Rotana's mid-market Centro increases GCC footprint

Rotana chief operating officer Guy Hutchinson has said that the operator's mid-market brand, Centro, is gaining a lot of traction in the GCC.

In conversation with Hotelier Middle East, Hutchinson said: "Qatar is a good example [where] our performance is solid. We have two five-stars, we have the residences which are running at 90%, we have the mid-market brand which opened last year and went 80% in its third month."

He explained that by serving multiple sectors, Rotana is able to support customers across a range of needs.

Hutchinson said that mid-market is an important segment, with the Centro brand hitting that niche very nicely.

He continued: "The product has done extremely well in the UAE, and now we’re seeing it really get traction in the GCC.

"We opened the first in Jeddah, which has been extremely successful, and we have four more opening in the Kingdom this year. Two in Riyadh, a second one in Jeddah and one more in Al Khobar."

In total, Rotana will open 12 new hotels in 2017, and five more in 2018. Centro property openings include Centro Waha, Riyadh, KSA (290 keys) and Centro Salama, Jeddah, KSA (189 keys) in Q3 2017, Centro Istanbul and Arjaan Istanbul by Rotana, Istanbul, Turkey (305 keys), Centro Olaya, Riyadh, KSA (156 keys), and Centro Corniche, Al Khobar, KSA (253 keys) in Q4 2017.