“We have a few developments where we are going to have part of the inventory as the hotel with the serviced apartments next door, and then we will start combining the two,” he explains.
Marriott International agrees that long-stay is an important segment to continue developing, and currently the firm operates 959 serviced apartments across the Middle East — three Residence Inn properties and five Marriott Executive apartments.
Alex Kyriakids, president, Middle East & Africa, Marriott International says these are designed for travellers looking for corporate apartments featuring hotel services.
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“Over the next three years we will be adding another 10 properties within this segment in response to customer demand,” he says.
Another part of this diversification will be the trend toward independent and independent-style hotels.
Hospitality Management Holdings CEO Laurent Voivenel believes that Dubai in particular, being “a fertile ground for new developments and hotel concepts”, is the perfect location for independent properties.
“It’s part of the natural evolution of a destination,” adds TRI’s Hewett.
“You get more savvy investors and developers and you think ‘maybe I don’t need to have an international brand; maybe I can look at developing the property the way I want it to be and then get strong management teams involved to really shape and define the property’.”
More pragmatic, quicker to innovate due to fewer brand standards, and increased flexibility are just some of the benefits Hewett outlines with regards to independent developments. However, he warns that the main challenge for hoteliers looking to go down this route will be finding the right talent.
“I think it comes back to the point of having the right people in the property and getting people that are visionary, and can create a point of difference in a competitive market” he adds.
“Dubai has managed to continuously evolve as a tourism destination and independent hotels will add to its offering. We expect the trend for independent hotels to continue in 2015 and beyond.”
Willis agrees that the market has now reached a level of maturity for independent hotels to begin emerging, and Kyriakidis claims the trend “is here to stay”.
Marriott International recently introduced its Autograph Collection to the region, a collection of independent hotels that benefit from Marriott’s distribution channels and rewards programme. The first property to enter the collection will be Habtoor Grand, Dubai, followed by new Dubai theme park hotel, Lapita Hotel, to open in 2016.
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