Ras Al Khaimah’s hotel’s market is to gain another couple of brands with a Hilton Garden Inn and a Mövenpick resort due to open.
Rak Hospitality Holding announced in the second quarter of this year that it is to open a Hilton Garden Inn, which will be its first mid-market hotel in the northern emirate.
The former Hilton Ras Al Khaimah, which opened in 2001 and closed last year, is to make way for the Garden Inn brand. It will have 240 guest rooms, a conference and events facility, a restaurant, lounge and bar area and a pool deck.
Mahmoud Mokhtar, the country manager for Hilton Worldwide, said that it had been “one of the first international groups to spot the potential of this emirate”.
“Now we’re continuing to move ahead of the pack by evolving our portfolio to satisfy the destination’s growing demand for mid-market accommodation.”
Meanwhile, Swiss operator Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has finalised a deal to operate its first property in Ras Al Khaimah – a 550-key resort hotel. It will open in 2019 at Al Marjan Island – a US$1.8 billion (Dh6.6bn) man-made cluster of coral-shaped islands.
Ras Al Khaimah’s hospitality market is outperforming the rest of the UAE market, according to a recently published study by CBRE, citing occupancy growth of 13.6 per cent during the first nine months of this year. Average occupancy rates during that period increased to 70.5 per cent, up from 62.1 per cent in the prior year. Revenue per average room increased by 8.5 per cent, despite a drop in average daily rates of 4.5 per cent.
Visitor numbers were also up by 10 per cent year-on-year to 613,000 in the year to September, which CBRE Middle East's UAE head of research and consulting, Mat Green, attributed to "the concerted efforts of RAKTDA (RAK's tourism authority) and quasi-government developers in raising the emirate's profile within international markets". Visitor numbers for the emirate are expected to reach 820,000 this year and RAKTDA is targeting one million visitors per year by the end of 2018 and between 2.5 million and 2.9 million a year by the end of 2025. It has been targeting tourists from source markets in Europe – particularly from Germany and Russia.
Ras Al Khaimah has about 5,000 hotel rooms – 46 per cent of which are in luxury, five-star properties and 41 per cent in four-star, with the remaining 13 per cent in budget two- and three-star properties. More than 1,000 new hotel rooms will added by the end of 2018.
Mr Green said the “relatively small” number of new hotels planned before 2019 and the emirate’s rising visitor numbers meant returns for investors are likely to remain positive in the near term.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The biog
Prefers vegetables and fish to meat and would choose salad over pizza
Walks daily as part of regular exercise routine
France is her favourite country to visit
Has written books and manuals on women’s education, first aid and health for the family
Family: Husband, three sons and a daughter
Fathiya Nadhari's instructions to her children was to give back to the country
The children worked as young volunteers in social, education and health campaigns
Her motto is to never stop working for the country
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group F
Manchester City v Hoffenheim, midnight (Wednesday, UAE)
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
(All games 4-3pm kick UAE time) Bayern Munich v Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg v Mainz , Eintracht Frankfurt v Freiburg, Union Berlin v RB Leipzig, Cologne v Schalke , Werder Bremen v Borussia Monchengladbach, Stuttgart v Arminia Bielefeld
SPECS
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Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
MATCH INFO
Europa League final
Who: Marseille v Atletico Madrid
Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
The specs: 2018 Infiniti QX80
Price: base / as tested: Dh335,000
Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 560Nm @ 4,000rpm
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Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
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Stars: 3
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Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
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RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
