L - R: rotana vice chairman, Selim El Zyr; chairman, Nasser Al nowais; president & ceo, omer kaddouri and chief operating officer, guy hutchinson.
Outgrowing the Middle East
When Kaddouri joined Rotana, El Zyr had plans for one hotel in every major GCC country — a strategy that is complete. It now falls to Kaddouri to consolidate that presence with a new benchmark for success.
“My wish for this region is that we have one of each of our brands in every major city in the Middle East and Africa. I think by 2020 we’ll be close to that so we’re working hard to ensure that all of our brands are in the right locations in the region,” he asserts.
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Having moved into his current position from the operations side of the business, Kaddouri still has his chief operating officer hat firmly in place, while his successor Guy Hutchinson learns the ropes.
Hutchinson, like Kaddouri and El Zyr, moved over to Rotana from Hilton Worldwide, where he was vice president, operations — India. He now joins the Rotana veterans at the top bringing a fresh perspective gained from leading Hilton across new markets such as Japan, Australia, China and India.
Assuming a mentoring role for Hutchinson throughout the new COO’s first year in office, Kaddouri is following in El Zyr’s footsteps in more ways than one: “I think it’s important [to be a mentor]. Guy has a year to really establish himself and get to know the company and after this year I’ll start to remove myself from the operational issues and I’ll focus on signings and travelling around.
“In 2014 though, it’s really all about Guy settling in and opening the hotels we have planned for this year. I’ll be introducing him to all the stakeholders and who’s who, so that part is very important,” he states.
With 50 hotels in Rotana’s current portfolio and, according to Kaddouri, “another 50 to open by 2020”, expansion is a key priority for the company.
However, this has been the case since El Zyr set a target of operating 100 hotels by 2020 a few years back, which he described as a “realistic vision” — and this figure continues to stand as a benchmark under Kaddouri’s leadership. “We’ll have 100 operating hotels by 2020 and by that time we’ll have about another 100 in the pipeline so we’ve got a very busy seven years ahead of us,” he explains.
This year alone, the company has five openings to achieve, two of which have already been completed; the first Oman project, Salalah Rotana, which opened its doors in March, and the Hilli Rayhaan by Rotana which launched in Al Ain in February.
Other milestones this year will be entering Turkey with two properties and Jordan, with the Boulevard Arjaan by Rotana Amman, to open in the fourth quarter of the year. The second Saudi property was due to open in Riyadh this year but has been pushed back to Q1 2015.
One of El Zyr’s wishes for the future of the company, however, is that rather than “forced growth”, Rotana expands organically overseas, following the same model that has clearly helped carve out a success story for the hotel group over the last 21 years.
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