Dubai-based Man Investments in regional tie-up with easyHotel operator

Under the new deal, Man Investments will build 600 hotel rooms by 2017, and is targeting a total of 1,600 rooms by 2020.

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A Dubai-based company has agreed a master development deal to roll out the easyHotel chain of budget hotels across the Middle East.

Man Investments, part of Mohammed Juma Al Naboodah’s private office, made the agreement with easyHotel, a London-based business founded by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of the budget airline easyJet.

Mr Al Naboodah is a shareholder in the family-owned Al Naboodah Group, which has interests in real estate development, construction, automotive retail, travel and tourism.

Easyhotel has three company-owned hotels with 390 rooms and 18 franchised hotels with 1,490 rooms, including a 216-bed property in Jebel Ali that was opened with Istithmar World in 2010.

Under the new deal, Man Investments will build 600 hotel rooms by 2017, and is targeting a total of 1,600 rooms by 2020. It is focusing its efforts in the UAE and Oman, and its first easyHotel will be a 300-room property in Bur Dubai.

The company said it had secured land and properties to open new hotels in 2017.

Guy Parsons, the chief executive of easyHotel, said Man Investments was a “great cultural fit” for easyHotel because it had established a significant geographical foothold in the region in several business areas, many of which were targeted at value-conscious consumers.

“With land prices currently at a premium, their capacity for speed and scale of development is a considerable competitive advantage,” he said.

A Man Investments spokesman said: “We see a significant gap in the budget sector in the entire region. Currently there are no hotel brands offering a combination of great value and superb quality, and we feel that easyHotel is perfectly designed to take advantage of this opportunity.”

mfahy@thenational.ae

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