Welcome to the first annual Hotelier Express Power List. As the budget and mid-market hospitality sector continues to grow in the Middle East, we present our first ever ranking of the most influential people working to develop and expand this vibrant industry.
With an abundance of properties already operational in the region, including international brands, local home-grown chains, and standalone hotels and serviced apartments, compiling this list was no easy task. Furthermore, as you are well aware, there is an impressive and ever expanding pipeline of new hotels and brands entering the market over the coming months and years.
All this information was taken into account while producing this list, in addition to the personal accomplishments of each individual in their own budget and mid-market career paths. While the listing is subjective, we also used an algorithm to ensure accuracy in our decisions. To all those who made it into the top 20, congratulations! If you have any suggestions for who should be included in next year’s power list, please do get in touch.
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1. AccorHotels Middle East, Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer, Olivier Granet
AccorHotels, under the guidance of Olivier Granet, tops the Hotelier Express power list 2016 due its diverse portfolio of economy and mid-market brands currently operational in this region, in addition to a pipeline that see’s 50% of upcoming keys in this sector.
As of September 2016 there are 87 Accor hotels in the Middle East, encompassing more than 26,000 rooms, spanning the full spectrum of brands, including mid-market (Novotel, Novotel Suite, Mercure, Adagio) and economy (ibis and ibis Styles). Furthermore, between September 2015 and September 2016, AccorHotels opened seven economy and mid-scale hotels across the Middle East.
“Over the past year, we have also been proud to introduce new and innovative offerings, such as the ibis Styles brand to the region with the opening of the ibis Styles Jumeirah and ibis Styles Dragon Mart. Both properties add close to 450 budget rooms to the market in the UAE,” says AccorHotels Middle East managing director & chief operating officer of Olivier Granet.
At present there are 78 hotels with close to 23,500 additional rooms currently under development and to be opened within the next three years. This brings the total number of AccorHotels properties in operation and under development in the region to 165 hotels with nearly 50,000 keys, half of which are in the economy and mid-scale segment.
Granet notes his vision for the future of the company’s economy and mid-market activity will “more than double our network to reach a target of 30,000 rooms in operation by 2020.” He adds: “AccorHotels has had the pleasure of introducing the concept of budget hotels across key markets in the Middle East, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Expanding on our presence, we have opened this year in Dubai our largest ibis hotel in the Middle East, the ibis One Central, with close to 600 keys.”
Last year, AccorHotels signed an economy and mid-market management agreements for a trio-cluster of hotel properties in Al Naseem, Makkah, representing 2,400 keys to be operated three brands: Novotel, Adagio and an ibis Styles. This will become the largest complex worldwide to be operated by AccorHotels.
“Over the past year we have also been working to maintain our commitments to the global Planet 21 programme,” says Granet. “As part of this program, we are proud to state that 100% of our Middle East hotels, including those in the economy and mid-market category, are now recycling their waste.”
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