Rotana COO maps strategy for four new markets
Rotana Chief operating officer spoke exclusively to HotelierMiddleEast.com about the company’s priorities for entering four new markets in the next three years.
This year Rotana will enter Jordan in six weeks’ time with The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana in Amman, and the company will make its first venture into Turkey with the Tango Arjaan by Rotana and Burgu Arjaan Rotana in connected towers to open in Q4.
Additionally, Rotana has announced that it will enter the markets of Iran and Tanzania. The first Iran hotel is a 362 room Rayhaan Hotels & Resorts property to open in 2017 followed by a 275 room hotel to open in 2018 and both will be located in the city of Mashhad.
Additionally, Rotana has signed a 249-room project in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam to open by 2017, the first venture into Tanzania for the company.
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On the Iran openings, Rotana chief operating officer Guy Hutchison said: “Iran is something completely new for us – this is pioneering stuff. There are not too many hotels in Tehran so in terms of global five-star luxury we’ll be the first. We’re going from zero to four in Iran over the next five years.”
The key focus for Hutchinson currently is building up a brand presence in the new markets to ensure the company has the "right commercial platforms in those markets".
He commented: “A lot of our focus is on understanding these locations – how do we deliver on these properties with the same attention to detail as we do with our existing hotels? And how do we get a commercial presence in those markets so that by 2017,18 or 19 when we open we have the right commercial platforms in those markets so between now and 2016 we’re working on how we evolve our global sales network.”
Hutchinson added that he is very optimistic about Rotana’s first Jordan hotel, The Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana to open on June 1 saying that Jordan will be “a very successful market”. He commented: “Amman is vibrant, it’s quite established and there have been 5* hotels in the city for 60 years. The market is strong, it’s a stable community. It’s going to be an absolute signature property for Jordan and it’s a very high profile opening for us.”
The company’s second opening next year in Jordan is the Amman Rotana, set to open in June 2015, which Hutchison says is a strategic move to ensure the brands are “differentiated”. He commented: “They’re a year apart, one will be this June and the next will be June 2015 so we’ll go from having no hotels in Jordan to having 800 rooms which is about 20% of the market. So Jordan is exciting.”
The openings in these four markets fall in line with Rotana’s strategic goal to operate 100 hotels by 2020.