Resorts, the upscale lifestyle Vida Hotels & Resorts, and the contemporary midscale Rove Hotels. The latter is a joint venture between Emaar Properties and Meraas Holding.
“Since 2007, we have been shaping a new identity and presence in the hospitality scene, and with three distinctive brands. We now have a robust portfolio of 50 hospitality projects – both operational and upcoming – together offering more than 25,000 rooms and villas,” said Olivier Harnisch, CEO of Dubai’s home-grown hospitality company, at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) Dubai 2018.
According to him, each of the three brands has gained significant traction and is fast-expanding their footprint to meet the needs and aspirations of a fast-changing tourist demographic, especially with a focus on the millennial travellers and new crop of entrepreneurs. “Our strategy is to leverage the growth of the Middle East’s tourism sector, which grew five per cent in 2017, by strengthening the hospitality infrastructure and assuring visitors distinctive guest experiences through our hotel projects.”
New Projects
At the recently concluded Arabian Hospitality Investment Conference 2018, Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties, announced the launch of the company’s first hotel and residences project in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK). Located on the Views Island of Al Marjan Island cluster – a four-island mega-development extending 4.5 km into the sea and covering an area of 2.7 sq. km. – Address Al Marjan Island hotel and residences will be managed by Emaar Hospitality Group’s premium brand, Address Hotels & Resorts.
This marks the entry of the Address brand to RAK. Address Al Marjan Island will have 249 rooms, including suites, while Address Residences Al Marjan Island will comprise 234 high-end apartments. In another major development, Rove Hotels also announced its expansion to RAK, with the first Rove property in Al Marjan Island. Rove Al Marjan Island will have 450 rooms.
Rove Hotels has also entered into a hotel management agreement with Mada’in Properties PJSC, to operate Rove Mina Seyahi in the heart of Dubai Marina. The 270-room Rove Mina Seyahi is envisioned as a 50-story tower featuring a hotel and serviced residences, and is expected to be operational in 2021.
Emaar Group has joined hands with ARADA, a joint venture between KBW Investments and Basma Group, to launch three distinctive hotels at Aljada, Sharjah’s new lifestyle hub spread over 24 million sq.ft. As part of this, Emaar will set up Address Aljada Sharjah (150 rooms), Vida Aljada Sharjah (175 rooms) and Rove Aljada Sharjah (300 rooms). The agreement in this regard was recently signed by Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman, ARADA; Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal, Vice Chairman of ARADA and Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties.
Focus on Digitisation
In addition to working with tech giants such as Microsoft and Accenture, Emaar Group has launched three digital initiatives that will set many industry-firsts. The first project focuses on bringing seamless service to the guest to ensure check-in/check-out anytime, anywhere.
The second aims to transform hotel rooms as intelligent rooms that tune itself to the preferences of the guest through machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. The third project draws on digital collateral to free up space in guest rooms and public areas whereby the Group will introduce digital storage and connected processes to create social spaces for better guest interaction and fun activities.
