A lot has been written about whether the hotels will be Shariah compliant.
There are certain things that we will definitely respect because this was our commitment, but we prefer to speak of the oriental spirit and the oriental spirit happens to have Shariah compliance and therefore no alcohol. But we don’t want to make it sound like an absolute rule; it is just part of the culture. We don’t want it to sound negative.

But will unmarried couples be able to stay there, for example?
Today, if you look at the number of people who are not married in Europe, half of the people live like ‘normal’ people with children and a house, but are just not married. If we want to have 40% of customers from the GCC we also have to look to the way of life of the rest of the world.

This is a good example of the Shariah compliance with certain rules that are part of the oriental and Middle East way of life. Like the Hamman; we will have Hamman for the ladies and a Hamman for the men, but we are not living in the 1900s any more. We will have a pool for the men and a pool for the ladies and a children’s club, because children are very precious in the orient. But this is the kind of spirit we wish to have, not necessarily ‘Shariah compliance’ which can be interpreted in many ways, but we will certainly respect it because it is part of the culture.

So in summary, like a normal hotel, we would allow unmarried couples. Who are we to say today that people must be married when they have children? Who are we to check when they come and say they are married? It is a way of life in the orient. Certain things will be respected. I even think that the non-alcoholic beverages can become a trend. If you look at non-smoking for example; 20 years ago if I had said there would be non-smoking hotels, you would have laughed at me. We are going more toward the healthy way of living.

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This is not about Shariah compliance, this is all over the world. You want a healthier life, you want to live longer and no alcohol is part of it and no smoking is part of it.

Shaza Hotels was launched at the Arabian Travel Market several years ago and yet there are still no properties to touch and feel. How difficult is it to maintain interest in something that is in many ways still an idea?
It is more than an idea — we now have seven contracts signed. This means that people believe in us. Our biggest investment is from Doha, Qatar, which is from this part of the world so they obviously believe in us. I am not a Muslim and I know a lot of people who are not Muslim, and every time I talk about the idea, everyone is excited about the prospect of creating something new.

The orient and the Middle East have not really created a hotel chain that respects the culture of this part of the world yet.

I went to Iran a few months ago — I was scared to go to Iran — but when I arrived there I found people who were very open with an incredible culture and incredible history. We don’t even have this in Europe, yet nobody capitalises on it.

For example, another thing we are going to do in our hotels is we are going to try to put art from this part of the world.
Where do you see this? Nowhere.

Between this, between the no-alcohol, between the food and different type of rooms, Hamman instead of spa, it is slowly coming together. I think that within four to five months I will have my act together and we will be much more specific on what we are going to do exactly. Then six months later we will start to work on the first hotel and another six months later the first hotel will open.

The interest is also [demonstrated] by the number of people [asking about the brand].