Owner disputes delay Hilton's Middle East hotels

Hilton Worldwide has seen its expansion in the Middle East curtailed after disputes with property owners stalled the launch of three branded hotels, a senior executive said.

The US-based hotel chain has 30 hotels in its regional pipeline, but said issues with property owners have halted progress in Jordan, Beirut and Tunisia.

The group has signed an agreement to manage the Hilton Tala Bay Adaba in Jordan, but the property’s opening date remains unconfirmed amid an ongoing dispute with the landlord.

Rudi Jagersbacher, area president for the Middle East and Africa, said Hilton may still opt out of the contract.

“There is a signed deal and any deal we have you have ‘drop dates’,” he told Arabian Business. “That ‘drop date’ hasn’t come up yet but if it comes we will obviously reevaluate. Within the next three months we will know.”

In Lebanon, the company’s Hilton Beirut property is also beset with legal disputes, Jagersbacher said. “[The hotel] is 90 percent ready and has been ready for five years… [but] there is a dispute between owners and they are suing each others’ pants off,” he said.

Regional unrest in Tunisia, where widespread protests ousted long-term president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January, has also led to confusion over the ownership of the Hilton Tunis Cartharge.

“I think the problem is to establish who is the owner...the ownership is not that clear any more so the legal entity is a priority before we move to the next stage,” Jagersbacher said. “[But] we have it, it’s there.”

The chain, which operates 49 hotels across 15 countries in the Middle East and Africa, plans to add six properties to its regional portfolio this year and is signing properties at a rate of one a month.

The openings are part of a plan to grow the Hilton portfolio by 80 percent in the next three to four years, Hilton said last week.