The Dubai-based Hues Hotels and Resorts has opened its first property in Sharjah to tap growing demand for affordable luxury.
The company, which started in 2010, debuted in the emirate with the luxury boutique 72 by Hues this week. It aims to attract Arabian Gulf tourists and families along with other visitors from the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Almost three-quarters of its guests are expected to be corporate clientele.
Sharjah received 1.9 million tourists last year, up from 1.7 million the previous year.
Hues has an existing four-star hotel on the Deira corniche, owned by Dubai’s Bin Suloom Group, which also owns Hues Hotel Management.
“In Dubai the orientation was an entertainment and business hotel, and we are targeting another kind of clientele in Sharjah, which is developing as an Islamic and cultural city,” said Daousser Chennoufi, a partner with Hues Hotels and Resorts as well as and the chairman of the architectural firm Draw Link.
The demand in the emirate is for unbranded and cheaper accommodation.
“Sharjah is seen as an economy destination and consequently tends to cater to the low-cost package tourist in terms of leisure,” said John Podaras, a partner at Hotel Development Resources. “There is quite some trade and industry in the emirate, which also drives an amount of corporate travel, particularly those visitors who prefer Sharjah’s more economical rates than neighbouring Dubai, especially during periods of peak demand in Dubai.”
It cost the investors Dh70m to turn an office building on the Sharjah corniche promenade into the 72. The company will also manage a Dh120m four-star hotel in the emirate with 185 rooms that will open by the end of the year. Both are owned by Sharjah’s Team Engineering Enterprises.
Room rates at upmarket hotels in Sharjah are equivalent to those at mid-range hotels in Dubai, and occupancy is about 70 per cent across town, according to Mr Podaras.
“While there is room for a few more branded three- to four-star hotels, the citywide occupancy is not conducive for a large influx of new rooms in the short to medium term,” he said.
Hues also have plans to manage what could be the smallest resort project in the UAE for Fujairah, with four beach chalets expected to open next year. It will cost Dh30m for the entire project.
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