Abu Dhabi-based Rotana Hotels will expand its chain with six new properties across the country. Confirmed with Emirates 24/7, the development is expected to create more than 1,000 new jobs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by the end of 2011.
“After the opening of Centro Sharjah, we have six new hotels targeted for 2011, across the UAE, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al Ain. By year end, we will be adding 1,200 rooms or 33 hotels to the country’s landscape and a recruitment drive is a natural progression,” said company COO, Omer Kaddouri. “Currently, we are looking at filling in 1,000 new jobs, and that number can only increase.”
Of the six hotel openings, three will be located in the capital, with Centro Al Manhal, Centro Capital Centre and Capital Centre Rotana, adding 953 rooms to Abu Dhabi. Al Ain will also get an addition with the 200-room Hili Rayhaan by Rotana.
Just last month Rotana announced an $800 million investment in the brand.
“We aim to have a hotel in every major Middle Eastern city, and by 2014, we are confident to achieve that and add 9,000 new rooms to this region alone, while adding nearly 18,000 rooms globally,” said Kaddouri.
Rotana hopes to grow at an average of eight hotels per year, one plan being a new hotel in Qatar by the 2022 World Cup.
Despite some of Rotana’s hotels showing a decline due to regional strife, Kaddouri states that some areas have actually benefited.
“After things flared in Egypt, Bahrain and Syria, people started flocking to Dubai and we recorded a 10 per cent occupancy increase this year, which can be attributed to it,” he said.
