Dur Hospitality has celebrated its achievements and revealed its ambitious strategy for future growth at a press conference staged during the second edition of the Saudi Arabia Hotel Investment Conference (SHIC), where the company was a platinum sponsor.
With the Kingdom confirming a 7% increase in spending close to SAR 1.106 trillion to boost private sector growth and create investment opportunities across multiple industries, and hospitality a major sector set to benefit, Dur Hospitality announced its growth plan for the coming years during the highly-successful event. The 300-plus hotel investors, owners, developers and operators in attendance gained insight into Dur Hospitality’s success story of more than four decades, with the company’s leaders and top executives outlining Dur Hospitality’s history, its 2018 achievements and its plans for 2019 and beyond.
Dur Hospitality currently has nine projects under construction, of which four will be completed and operational in 2019. This includes the development of Holiday Inn Jubail and Hotel Suites, the expansion of Riyadh Airport Marriott Hotel, the development of hotel apartments and expansion of the ballroom in Holiday Inn Tabuk Hotel and the launch of Marriott Hotel in the Diplomatic Quarter, Riyadh.
Development Plans
The company’s growth plans also include:
• Expanding the Makarem Hotels portfolio to 10,000 rooms by 2028;
• The development of the DARRAQ brand with the addition of 55 luxurious residential units in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter by 2019;
• The launch of ‘Karam for Umrah Services’ a new subsidiary to support the development of the ‘Makarem Hotels’ brand and its expanding inventory in the Holy Cities, as well as the growing number of religious tourists visiting both.
Recent Achievements
The company also outlined recent achievements in partnership with Marriott and IHG, including: the opening of the Marriott Riyadh Diplomatic Quarter in time for SHIC; the rebranding of Riyadh Palace into Crowne Plaza Riyadh Palace Hotel in May 2018, which is now undergoing a major refurbishment; and the full renovation and rebranding of Riyadh airport hotel into Marriott Airport Hotel.
“All of these business successes are testament to Dur Hospitality’s 42 years of unrivalled market expertise and experience, which has seen us identify opportunities to develop new hospitality concepts such as Makarem Hotels and forge strong partnerships with Marriott and IHG to open properties in high-growth markets where branded properties are in strong demand,” explained Dr Badr Al Badr, CEO of Dur Hospitality.
“In 2018, we made significant in-roads into developing our portfolio of properties, in line with our commitment to Vision 2030, providing the hospitality concepts required to meet the project demand in religious and non-religious tourism this blueprint for socio-economic transformation will generate”, he added.
New partnerships
On the side-lines of the conference, Dur Hospitality announced two recent official signings – an agreement with owner Mr. Abed Al Qurashi to manage the Makarem Jabal Al Kaaba Hotel in Makkah and a landmark acquisition deal with SHADA Homes, which will see Dur make its foray in the serviced/long-stay apartment sector soon.
Mr. Hassan Ahdab, President Hotel Operations, Dur Hospitality, revealed that this marks another milestone in Dur’s plan to develop 10 new projects over the next five years and to grow Makarem’s pipeline to 10,000 keys by 2028.”
It is worth mentioning that the company currently operates more than 20 properties and 3,047 rooms, with assets under management worth more than SAR2.6 billion. Additionally, it has 22 projects at different stages in the pipeline, most of which are scheduled for delivery between now and 2020, thus doubling the value of the company’s portfolio value to SAR 2.4 billion.
