Premier Inn is likely to open its latest property, in Sharjah, on December 1, the first of a string of developments on the agenda for the budget hotelier.
The 168-room Premier Inn Sharjah King Faisal Road is being built by Action Hotels and is one of 11 properties currently under development by a number of owners across the Middle East.
Speaking to Hotelier Middle East, Premier Inn Hotels Middle East & Africa managing director Darroch Crawford revealed that the company is currently working on deals for another five hotels in Saudi Arabia, the same number in Dubai and three in Oman.
“The fact is that hotels we have in operation are doing so well that people want a piece of the action,”’ he explained.
“We’ve had very significant growth over the last three years consecutively. While the market has overall softened a little, we have continued to grow, so we’re encouraged by that.
“The only solution we can come up with is to build more supply and we’re very optimistic about the hotels in our sector as a whole. In the region as a whole, our sector is under supplied with internationally-branded budget hotels.”
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The strong growth by the company, and the role it is playing in leading the budget drive in the region, helped propel Crawford up to www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/pics-21469-power-50-2014-11-20/218th place in Hotelier Middle East Power 50 list this month.
He was the biggest mover, up 18 places, and predicted the company's momentum in the region would continue to gather pace.
“I’m delighted but surprised and it’s recognition of the growth of Premier Inn in the region, which is becoming very exciting,” he said.
“We have a very significant pipeline of hotels coming through and in fact we’re having to beef up resources in our central team to cope with all the projects that are ongoing at the moment.
“Within three years we will have trebled the number of hotels we have so at this stage we’re increasing the number of people in our property team, who are responsible for building the hotels and making sure they are the right specification.”
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