Family resort concept first for Middle East
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Well-known hotelier Mike Scully has teamed up with a European hotel firm to bring what he claims is the first family resort concept to the Middle East.
Scully, the Managing Director of hospitality at Dubai-based holding firm Seven Tides, has set up a new hotel management company - First & Foremost Hotels and Resorts - and has joined forces with Leading Family Hotels & Resorts to bring a “new breed of exclusive and all-inclusive” resorts to MENA.
Scully First & Foremost would create a portfolio of luxury resorts and hotels, budget hotels and hotel apartments in some of the region’s key holiday hotspots, but starting with Dubai.
“We will have one open within the next 12 months,” Scully told TDME
“Our strategy is that in the next five years, we will have 12 properties signed and number in the pipeline.”
There would be a property in every emirate of the UAE and a further five GCC-wide, he added.
“Oman and Saudi Arabia will be strong markets for this concept,” Scully continued.
Most properties would be new builds but he said conversions would work in some instances.
Leading Family Hotels and Resorts currently operates 55 resorts in Europe, all of which typically command 92% occupancy on average.
Scully said occupancy rates combined with the funds generated by an all-inclusive concept, meant investors were guaranteed “good return on investment”.
Scully was speaking to a TDME from this week’s Arabian Hotel and Investment Conference (AHIC) in Dubai where hoteliers traditionally network and rally support for projects such as these.
He was adamant that his new venture had no conflict of interest with his role at Seven Tides, which owns the four new Movenpick properties in Dubai.
“They are completely different brands - this is a new hotel group,” he said. “In fact, some of the Seven Tides board members are shareholders in First & Foremost.”
Scully stressed that all-inclusive prices at his “top-end” family resorts would range from US$295 to US$560 depending on the season.
They would cater to kids of all ages, from birth to teens, and aim to “get kids away from the mall culture and back to nature”.
“We will have vegetable patches, goats and other animals, plus kids can learn to make cheese,” he said
Every hotel would have its own theatre and kids would be encouraged to put on performances, he added.
The company also plans to register and comply with Estidama, an initiative developed by the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council to promote sustainable development, management and operation.
All properties under the management of First & Foremost will adhere to Estidama’s Pearl Rating System, a framework encompassing sustainable design, construction and operation of communities and buildings, but also supports the social and cultural traditions of the emirate.
“Our hotels will be practical in their design rather than relying on aesthetics that tend to have a high carbon footprint. We will also buy locally-grown produce to reduce our carbon emissions,” said Scully.
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