Shaza Hotels to expand presence in the Middle East

According to senior officials, Shaza Hotels is aiming to have 30 hotels in the region signed by 2020, with a total of 20 hotels in operation by 2020, local media sources have revealed.

"Since our inception, the core idea was to create a luxury hotel brand that is born of the Middle Eastern civilization," said Shaza Hotels executive vice president Sanjiv Malhotra.

"Shaza is the only brand which offers hand crafted guest experiences inspired by the cultures of the Silk Route in a contemporary setting."

Malhotra revealed that the brand had 13 hotels secured to date in Fez, Marrakech, Cairo, Makkah, Madinah, Jeddah, Riyadh, Bahrain, Doha, Amman, Salalah, as well as two in Muscat.

The 250-key Shaza Makkah is slated for opening in the last quarter of 2016 and will exclusively target pilgrims to the holy cities for Hajj and Umrah.

The brand first entered the Saudi Arabia market in December 2010, with the opening of the 469-key hotel Shaza Al Madina.

The luxury hotel brand, has 2,417 keys in operation or development to date.