Spanish hotel operator Melia Hotels International has signed two deals to bring its ME by Melia lifestyle luxury brand to the Middle East.
The new hotels are planned for Dubai and Doha, Hotelier Middle East reported on Wednesday.
Following the company’s debut in the region with the opening of Melia Dubai on April 29, the company’s vice-chairman and CEO Gabriel Escarrer Jaume said a deal had been signed to bring its luxury brand to the region.
“ME is lifestyle concept like the Ws of the world. So we have signed a ME product here in Dubai,” said Jaume.
Although he couldn’t reveal the location of the property, Jaume said that it was a new-build expected to open within three years.
To date, Dominique Perrault has designed ME Barcelona and the upcoming ME Vienna, while Norman Foster is behind the ME London, opening later this year.
“We want to create a hotel that is a destination in itself — the place to be and be seen. We have a very profitable and successful hotel in Madrid called the ME Madrid. Sixty percent of our revenues [here] are generated by food and beverage. We wanted to create something unique in London and in this part of the world it is a must to create a lifestyle concept and I am sure it’s going to be very successful,” said Jaume.
He added that two hotels had also been signed in Qatar — one of which will be a ME — and that there could be “a couple of hotels” in Saudi Arabia.
In terms of growth globally, Jaume said: “We have already signed 38 hotels that will be incorporated in the next two and half years — that’s 9,000 rooms.”
Melia Hotels International operates 362 hotels in 35-plus countries on four continents.
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