Last week in Geneva two people came to me for hotels in Sarajevo and I had another Italian come to see me for a project in Kazakhstan, where we haven’t even thought of.

They come to us, so obviously the project really interests people. And yet, we haven’t really done much publicity, but there is definitely an interest in doing something new.

You have seven projects signed and under development. Are you focusing on these or looking at further expansion?
The whole idea is to have 30 hotels within the next six to seven years, and the way that it looks, we should have that.

Would you be open to taking over pre-built properties?
To be able to create an interest and cash flow is to be able to take over some existing hotels. On one condition though, which is that the people who come to us to take them over make the necessary changes to be a Shaza Hotel. For example, if you have a hotel and you have only one spa, we will have to create a second one so that you have a Hamman for ladies and one for men. We will also take the alcohol away from the bar.

The other day I was in England talking about non-alcoholic beverages. They are very creative these days and they can create drinks that basically taste like wine. Another day I went to Cairo, I walked in and asked for a beer and they said ‘yes sir’, even though they don’t serve alcohol any more. They didn’t even say anything, just brought me a non-alcoholic beer.

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Times are changing, people are more health conscious.

People travel more and more to have different experiences and different cultures. If we do it right we can succeed quite well.