Marriott tops GCC hotel development pipeline

Marriott International is top of the GCC hotel development pipeline, with 29 hotels comprising 9572 rooms due to open between 2010 and 2015.

The company has beaten last year’s leader Accor into second place, with 23 hotels, while Rotana ranked third with 17 hotels under development.

The latest update on the pipeline comes from Dubai-based hospitality and property consulting firm Viability, and was presented for the first time yesterday at HOTEC Middle East by Viability director Guy Wilkinson.

Commenting on the findings during the HOTEC seminar programme, presented to 160 delegates attending the hotel business forum held at the Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah resort in Muscat, Wilkinson said: “The power of the brand comes into its own during recession conditions when the distribution system is all important”.

He highlighted some major Marriott projects, such as the 1614-room Marquis hotel in Dubai, opening in two phases in 2011 and 2013, and the 1350-room Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh.

When Viability conducted the same research in 2009, Accor had topped the pipeline.

Wilkinson said: “Accor was number one last year. They were quite honest with me in saying that some of the projects last year were put on hold or cancelled. Even some of the big chains have been victims of the economic downturn”.

However, he added that Accor’s projects, including a Novotel in Fujairah, gave a “big vote of confidence to the mid-market”.

Rotana came in at third place, with some large properties being developed under the alcohol-free Rayhaan brand, said Wilkinson.

In Deira, Dubai for example, the Rayhaan Al Ghurair is a 620-key property due to open in 2012.

“It will be interesting to see how a dry hotel with this many rooms will fare against the hotels that do serve alcohol,” commented Wilkinson.

The new Viability report revealed a total GCC hotel development pipeline of 282 planned hotels with 83,604 rooms as of April 2010.

Wilkinson said the research had been a three-month project involving around 60 operators, excluding single-site owner / operators.

The study only includes hotels with scheduled opening dates and excludes all ‘to be confirmed’ properties.

See the June issue of Hotelier Middle East for more data and an analysis of the report by Guy Wilkinson.