Hues chain foresees good times for hospitality in the GCC

Hues Boutique Hotel, which recently opened its doors for business and leisure travellers, sees brighter days ahead for the hospitality industry and has evolved an aggressive expansion plan to launch the new brand in the region. The newly-opened upmarket property for luxury travellers to the UAE plans to launch six more properties in the Gulf region by 2014 as demand picks up in the wake of the recovery in the tourism sector across the globe.
"We are going to open three hotels in Dubai in the next few months and three more in GCC by the end of 2014," Nasser Shams, director of sales and marketing of Hues Boutique Hotel, told Khaleej Times in an interview.
He said Hues is the first four-star boutique hotel in the UAE and this unique brand will soon be introduced in the region to grab hold of the upscale luxury market.
"For sure, we do have expansion plans. However, these plans are made very prudently. We are constantly looking for potential and growing regional markets. Thus, we are on the way to sign for a new property in Qatar," he said.
"We have a very well-defined investment strategy to introduce the boutique hotel concept in the region to serve the business and leisure travellers," he added.
Shams said the first-of-its-kind boutique hotel project, which was officially launched in April this year, targets the upscale market and expects 70 per cent occupancy levels in its first year of operations.
"This hotel is as much an art project as it is a boutique hotel. As the hotel is already getting rave reviews, we expect at least 40 per cent occupancy from luxury travellers this year."
"As you know we are a new hotel but we are very much encouraged by the results of the first quarter as the hotel experienced nearly 70 per cent occupancy. As summer is approaching, our understanding is that things will only get better."
Shams remains upbeat about the hospitality sector in Dubai and said the emirate is the destination of choice for leisure travellers due to excellent facilities it offered to the visitors. "We believe that there is demand for the low and high category. We are concentrating on Dubai as it is a very important destination for both business and leisure travellers. We have reports that the tourist numbers are going to increase this year which means everyone in this industry can benefit."
In reply to a question about the outlook for the hospitality sector, he said brighter days are ahead as occupancy and average room rates have improved this year due to continued growth in the region's tourism industry. "Looking at the very encouraging figures of 2012, we can very safely say that it has been one of the very successful years for the hotel industry of the GCC market. We hope and indicators show that the year 2013 will be even better."
Khaleej Times
25 August