News - July 2010

The market for luxury hotel jobs in the Middle East continued to swell with the opening of the Amwaj Rotana Jumeirah Beach Dubai, which was the Rotana group's first property in the emirate to be located with direct access to the beach.

 

Meanwhile, Wissam Suleiman joined the Dubai-based five-star Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates as its new Executive Assistant Manager, a position from which he can build upon previous hotel training and recruitment experience.

 

Global hospitality firm Fairmont also expressed plans to open 20 new hotels in the Middle East and Asia over the next three-to-four years, while Swiss-Belhotel International announced that it will open its second property in Dubai next year.

 

According to Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, hospitality investment will increase across the Middle East, Europe and Africa this year, with new funding likely to stimulate the creation of additional international hotel jobs.

 

"We are starting to see sellers acknowledge that buyers' pricing is acceptable given the current economic climate, which is likely to drive increased volume as the year progresses," said Mark Wynne Smith, chief executive of EMEA at the company.

 

This development is not being restricted to the top end of the market - particularly as figures show that domestic travel is on the increase across the Middle East - and more and more budget and mid-range hotels are being established in the region. In fact, July saw Southern Sun, which has taken over part of the Holiday Inn's portfolio of international budget hotels, announce its intention to expand throughout Africa and the Middle East.

 

Meanwhile, Mandarin Oriental Group said that it plans to open a new three-star property in Doha, the capital of Qatar. That should come as no surprise as Qatar National Bank Capital released a report last month forecasting the country will see the opening of 13,600 more hotel rooms by the end of 2012 as a result of scheduled openings.

 

In the rest of the world, Singapore also enjoyed a good month in the hospitality sector following the opening of the $4.4 billion (£2.7 billion) Marina Bay Sands, the world's most expensive hotel, in June. New statistics showed that more international visitors from the Middle East arrived in the country between January and June than in the previous year.

 

There was also activity in the US, with a new Fairfield Inn opening in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Karen Finberg being appointed as the new general manager for Bethesda Marriott Suites Hotel.