Kempinski Gears Up For ME Expansion

Luxury hotel operator Kempinski is preparing to open new hotels in Riyadh, Al Khobar, Doha and Beirut.

The 300-room Burj Rafal Hotel Kempinski Riyadh targets a fourth quarter 2013 launch while Kempinski Al Othman Al Khobar aims to open in the second quarter of 2014. Kempinski Hotel Summerland Beirut is targeting a first quarter 2014 launch and Kempinski Hotel Pearl Island Doha also aims to open early 2015.

But interior work on its long-awaited Palm Jumeirah hotel in Dubai remains ongoing and it is unlikely to open until late 2015. Another recession-affected project, The Wave Muscat, is targeting a 2016 opening.

Bugra Berberoglu, newly appointed senior vice president of operations for Middle East and Africa, said: “We have another couple of opportunities in Dubai but nothing’s finalised.”

Chief operating officer Duncan O’Rourke said it was on course to supersede last year’s record year – yet despite the current growth spurt, the 80-hotel operator’s focus remains on quality rather than quantity.

“We will not have more than 132 hotels, we completely understand that luxury is limited,” he said.

Elsewhere the 200-room Villa Rosa Kempinski Nairobi is due to have its soft opening in August.

The operator took over the management of the 678-room Grand Kempinski Hotel Shanghai (formerly Gran Melia) in May. The hotel is centrally located in the Lujiazui financial and trade section of the Pudong district and offers sweeping views of the Huangpu River and city skyline.

The 211-room Hotel Nikols’kaya Kempinski Moscow, the group’s second hotel in the Russian capital, also welcomed its first guests in May. After renovations spanning two-and-a-half years, Palais Hansen Kempinski Vienna opened in March.