Dubai-based Landmark Hotels & Suites has opened its eighth hotel and entered its first franchise partnership with Wyndham. Deen Sadiq, group director, Landmark Zenath Group and Peter Janssen, CEO, Landmark Hotels & Suites reveal the brand’s potential
Dubai-based Landmark Hotels & Suites, part of a privately-held family company called The Landmark Zenath Group, started 2013 with a bold new opening. Ramada Deira, a 173-room hotel opposite Al Reef Mall, is the hotel management company’s eighth hotel, but its first to be run as a franchise.
Until now, the company has run all of its Middle Eastern hotels under the Landmark flag, but the franchise deal with Wyndham Hotel Group could mark a new route of expansion for the firm, whose leaders are confident of future growth in the UAE and beyond. That’s quite an achievement for a brand that only emerged 13 years ago.
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The Landmark Hotels brand was conceived back in 1996 with a specific purpose in mind; to appeal to the three- to four-star family market, seeking a safe, alcohol-free environment.
The first hotel, Baniyas Square, in ‘old’ Dubai opened in 1999 and since then, Landmark has gained a firm foothold in the area around Deira, newly boosted by the launch of Ramada.
Peter Janssen, CEO, Landmark Hotels and Suites, explains why the brand has been so successful, with occupancy averaging 90% and average rate between AED 400-450 (US $109).
“We are concentrating on the local GCC market and we are family market, alcohol free, that traditionally goes better with the three- and four-star market than the five-star market.
“That’s why we are very attractive to visitors from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, in particular families looking for this type of accommodation. On the other hand with Ramada we are able to attract airline crews; Libyan Airlines, Yemen Airways, we are now working on Australian Airlines [Quantas], so crew segment is important.
"If you go to Nasser Square there’s the traders. The creek is still the lifeline of Dubai, many traders from Africa, from Russia use our hotels. Then we have a little tourism from Germany also looking for this area, then we have the Iranian business — it’s a little bit down at the moment, but Iranis like this area in particular because of all the shops,” observes Janssen, adding that the corporate segment is also important in Deira.
Janssen says the company is now looking for more hotels in the UAE beyond the group’s traditional Deira boundaries.
“We are looking now at one more property in Naif Road, that should be open by the end of this year. We’re looking at Fujairah and at other states in the Emirates,” he says.
The hotels in Naif Road and Fujairah are expected to open this year, but Landmark Hotels is also “very close” to signing a large property in the Tecom area of Dubai and “negotiating another contract” in Dubai Investment Park.
“We are confident we can have at least two to three more properties this year,” says Janssen.
Deen Sadiq, group director of owning company Landmark Zenath Group, says new hotels could be franchised, as with Ramada Deira.
“We will look at which hotels will fit into Landmark and which hotels will need an international brand. In that case we will look at Ramada with Wyndham because we’ve established a good relationship with them.”
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