Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Rotana, one of the leading hotel management companies in the region, is celebrating 25 years of success in style and already has its sights set on expanding its tourism and hospitality services across the globe for the next quarter century.
The group has grown from a single hotel, established in 1993 in Abu Dhabi, to more than a 100 properties around the world. It operates a total of 15,195 rooms spread across 21 cities in 13 countries with the aim of reaching a total of 27,000 rooms by 2020.
Each year, the hospitality giant attracts more than 225 million guests at its hotels around the world and tends to more than nine million diners across its 300 plus food and beverage outlets. It also employs more than 11,000 people, hailing from different nationalities and backgrounds.
Other grand achievements to celebrate include being one of the first hotel brands in the Middle East to introduce an all-suites concept as well as launching a 3-star affordable lifestyle hotel. The company also operates the world’s second tallest hotel, the 72-storey Rose Rayhaan by Rotana in Dubai.
According to its chairman and co-founder, Nasser Al Nowais, it has been quite a journey and a deeply rewarding one at that.
He said: “Rotana has a rather unique background when it is compared to the other hotel operators in Bahrain as the group ‘grew up’ in the Middle East. We relied upon our deep understanding of local market dynamics to bring to the region a collection of modern, sophisticated hotels that offered guests highly personalised service and exceptional levels of quality and comfort.
“I have always believed that the true measure of business success is not the extent of growth a company achieves but rather how meaningfully it has been able to add value to people’s lives, and the positive social impact and sustainable value that Rotana has been able to foster over the course of its 25 years of operations remain our proudest achievement to date.
“However, as satisfying as the last 25 years have been, it’s really the years ahead that have us excited. We have ambitions to emerge as a global hospitality player and we have outlined aggressive expansion plans both in the region and beyond.”
Currently, 49 Rotana properties are under development in 26 cities across the region, in Africa and Turkey, with 16 of these properties scheduled to open before the end of 2018.
The Saudi Arabian market is also pivotal to the group’s expansion with four operational hotels and plans to increase the tally to eight more by the end of this year. The four new properties will be under the group’s lifestyle affordable brand ‘Centro by Rotana’.
The group is also focusing on Africa, where it made its debut last year with the opening of the five-star Kin Plaza Arjaan in Kinshasa. There are a few projects in progress there as well in key cities including Marrakesh, Luanda, Dar es Salaam and Lagos.
Mr Nasser added: “We see Africa as a region that offers tremendous opportunities for growth and one that will play an integral part in our global growth strategy in the years to come. Europe will remain an important market for us too and we are keen to expand our pipeline into this continent. We already made our European debut in Turkey where we currently have two operating properties and two that will open in the coming few months. Our focus now is to open hotels in key European cities including Paris, Barcelona, Frankfurt, as well as the UK.”
As for Bahrain, its three properties continue to captivate guests from its friendly customer service to its delicious takes on different cuisine and its opulent and comfortable dwellings.
Mr Nasser explained: “The three properties in Bahrain all have their own unique personalities. ART Rotana is very much focused on family entertainment with the beach, waterpark and extensive restaurant offering. Downtown Rotana is the happening city centre hotel with a super modern interior, the award winning restaurant Teatro and great connections to the main shopping and entertainment areas. Majestic Arjaan by Rotana is an incredible all suites hotel perfect for family or business with proximity to entertainment and business zones, plus it’s only 10 minutes from the airport.
“The essence of Rotana holds true throughout these properties with our commitment to providing treasured experiences to our guests through our friendly colleagues, market leading facilities and famously warm Middle Eastern welcome.”
