London-founded luxury operator Rocco Forte Hotels is to make its Saudi Arabia debut with a hotel and serviced apartment complex in Jeddah, set to open in quarter one of 2015. It will mark a re-entry into the Middle East for the company.
The operator previously had a hotel in Abu Dhabi but pulled out last summer. That hotel is now managed by Hilton Worldwide.
Commenting on the Jeddah property, to be located on Tahlia Street, Rocco Forte Hotels communications director Richard Power said: “Jeddah doesn’t have a really really good five star hotel, so this is a great opportunity.
“It doesn’t have another site like ours either, this is the best site in town and it’s going to be pretty hard for anyone to meet that now.”
Citing the local competition, Power named Rosewood Corniche and Park Hyatt Jeddah but said of the Rosewood that “it’s not really in the same league” and of the Hyatt: “I’m not really sure what market they’re targeting – I’m not sure how you could run a resort in Jeddah at the moment.”
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The property will comprise 146 rooms, 63 suites and 94 serviced apartments across two 20-storey towers. Three restaurants and a tea lounge will make up the F&B offering and facilities are to include a 25m rooftop pool, female and male health clubs as well as a range of MICE facilities encompassing 13 meeting rooms, a 360 square metre function room and a similarly sized pre-function room as well as a business centre.
Power commented that Saudi business travellers would be the main source market for the hotel, as well as religious visitors passing through Jeddah to and from the holy cities.
The company recently reported that Rocco Forte has a huge brand awareness among Middle Eastern visitors with a 29% increase in room and restaurant sales across the company’s 10 hotels to visitors from the Middle East to US $20million last year. That represents 8% of the company’s total sales.
Power said: “The bigger our footprint in this market, the better we do in communicating Rocco Forte, the more likely it is that a hotel owner somewhere will say ‘I’m hearing a lot about these guys, they’re doing well, maybe they’d do well for me?’. And in a management contract environment that’s quite positive."
Power also hinted that Doha or Dubai might be the operator’s next Middle East venture, although nothing has been confirmed.
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