Dubai: Canada-based hotel operator Fairmont, which currently manages one luxury hotel in Dubai, plans to open six new hotels in the UAE within three years, boosting its presence in the region's fastest growing tourism market.
The new properties will offer some 2,000 guest rooms and 2,400 apartments, the company's regional vice-president Philip Barnes told Gulf News.
Two largescale developments are located on the Palm Jumeirah. Their openings have been delayed due to the construction-related problems affecting the rapidly expanding UAE real estate sector.
The company plans to hire 6,000 new staff to manage the new developments in the UAE. Of these, 4,000 will be required for the Palm properties, Barnes said.
The Fairmont Palm Hotel and Resort, offering 377 rooms and 588 apartments, was scheduled to open this year but now it will be ready next year. The Fairmont Kingdom of Sheba is expected to open in 2010 and will have 450 hotel rooms.
"In conjunction with all of those, we will be managing about 1,400 apartments on the Palm," Barnes said, adding that the apartment will not be under the hotel brand.
Luxury apartments
Fairmont will also manage a block of 50 luxury apartments on The Palm Jumeirah to be available on a fractional ownership basis. "There is a lot going on," Barnes said, referring to the company's new developments and talks with investors for new projects.
One 120-room hotel will open in Fujairah in late 2009 and negotiations are under way for a 120-room property in Al Ain. The Fujairah property will also have 130 unbranded residences and 20 branded residences.
The first Fairmont in Abu Dhabi is planned to open in the fourth quarter of this year and another hotel will be ready by 2010. The first hotel will have 369 rooms, while the second will provide 600 hotel rooms and 200 apartments.
At present, the 399-room Fairmont Hotel on Shaikh Zayed Road in Dubai is the only hotel the company operates in the UAE.
One of the largest Fairmont properties is being developed in Makkah.
"This is very big and important hotel for us. It has 890 rooms and another 890 apartments," Barnes said.
Elsewhere in the region, Fairmont has signed a deal for a 200-room hotel in Jordan.
It will be operating a 300-room hotel and 200 residences outside Muscat. In May this year, Fairmont will open a 574-room hotel in Cairo.
Kuwait-based investor IFA is a major investor in Fairmont developments. IFA is investing in three Fairmont hotels in South Africa and one in Seychelles.
The Kuwaiti firm also owns the recently opened 108-room Fairmont in Zanzibar.
