Hotel rates expected to rise



Rotana, the hotel company based in Abu Dhabi, believes room rates in the UAE will begin to rise by the end of the year, as a result of instability elsewhere in the region.

The group, which operates more hotels in the Emirates than any other company, said its leisure rates were likely to increase from November, when the extreme heat of summer begins to tail off.

"This means that demand is there for the UAE," said Omer Kaddouri, the chief operating officer of Rotana. "I think the problems of the wider area are affecting the UAE tourism business in a positive way."

Mr Kaddouri said many tourists had avoided travel to destinations including Egypt and opted for Dubai and Abu Dhabi instead.

"When you're talking to operators, they're saying there is demand and we're saying we're looking at a 5 to 10 per cent increase for the 2011 and 2012 [November to November] leisure rates," he said. "Things are looking up."

Hotel performances across the UAE have declined because of an increase in supply coupled with the global slowdown in travel.

For Rotana, other parts of the region are giving cause for concern.

The company operates four hotels in the Red Sea area of Egypt, with three in Sharm el Sheikh and another in Hurghada.

"We're still struggling there with the occupancy," Mr Kaddouri said. "The Russian market has not lifted their ban yet. A lot of the business we were getting was predominantly Russian. The UK market is trickling into Sharm.

"The occupancies we're hoping will start looking a little bit healthier towards April, May.

"We're working very hard to get out there, to make promotions, talking to our partners to encourage them to come back to Sharm, but it's going to have to rebuild slowly but surely."

Mr Kaddouri said occupancy levels across the major Red Sea resorts were running at 15 to 20 per cent.

"We rely completely on tourism, so without the tourists flying in from all over the place then of course we suffer."

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Starring: Kareena Kapoo-Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania ​​​​​​​
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Date started: February 2017

Founders: Amira Rashad (CEO), Yusuf Saber (CTO), Mahmoud Sayedahmed (adviser), Reda Bouraoui (adviser)

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: E-commerce 

Size: 50 employees

Funding: approximately $6m

Investors: Beco Capital, Enabling Future and Wain in the UAE; China's MSA Capital; 500 Startups; Faith Capital and Savour Ventures in Kuwait

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Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.

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Temple numbers

Expected completion: 2022

Height: 24 meters

Ground floor banquet hall: 370 square metres to accommodate about 750 people

Ground floor multipurpose hall: 92 square metres for up to 200 people

First floor main Prayer Hall: 465 square metres to hold 1,500 people at a time

First floor terrace areas: 2,30 square metres  

Temple will be spread over 6,900 square metres

Structure includes two basements, ground and first floor 

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
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Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue

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Analysis

Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more

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