Aleph Hospitality managing director Bani Haddad has said that third-party operated hotels is part of the future of hospitality in this region.
Haddad told Hotelier: “We set up Aleph Hospitality as third-party operator for the Middle East & Africa to cater for a changing wind. We looked at how the hotel industry functions and is operated in the US, and how it does in Europe, and we saw that the third-party operator business is the widest spread.
“We realised there’s a big need for third-party professionally managed companies.”
The company has its headquarters located in Dubai, with the first property in its portfolio opening in Addis Ababa.
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He said that the model is a win-win situation for all the stakeholders, and added: “For the owner, we drive higher returns, higher bottom line, and also a much leaner organisation. We manage our costs and the hotel costs in a much more efficient way. And we are really pushed by the brand to act exactly to the brand standards.”
Haddad continued: “The biggest advantage for the operator is that they would grow faster. They would go to secondary, tertiary locations and cities, and still collect royalty fees with a much lesser support cost than if they were managing it, so their profits are still quite interesting.”
The firm is discussing opportunities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and Rwanda. Haddad predicted that by September 2016, the firm would have three management agreements signed.
Haddad concluded: “It’s definitely the way forward in this region. I think that in the next three to five years, we should have around 13 hotels in the Middle East and Africa.”
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