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Raffles Hotel - Photo: www.leonardo.com

The 123-year-old luxury hotel, renowned for its colonial grandeur and Singapore Sling cocktails, is set to be sold as part of a $847m deal for a stake in Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, The Times reported.

Qatar Diar this week agreed to pay $467m for a 40pc stake in Fairmont Raffles, with Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal set to cut his previously controlling interest in the group from 58pc to 35pc. US private equity firm Colony Capital will reduce its holding to 22pc.

The deal includes $105m in hotel managemement contracts for Fairmont Raffles and $275m for an unnamed hotel property.

Fairmont Raffles and the Prince’s Kingdom Holding Company confirmed that the sale of the Raffles Hotel is under discussion, The Times reported, with Qatar Diar said to be evaluating the cost of an estimated $100m refurbishment project.

The Singapore landmark is one of more than 100 hotels run by Fairmont Raffles. It was founded in 1887 and guests have included Noel Coward, Rudyard Kipling and Michael Jackson.

Qatar Diar’s property portfolio includes Le Royal Monceu in Paris, which is set to reopen under the Raffles brand later this year.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

Forty one new hotels will be operational by the end of 2010, the agency said, according to the Peninsula newspaper.

Last year the number of available hotel rooms in the country increased by 25 percent compared to the previous year. Officials said this year looked to be even stronger because of the delays some projects faced due to liquidity pressures of the global financial crisis.

“The global economic crisis has taken its toll on the world tourism sector,” Ahmed Abdullah Al Nuaimi, QTA chairman, told the paper. “A thriving hotel industry is a key component for any country’s tourism sector.” According to the data the total number of three-star hotel rooms in Qatar rose from 964 in 2008 to 1,084 in 2009. During the same time the number of four-star rooms also increased from 2,155 to 2,760, and the number of five-star grew from 3,056 to 4,059.

However, the QTA said hotel occupancy rates fell by 6.3 percent last year compared to 2008, and the revenues earned by four and five-star hotels fell by QR33m and QR10m respectively. (QNA)

The plan includes construction of luxury hotels, resorts and other leisure facilities, with a total of up to 29,000 luxury rooms by 2012. A total of 80,000 hotel rooms in various ranges will be available by 2016.

“QTEA has a very practical strategy targeting an increase of 20 percent of new travellers in the next five years,” said a statement issued yesterday.

This strategy would be achieved by attracting five percent of passengers travelling through the Doha International Airport and asking them to stay an extra 48 hours in the country past their initial scheduled time. The total number of travellers would thus go up to 2.5 million, said the statement.

Source: The Peninsula

The acquired company’s activities include hotel, spa, restaurant, and related merchandise and entertainment industries. Its portfolio currently consists of 100 restaurants and hotels in operation or in the pipeline within the coming 2 to 3 years situated around the globe.

Countries include the United States, Brazil, Australia, UK, Ireland, Russian Federation, France, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, India, China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Senegal, Pakistan, Macau, Panama, Singapore, Monaco, Morocco, Tunis, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain.

His Excellency Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, Chairman of QNH, said: “The timing of this acquisition reflects the Company’s ability to acquire existing assets with growth potential, which in this case will be driven by QNH’s active asset management.” He adds: “We have been very fortunate these past few years and are now looking to exceed what we have been praised for by delivering a spectacular level of global business growth and investment success for the future.”

The 1 billion Qatari Riyal capital invested is to be recovered over the course of an estimated eight years with the current global economy situation. This investment is a part of QNH’s rapid expansion strategy and follows its various international investments over the past two years of acquiring properties in Europe and the Middle East.

QNH is an asset management company, developer and operator and is wholly owned by the Government of Qatar. The company’s successful hotel network has grown into a fusion of hospitality expertise expanding into the countries surrounding the region and internationally.

The company’s achievements supported by a dynamic portfolio of future projects in Qatar and abroad, firmly establish QNH as the dominant hotel owner in Qatar and one of the leading hotel specialists companies in the region.

Source: QNH

The W Doha is owned by J&A Jaidah, principals of J&A Jaidah Holdings, one of the most well known and well respected private companies in the Middle East.

W Hotel Wow Suite

The luxury hotel is located in the West Bay area of Doha, and features 291 guest rooms and suites, 154 residences, several restaurants including La Maison du Caviar and Spice Market, a poolside shisha lounge, champagne bar, 1,000sqm of meeting and events space, and luxury retail outlets.

W Hotel Standard Room

Qatar’s optimism, openness and energy have made it an attractive destination for visitors. A government allocation of US$17 billion for tourism over the next five years, including the construction of luxury hotels, resorts and other leisure facilities, will make the country even more attractive. Qatar is set to increase hotel capacity from its current 7,000 luxury rooms to more than 29,000 by 2012.

W Hotel Wow Suite

W Hotel Residence

“On the occasion of Eid Al Adha we would like to give our best wishes to all Muslims around the world”, said Saeid Heidari, General Manager. “It is our pleasure to live Arabic traditions and to pass it on to all our guests,” he added.

Traditionally dressed hotel staff wished and offered Arabic coffee, dates and mamoul to the guests. The Middle Eastern cookies ‘mamoul’, which are typically served for special holidays, have three traditional fillings including walnut, pistachio and date, are then baked, cooled and coated in powdered sugar, and are loved by all guests.

The Eid festivity commenced with a two day special Eid brunch, where all guests enjoyed traditional Arabic cuisines, paired with the flavours from around the world featuring life cooking stations in all five restaurants and accompanied by traditional live entertainment.

Source: thepeninsulaqatar.com