TIME HOTEL GROUP EXPANDS IN MIDDLE EAST AND MAURITIUS
UAE-based TIME Hotels are expanding, with eight new mixed complexes in Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Mauritius opening by 2022. The company has a target of 30 properties by 2025.
The expanded portfolio for the UAE headquartered company confirms the group’s ambitions to become an important player in the hospitality industry in both the Gulf area and Africa.
For Mohamed Awadalla, CEO, TIME Hotels, the market is heading to staycations and digital nomads following the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our pipeline of hotels and residences will meet the demands of the ‘new normal’ – attracting overseas digital nomads and local visitors for staycations, as well as more traditional business and leisure segments by consistently offering a value-driven, high-quality experience across all of our branded properties,” said Mr Awadalla. “We currently have 14 properties consisting of 1,465 keys in operation across the UAE and wider GCC with new additional properties opening this year in Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. In 2022, we are opening another property and our first hotel in Mauritius, the 120-key TIME Phoenix Hill. Our goal is to expand our portfolio to 30 properties by 2025.”
The TIME Asma Hotel, a dedicated property for female travellers in Dubai
In 2021, TIME Hotels will open three hotels in the UAE: the 91-key TIME Moonstone Hotel Apartments in Fujairah; the 99-key TIME Burj Al Saadah Hotel Apartments in Sharjah and the four-star, 232-room TIME Asma Hotel, in Al Barsha, Dubai.
“Two floors of the TIME Asma hotel are reserved exclusively for female travellers, with dedicated services, including: personalised room service, a female-only check-in counter, dedicated ladies-only guest relations, in-house baby-sitting services, and in-room tablets highlighting all of the services offered for women as well as enhanced bathroom amenities in each room,” said Awadalla.
The 232-key property had its soft-opening on June 15, before its grand opening, taking place in September. In addition to its special floors reserved to female travellers, the TIME Asma Hotel management team consists entirely of women, including the hotel manager Alexandra Kelner and 80% of the hotel’s employees.
TIME has also been very active in Saudi Arabia and will shortly take over the management of two boutique hotels in Riyadh: the TIME Elite Suites in Al Muruj and the TIME Express Olaya Hotel in the Saudi capital’s upmarket Olaya district.
Moving into the Indian Ocean
TIME will also open its first two hotels in Egypt later this year – the five-star TIME Coral Resort Nuweiba in the Red Sea resort of Nuweiba and the four-star TIME Marina Hotel & Conference Centre near Al Alamein on the Mediterranean coast, which is being hailed as Egypt’s second capital.
One additional TIME branded property will be inaugurated next year, bringing TIME’s overall portfolio to 22 properties by the end of 2022.
The property will be located in Mauritius. It will be a first for TIME Hotels in the Indian Ocean.
While the TIME Coral Resort Nuweiba is a rebranding of an existing property, and consequently already opened, the TIME Marina Hotel should be ready by this coming August.
The TIME Phoenix Hill is located in Mauritius’ Cyber City of Ebene. It will be a 120-key deluxe hotel & apartment property comprising 11 floors, featuring one, two and three-bedroom apartments, meeting rooms and café/lounge.
Mr Awadalla concluded: “2020 was a very challenging year for hospitality, travel and tourism, right across the globe, but we are looking ahead at 2021 and beyond with great optimism. With so much pent-up demand as well as Expo 2020, we are looking forward to a very busy autumn and winter period.”
