DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Experiential hospitality and hotels are coming to the Middle East in a wave of new developments.
Saudi Arabia, with vast expanses and untapped tourism potential, is leading with the way with such projects as the Red Sea Project, AlUla and NEOM, while the United Arab Emirates opened its Expo 2020 in Dubai on Oct. 1.
The Saudi projects are part of the government’s Vision 2030, according to Anita Mendiratta, special Advisor to the Secretary General at the United Nations World Tourism Organization and moderator of a panel titled “Experiential Luxury: The Future of Tourism?” at the recent Arabian & African Hospitality Investment Conference.
Mendiratta said the word “luxury” has changed meaning in light of the pandemic, as has the meaning of words such as “essential” in regard to guest needs.
“The desire to have a fulfilling experience has moved up two or three levels. Now there is the need to interact, to enjoy, and people are attending everything, where before they might have chosen one or another event,” said Mark Willis, Accor’s CEO for India, Middle East, Africa and Turkey.
“This all leads to hotel firms and brands desiring to improve experience,” he said.
Mendiratta said guests have different attitudes not only about value now, but also regarding their own personal values and those of the companies they choose to book with.
Amr AlMadani, CEO of Royal Commission for AlUla, said this rise in experiential demand has already created a competitive landscape.
“There is a lot to choose from, so we have to keep on inventing. The race is on to see who is best placed to capture the new traffic when it comes back.
“Our promise is that we will take you in, and you will participate from the moment you get here,” he said of AlUla.
There is space for newcomers, too.
Oliver Ripley is CEO and co-founder of Habitas, a start-up focused on unique, sustainable hotels and event spaces, and he said his firm thinks about hotels as spaces first.
“Luxury is the intangibles,” he said. “I did not know what a [hotel management agreement] was when I started the company.”
Thinkers Needed
Three Saudi developments offer prime examples of the focus on experiences.
AlUla, close to the holy city of Medina, is in the area of an ancient trading route and city called Alula. A resort with hotels, conference facilities, restaurants and entertainment will be built, with the area’s ancient archaeological and historical sites acting as the linchpin for sustainable tourism. Three eco-resorts are open now, but soon to join them will be assets from Habitas, Banyan Tree and Aman Resorts. The Maraya conference center at the site, Mendiratta said, has been designed to look almost invisible. Mendiratta is an advisory board member of the Royal Commission of AlUla.
The Red Sea Project, on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, bills itself as the “world’s most ambitious regenerative tourism project.” Spanning almost 11,000 square miles, the initiative started this year on two hotels, one on Ummahat Al Shaykh Island, with the first guests due by the end of 2022. Of the development’s 90 islands, 75 will remain untouched.
The last of the giga-developments is NEOM, short for “New-Mustaqbal." Mustaqbal is the English transliteration of the Arabic word for “future.” Also covering more than 11,000 square miles, 95% of its land will not be touched and will contribute to such plans as the preservation of oryx, a species of antelope, and the reintroduction of the rare Arabian cheetah, among other animals. Close to the border with Jordan, NEOM will have approximately 200 hotels across the area that has been reserved for development.
Sustainability is a critical part of all of the projects, with panelists saying this will be true of most hospitality in the foreseeable future. These developments also have local people at the core of decision-making.
“We must intellectually reconfigure this idea of luxury,” AlMadani said. “We need thinkers who can redefine what we have and our local communities.”
Willis said that on paper, such projects are a simplistic idea, but the huge impetus on the environment means projects take longer to develop.
Accor’s Mantis and MGallery brands have been in discussions with AlUla.
Willis said in the past 24 months, there has been an increase in investors interested in such concepts, with Accor looking at projects in Bahrain, Ras al Khaimah and across Saudi Arabia.
“Saudi Arabia has 20 or more UNESCO sites. I truly believe it will become one of the top five or 10 destinations globally,” he said.
“Previously [the industry has] been talking about customer personalization, but now there is a massive move to change our mindset. Expectations have increased. Guests want special,” he added.
Ripley said his spaces also are looking into creating residences for people who during COVID-19 bought one-way tickets and set themselves up to work.
“Some segments of the [hotel] business are relatively flat, even in this part of the world, but demand for leisure has been clear. We see from statistics … people are looking at destinations, experiences, searching for something unique, and this will only increase,” Willis said.