The Jumeirah Group revealed plans to open a 219-room luxury hotel in the new PalaisQuarter retail and leisure development in Frankfurt.
The Jumeirah Group will open five new properties in 2010, the firm's executive chairman Gerald Lawless has pledged.
The company, which last week revealed plans to open a 219-room luxury hotel in the new PalaisQuarter retail and leisure development in Frankfurt, said the five properties would include the delayed Shanghai property.
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"We are still holding out for a 2009 opening (for the Shanghai hotel), but we'll see," Lawless told Hotelier Middle East.
"It hasn't gone up yet, but it will open and we will run it; I am relaxed about it. It has to open before May 2010 for the Expo taking place in Shanghai that month."
Lawless continued: "Apart from Shanghai and Frankfurt, we will probably have two [new] hotels in Dubai and one in Kuwait."
Looking further ahead, Lawless said there was no change to plans for 60 hotels by 2012.
"They will be open or under development - there will be 25-30 in operation," he said. "Our pipeline is very strong and will continue that way - we are quietly confident."
He also revealed that Jumeirah was considering launching a lifestyle brand.
"If we do it, it would be in the next 12 to 18 months," he said. "However, before we do that, we want to make sure we bed in the Jumeirah brand."
Lawless did concede that the most difficult part of his job at present was "to work out the timescale of openings and coping with potential delays".
He said the reason the Frankfurt property would be rolled out so quickly was that the building was already constructed.
"But we have been working on that one for the past couple of years; it's in the last phase of development," he said.
"It's significant for us as a centre of finance in Europe and sits very well alongside New York, London and Dubai."
Lawless also set the record straight regarding speculation that project delays and the financial performance of Jumeirah Group had been a result of parent company Dubai Holding putting pressure on the firm to subsidise some of its less successful ventures.
"There is nothing to worry about with Dubai Holding and there is no curtailment," said Lawless. "I have had nothing but encouragement in supporting us with our plan for 60 hotels by 2012. Nothing has changed in that."
In addition, Lawless said the Jumeirah Group was "doing better than expected" in terms of revPAR for the first quarter.
"Once we got together with the DTCM and Emirates Airline [for the 'Keep Discovering Dubai campaign] we really did stimulate demand," he said.
"I know it sounds arrogant, but we got it just right in my opinion. To get people to come to Dubai we had to let them know there was availability in Dubai and we will continue to offer promotions."
Lawless revealed that revPAR was 20% down for the first quarter of 2009, compared to the hotel industry average for Dubai of around 35% down.
"We expected that and we have to remember, we have come off an amazing peak," he said.
"Our forward bookings are looking good and our forecast for summer [in terms of occupancy at the beach properties] is certainly 80%, especially in July and August."
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May 4, 2009 , United Arab Emirates
The article gives a very positive outlook of the industry. Mr. Lawless and his team deserves an appreciation is making a statement "No change in the plans for opening 60 hotels by 2012".