25. Dr Badr Al Badr, Chief Executive Officer, Dur Hospitality (New entry)
It has been a busy year for Dur Hospitality, with the group introducing a new brand identity, signing a master franchise agreement for the first time, and announcing a US $400 million investment in new projects.
Dur Hospitality, under the leadership of Dr Badr Al Badr will invest SAR 1.5 billion (US $400mn) in developing three- and four-star hotels and luxury residential complexes, to achieve a planned portfolio of 20 hotels and six residential properties in the next seven years in KSA. With the company’s rebrand from Saudi Hotels & Resorts to Dur Hospitality completed in November 2014, Al Badr told Hotelier the group will have a more streamlined approach with the focus firmly on hotel development and operations, as well as residential properties.
“The market has undergone a whole transformation during these years,” said Al Badr, explaining the firm’s rebrand. “When we started 40 years ago, we were the pioneers and the demand was not comparable to today. Things today are totally different. We needed to evolve to catch up with the market from one side. From the other side we saw an opportunity to beat the market.”
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By the numbers
Number of years in role: 3.5
Number of years with company: 3.5
Number of Middle East operating properties in the middle east : 10
Number of Middle East pipeline hotels in the middle east : 5
Top inspiration
Commenting on his father, his greatest inspiration, Al Badr says: “Upon knowing he is my father, [people] would often say: ‘I owe my success to him’. For over a decade, he was an educator and a leader at the main university in Riyadh. People would tell me he went out of his way to help them succeed when they were troubled students. I learned from him the lasting effects of helping people and the benefits of giving second chances”
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