MAF Properties plans 2000 hotel rooms for region

Majid Al Futtaim Properties, the owner of Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates retail, leisure and hospitality complex, is developing around 2000 hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia, Beirut, Syria and Central Asia.

Salman A. Haider, senior vice president, mixed use, Majid Al Futtaim Properties, told Hotelier Middle East that the integrated developer had “multiple hotels in various stages of the development cycle”.

“We have hotels in schematic drawings, multiple hotels for Syria and Damascus; one of our larger projects. And we are continuing with that design,” said Haider of a mall and hotel product in Khmas Shamat.

“[There are] a couple of hotels in Beirut; a four-star and a five-star in one of our mixed-use developments,” he continued.

“We’re looking at various markets in Saudi, Central Asian States, various markets in the western part of Arab world, the Maghreb – Morocco, Tunisia. We’re pretty active.

“[We have] potential hotel deals in KSA — hotels in integrated destination developments,” added Haider.

He said operators had not yet been agreed for all the projects, but that MAF Properties was in negotiation with companies including Starwood, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide.

“We already have an IHG deal finalised in Damascus and we are working with IHG in other locations, we are working with Starwood and its multiple brands in different locations,” revealed Haider.

“Certainly [we]are discussing possibilities with Marriotts of the world and Hiltons of the world — we are aggressively looking at the right brand fit. We should be able to find some good brands in various places,” he observed.

Currently, MAF Properties’ hotel portfolio comprises around 3000 hotel rooms in the three-, four-, and five-star segments in Dubai and Bahrain.

Accor and Kempinski are existing operator partners for MAF Properties in these locations.