Millennium & Copthorne to debut mid-market in MENA

Millennium & Copthorne is introducing its mid-market offering, Studio M, in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in 2018, revealed chief operating officer François Kassab.

The Saudi Arabia-based Studio M property will be located in Madinah, while the UAE property will be located in Al Barsha, Dubai.

“What you can expect from us is a lot of innovations as we introduce Studio M into the mid-market here,” said Kassab. “We have more planned in Riyadh and Muscat and Abu Dhabi too,” he adds.

On the importance of the mid-market sector to the overall strategy of Millennium & Copthorne, Kassab said: “It is important because we see the demand coming from this sector, especially from a development point of view.

"The number of [mid-market] hotels you can bring to a market is different, there is more demand because you can put more properties in a city, when compared to the locations of luxury and four- and five-star hotels and resorts. This is because the number of people who can afford the mid-market is much greater, and from cost of development point of view it is cheaper to build.”

Millennium & Copthorne, Middle East and Africa will expand its full operating portfolio in the Middle East region with 12 hotels set to open in the next 12 months, in UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and will also debut in Georgia.

The Studio M brand has been operational in Singapore since 2009.