Langham to debut in the Middle East
13 October 2010
Hong Kong-headquartered luxury hotel group Langham Hotels International today announced plans to take its upscale Langham Place brand to the Middle East.
The company is to open a 250-room property in Doha, Qatar in late 2012, it revealed.
The hotel will be managed by Langham Hotels International and owned by its local partner in Qatar, Real Estate Services Group.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce our first partnership in the Middle East. Langham Place Doha Qatar realizes one of our long held plans to introduce our brands to the Middle East,” Langham Hotels International chairman Dr K.S. Lo said at a press briefing today at the company’s Langham Place Mongkok property in Hong Kong.
"It marks the completion of our foundation to be a major force in hospitality on one of the 21st century's greatest trade routes - the New Silk Road from China and India through the Middle East," he added.
The Doha property is likely to be the first in a series of hotels for Langham Hotels International in the Middle East, Josef Kufer, regional vice president Asia and the Middle East, Langham Hotels International, told Hotel Management Asia.
He said the company was looking to open ‘six to seven [hotels] ideally’ in the Middle East within the next five years as part of its overall growth strategy.
“We’re talking to a number of investors right now and partners and I think in due course we will announce more hotels. We are quite excited about the partners we have discovered and feel we will have good growth in the Middle East,” he told HMA in an exclusive interview after the briefing.
Commenting on the selection of Doha for the company’s first presence in the Middle East, Kufer said the Qatari capital offered ‘tremendous potential’. “Doha is a very strong country in terms of high average income, so we feel there is good financial support. It has quite an aggressive growth plan as well. It has huge reserves of oil and gas and we feel this is a stronghold for us to come in with our brand,” he said.
Ali Taimour, CEO of the Real Estate Services Group, said the company selected to partner with Langham Hotels International after lengthy discussions with a number of high caliber operators.
“We are delighted to be the first to bring the innovative and artistic lifestyle of Langham Place to the Middle East, creating a new dimension to hospitality in the region,” he said.
Entry into the Middle East is the latest step for the fast expanding luxury hotel group.
It has announced a spree of new signings in the Asia Pacific region this year, mainly in China, including in Shenzhen, Ningbo , Shanghai , and Guangzhou .
The group opened the Langham Place Beijing Capital Airport in August.
Elsewhere in the Asia Pacific region, Langham Hotels International has new properties in the pipeline for Phuket and Bangkok.
Established in 1865 in London, the group currently has 24 hotels, including affiliates, open or in the pipeline across four continents. It operates three brands: The Langham, Langham Place, and Eaton.
The group is targeting 50 hotels in its overall portfolio over the next five years, Kufer told HMA.
Langham Hotels International is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Great Eagle Holdings, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
