Renowned hotel management firm, Rotana Hotels, is pursuing its expansion plans into new markets and technologies in 2015 at full steam, despite regional turmoil.
'We’re opening hotels, when they open they do well. So, really things are looking very good for us,' company president and CEO, Omer Kaddouri (below), told 4Hoteliers.com.
With a property portfolio spanning the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe, Rotana has already recorded impressive growth since its initial launch with two properties in 1993, to today boasting a portfolio of 52 operating hotels, with another 52 in development.
Speaking from his booth at the annual world tourism ITB convention, Kaddouri describes the mood as positive at headquarters in Abu Dhabi despite 2014 not being a “wow year.”
“It was a challenging year because of the geopolitical issues that we’re having in the region still: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan,” Kaddouri said. “But ultimately, we’re growing, so we’ve done something right. And I believe it’s because people trust us. That’s the difference between us and some of the others.”
Joining the company in 1998, Kaddouri, now oversees Rotana’s well-publicized “aggressive” growth plan, forecasted to reach a roster of 100 hotels across its five brands by 2020, a goal which he says the company is “well on track to meeting.”
“We’ve got some mega plans this year, we’ve got 10 hotels to open. It’s the most amount of hotels we’ve opened in one year,” Kaddouri said.
“We’re also going into some newer destinations. We’re opening our first hotel in sub-Saharan Africa. We’re going to Kinshasa, Congo, and two hotels in Turkey, another new destination for us so, a very exciting year.”
‘It’s all about technology’
Technology has also been instrumental to Rotana’s continued growth.
“It’s all about technology,” Kaddouri says. “Most companies that are forward-thinking, are planning well ahead, want to maintain a sustainable clientele, need to be thinking about their technology platforms and ensuring they are giving the customer what they want.”
Rotana introduced online check-in and check-out capabilities via its website rotana.com and the Rotana Mobile App two years ago, which according to a hotel survey has garnered an 85-percent customer satisfaction rating. Mobile technology has already proven lucrative for the company who recorded a 20 percent increase in mobile sales via the app.
Kaddouri pinpoints in-room technology as an area the company is especially interested in, to engage with the technological needs of today’s hyper-connected traveler.
“You know, there are some hotels, and if you’re in a hotel room with your husband and children, and each one of you has three devices, there are some hotels that won’t allow you to use them,” Kaddouri said. “Hotels these days have to have the technology to allow you to use three devices simultaneously. So, we make sure we’re adapting to the customer today.”
“Business is all about people,” he added. “It’s not about how many hotels you have, how luxurious they look or where they’re located. I don’t care what anybody ever says, business is only successful if you can reach out, and respect people from the bottom up. I’m a big believer in that.”
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