Mandarin Oriental grows Middle East pipeline

Located on Jumeirah Beach Road, Jumeriah 3, Mandarin Oriental Dubai is scheduled to open in Q2 2017 with 200 rooms and suites, including 12 pool villas.
Six months ago, construction commenced on the property which is owned by Dubai Real Estate Corporation. Once complete, the hotel will join Four Seasons Resort Dubai which is set to open on Jumeirah Beach Road in October.
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group currently has a global portfolio of 27 hotels across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and 18 projects in the pipeline.
The Hong-Kong based hotel management company had earlier planned to open a property on Abu Dhabi’s Saadiyat Island, however the management contract with Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) is currently under negotiation.
Meanwhile, construction work at a new property in Doha has pushed back the opening date of the Mandarin Oriental in Qatar from 2014 to 2016.
Elsewhere in the region, Mandarin Oriental expects to open a property in Marrakech, Morocco, in the second quarter of 2015. The group is also looking at opportunities in Riyadh and Kuwait.
“Our target is to have 10,000 to 11,000 hotel rooms under management globally by 2018. Now we are close to 10,000 rooms,” said Christoph Mares, the group’s executive vice-president and operations director for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India, in an interview with Gulf News.
Source: Travel Daily