LOCATION

Speaking on the topic of mid-market locations, Kassab keenly adds: “You will always see a continued success of Dubai in this market.” He continues: “Doha is asking for it too, especially with the World Cup coming in 2022; they will certainly have arrivals coming who want mid-market hospitality options.”

Commenting specifically on the growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, he says: “In Saudi Arabia the demography speaks for itself, the scale of internal [mid-market] travel there is big too, so much so we are now entering sec-ondary markets there. It’s a very busy period with signings, openings and launches, we are hugely excited and very happy to be going through an era such as this.”

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SAUDI ARABIA

With Studio M scheduled to open in Madinah in 2018, Kassab offers his opinion on how the Kingdom will be im-portant to the success of Studio M. “Saudi is defined a key market for us, as the mid-market sector is growing very fast there. Among the biggest in number of hotels will be located there once opened. We are going to many cities and planning other openings in secondary cities, this is very important to our strategy, especially in religious cities, like Makkah and Madinah, these are key markets for the sector.”

“When we enter into a market for a secondary city, we will typically start with our flagship brand, then immediately after the investor is comfortable, we go in with our mid-market brand.”

Saudi Arabia is focused on tourism and visitor growth according to Kassab, so much so they are reviewing the visa processes and enabling visitors to visit others cities more easily upon arrival into the Kingdom.

Kassab notes that facilitating such growth in the Kingdom is assisted by the new airlines opening up, and the addi-tion of new routes, especially from budget airlines: “It is growing, and it’s all growing together,” he adds.

But there are challenges waiting for the mid-market hotelier in Saudi Arabia, as Kassab explains. “All countries have their own regulations that you must understand,” he begins. “So we have our corporate office in Jeddah and we plan to increase management there. Because we are increasing the number of the properties we have in Saudi, you need to have knowledge of how to operate there; with that [knowledge] it all becomes less difficult.”

As Studio M embarks on a new phase of expansion in the Middle East, Kassab identifies this local knowledge as being the differentiator between Studio M and its competitors entering the market.