The hotel operator behind The Chedi in Muscat is coming to Dubai.
Singapore’s General Hotel Management (GHM) signed a deal with the Dubai hotel development and investment company Van de Bunt Partners to launch a brand called Tin Hotels.
GHM is exploring opportunities for two properties in Dubai and one in Muscat in what it describes as the upper-midscale segment, which are typically three-star properties. The first ones in Dubai and Muscat are expected to open in 2019.
“Various locations are currently being reviewed and assessed, such as Downtown or Marina in Dubai,” said Clement Koh, the senior vice president for sales and marketing at GHM. “Development costs will vary from project to project depending on location, but Tin Hotels is set to generate above-market yields for our investors.”
Each hotel is likely to have between 200 and 250 rooms.
In addition to the luxury Chedi Muscat, which opened in 2003, GHM also operates properties in Vietnam, Indonesia and Switzerland under the Chedi brand.
It has four hotels in its portfolio and 11 properties under development, including two in Sharjah.
The 54-room Al Bait hotel project in Sharjah is scheduled to open next year.
In 2013, the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq) announced the start of construction on the five-star Al Bait project in the Heart of Sharjah development. Branded as a traditional Emirati hotel, it will be spread over 10,000 square metres along with retail spaces such as Souq Al Arsa.
GHM also expects to operate the Chedi Khorfakkan in Sharjah, featuring 100 villas in the mixed-use Al Jabal Resort spread over 261,000 sq metres.
Shurooq has allocated Dh450 million for the development of the Chedi Khorfakkan and Dh120m for Al Bait Hotel, the investment agency said last year in its newsletter.
“The UAE remains one of our most important growth market, not just for Tin Hotels but also for our other core brands such as The Chedi and Chedi Club,” Mr Koh said.
Dubai had 27 properties that are considered upper-midscale hotels, accounting for 4,885 out of the city’s total 83,911 hotel rooms as of the end of the second quarter, according to the analytics company STR. While the current number is small, midscale hotels are gradually entering the market.
In May, Emaar opened its first midscale Rove Hotel in Dubai with 420 rooms in the Downtown area.
Action Hotels expects to open its three-star, 220-room Novotel in Dubai Healthcare City in 2018.
Dubai had 67 projects under construction at the end of last month, a 16.8 per cent increase compared to July last year.
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