One to One Hotels & Resorts debut property The Village, Abu Dhabi, a 127-room boutique hotel, which opened in 2008.
New brands
However, the company has since branched out, introducing three new brands, and it has been Harb’s mission to raise awareness of these.
“Each brand has the guest and traveller in mind and therefore an economic proposition,” he claims.
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Although the five-star lifestyle brand Elite currently doesn’t have any operating hotels, Harb insists “we have the plan, we have the design and we know how it will look”. The first long-stay Suites brand is set to open in Dour Choueir, Lebanon next year with 90 keys, and the Wellness Resort brand has already been rolled out in three properties.
What Harb describes as the “pilot project” for the Wellness Resort brand launched in 2012, is the Ain Al Faida One to One Resort in Al Ain, a 25,000m2 83-key conversion. In April this year, the property — which features 26 hotel rooms and 57 villas — was upgraded with the addition of the first One to One Spa, and is according to Harb, set to become “the ultimate retreat destination spa in Al Ain”.
The spa offers eight treatment rooms with two Jacuzzis, two private Moroccan hammans and two salons, for males and females. A full renovation of the garden area has been completed to provide a wide leisure offering, including pony rides and a mini zoo.
“When we took it on it was the wrong operator and the wrong brand,” comments Harb, referring to the conversion. “We came up with a comprehensive repositioning plan for the asset. We brought in One to One Hotels as a flag and invested a lot in our leisure activities and recreation activities because we believed that this property would be appealing for leisure and local business, as well as high-rated transit business”.
The third roll out of the Wellness Resort brand — another conversion project — opened on May 1, 2014. One to One took over management of Tarifa Hotel, Morocco, rebranding it the Tarifa One to One Resort, an 83-suite property located 18km from Tangier in Ksar Sghir.
Harb admits that conversion is the expansion model that will remain the focus going forward for One to One: “We understand very well that conversion means immediate operation, whereas construction is going to take two to three years”.
However, an emphasis on conversions doesn’t necessarily signal impatience, the ambitious COO asserts, saying that “careful expansion” is equally a priority.
“When we look for partners we like to have a local owner, based in the local market, that understands the local market and of course understands our brands, so this is a merge we’re looking for,” explains Harb.
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