HAMRA HOTELS CHECKS IN TO ALTERNATIVE GROWTH MARKETS
By Sean Davidson

Emirates Business 24/7
Feb 10 2010
UAE

With an eye on driving business in and from emerging markets that few
have dared to explore, Ras Al Khaimah’s Hamra Hotels & Resorts remains
bullish on growth. It hopes to add more charters into the emirate and
is confident the addition of more rooms to its portfolio will not
dilute profits. Nikolaos Chatzipetros, Vice- President Operations,
Hamra Hotels & Resorts, speaks to Emirates Business.

What occupancy levels are you experiencing at the moment? How did it
fare last year?

Within our group, the occupancy is between 60 and 70 per cent. On the
weekends it’s much higher. Our convention centres drive a lot of
business on the weekends and Dubai contributes a significant amount of
this. Typically, we experience an influx from Thursday afternoon to
Saturday afternoon. We did extremely well last year. Of course, the
crisis affected us, especially in the last quarter. But we see
rebounding of the business right now.

Have you moved away from your traditional strategies to drive business?

Yes. We are seeking alternative markets to fill the room nights we
have. Business for the past 10 years was coming mainly from specific
areas locally and specific countries from Europe. Now we are looking
at other countries to not only tackle the crisis but also have a nice
and healthy mix of market segments. These are existing markets that
have not been accessed by many others. They are new, opening markets
that have visa restrictions in other areas such as Europe and at the
same time they have disposable income. We’re talking about countries
such as Kyrgystan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Turkmenistan and those that
belong to the Commonwealth of Independent States. And of course, we
are also focusing on specific segments coming from well-known markets
such as Germany.

Has it been tough bringing people to your properties in Ras Al Khaimah?

Not really. The distance from Dubai is only 45 minutes and that has
worked to our benefit. We have pristine beaches, a safe environment
and all the facilities and activities that travellers would like to
have. At the same time, we also have the Um Al Quwain airport so if
somebody would like to experience skydiving or have pilot licenses, he
can do that too. We have water sports and slides going live in two
months. So we have the right mix.

That’s all well, but other emirates offer the same mix. Did this mean
competing on price?

We are definitely competing on price. As operators, we are trying to
be very flexible and competitive. It would not be realistic to
maintain the prices we had a few years ago. But we didn’t drop our
rates considerably because that is against our philosophy. We added a
lot more value instead.

What projects do you have in the pipeline?

We are looking at projects locally and internationally. Through our
sister company Rakeen, we are active overseas. We own these projects
and have international companies as operators. We are increasing our
portfolio and you will see more development in 2010. Our subsidiaries
have projects in Georgia. We own the Sheraton there. We have another
project planned in Georgia outside Tbilisi. In Congo, we are operating
a hotel under the Radisson hotels name. We have a residential and
hotel mix-use project in Kyrgystan. And we are constantly looking for
other opportunities. As a land bank, Rakeen has more than a dozen
locations in order to have it master planned. At the moment, we have a
huge shopping mall under construction in Yerevan, Armenia, and another
mall in Georgia. We are looking for potential sites to build shopping
malls because at the end of the day it’s a matter of characteristics.

In some countries, it’s too cold in the winter and too hot in summer
so a shopping mall is a perfect opportunity for an area that has a
stable and growing economy and opportunities we can capitalise on.

These are the areas we are looking to invest in.

How crucial will a fully functional airport and airline in RAK be to your plans?

It would be very beneficial and that is something that is being looked
at. Soon we will have solutions and announcements. Everything is
moving in the right direction. The best scenario is to have an airline
that brings an influx of clients. At the moment, the airport is
functional for charters who we have deals with. We hope to have more
frequency with the charters.

What are your projections for this year?

We expect growth this year. Not only in the occupancy but also with
the properties themselves. The room nights will increase because of
the number of hotels we are opening. So our room count will definitely
grow. It’s hard to put a figure to it because we are constantly
discussing several deals and projects.

PROFILE: Nikolaos Chatzipetros Vice-President Operations, Hamra Hotels & Resorts

Before he was appointed to this present post, Chatzipetros was general
manager of Al Hamra Fort Hotel & Beach Resorts. And prior to moving to
the UAE, he worked in different capacities for various hotels in the
US, Italy, Greece, Caribbean and Switzerland as well as for luxury
cruise liners.