The TR Engel Group, a Boston-based international lodging advisory and hotel operational asset management firm, said it has won licence from Qatar Financial Centre Authority to operate in the country.

The US company said the licence was awarded after the company had successfully met the rigorous, corporate licensing requirements of the QFCA, which is responsible for leading the expansion of Qatar’s financial services sector.

TR Engel Group – Middle East (TRE-ME) is the first lodging advisory and asset management firm to be awarded corporate licensing under the new, exacting QFCA guidelines.

The company joins such other international companies as McKinsey & Company, Inc. Qatar; Goldman Sachs International; and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Since its inception in 2005, the QFCA has awarded licensing to less than 200 companies.

TRE-ME said with this licence, it aims to offer cost-effective lodging advisory and asset management services to Qatari hotel real estate investors and developers.

The host of services range from hotel programming, critiquing design concepts, financial underwriting, to brand selection and negotiation of hotel management agreements, said the US-based firm.

“Qatar is in the midst of a major lodging boom designed to satisfy two major milestones ahead: The World Cup in 2022 and implementation of the Qatar Tourism Strategy 2030,” remarked Matthew Engel, managing partner and head, TRE-ME.

"More than 240 estimated properties have been proposed by the QTA," he observed.

“This tremendous influx has created demand for sophisticated lodging advisory services and systems to help assure that the right hotel concept, financing, competitive positioning, brand and management and operating systems are in place,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service