Founded in 1998 by hospitality titan Ahmed Ramdan, UAE-based hospitality firm Ròya International has secured more than 100 hotel management agreements, worked on more than 30 hotel asset management assignments, and introduced more than 12 hotel brands to the region. The value of the projects the firm has worked on is greater than US $55bn. No small change then.
The development and advisory hospitality consultancy firm welcomed Kees Hartzuiker to the role of CEO five years ago in 2011. I meet him in Ròya International’s office located at the Shangri-La Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road, on the day when rains were pouring down on the Emirate. The pitter-patter of the rain on the glass windows does nothing to dampen the enthusiasm Hartzuiker shows for the industry.
Taking what Hartzuiker calls a “classic career route”, he worked his way up through the industry before landing his first general manager role in Europe — and added a few openings to his repertoire. His experience with Hilton, he says, is what whetted his appetite of understanding not only the operations side but also the development side of hospitality.
This is why, he says, he’s working with the UAE-based firm. “Ròya represents the other side of the equation, because at the end of the day, it is the hotel business, but in reality the hotel business is a by-product of a real estate business. What we do here in Ròya and my responsibility today with the team is to develop the smartest real estate for the hotel industry.
“And then, of course, working with the hotel management companies to make sure once the product has been created and the investments have been completed, that we maximise the returns.”
Hartzuiker candidly says that in decades gone by, hotel real estate was often seen as a trophy but “today there are hard-core numbers that have to be achieved”.
While Hartzuiker is a hotelier by trade, he’s quick to say that not all of his 60+ team are so. “This surprises most people,” he says with a smile. “We want to make sure we are not jack of all trades and masters of none. We really have people who specialise — we acknowledge there are subject experts and we bring them at various stages of the project [where] they take the lead.”
And specialist knowledge is needed in a workplace which deals with many aspects of the hospitality industry. Ròya as a company has evolved to include three streams: hospitality advisory, asset management and F&B.
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