The Rocco Forte Collection, one of Europe's largest luxury hotel chains, is set to open its first luxury residential hotel in the UAE in November next year followed by another one in Saudi Arabia in 2010.

The two hotels will be the group's first presence in the Middle East, said a top company official.

Mark Allvey, Global Sales director, Rocco Forte Collection, said the company has partnered with Al Farida Investments, an Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate that specialises in hotels, hospitality, commercial and real estate developments for the venture.

"Abu Dhabi will host the first hotel estimated to cost around Dh550 million ($150 million) on Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum Street around Zayed Sports City. The second hotel will open in Jeddah," he explained.

"The Rocco Forte Collection has signed a contract to manage a luxury hotel in Jeddah, due to open in 2010. The contract was signed in Rome on April 23 with Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Al Issa and Abdullah Mohamed Al Issa," Allvey added.

The Rocco Forte Collection founded in 1996 is a family of 11 highly individual hotels, with five new hotels due to open within the next three years.

"The Rocco Forte is giving a fresh alternative maybe to some of the traditions that might be found across Europe in luxury hotels. The average number of rooms in the hotel is 120, which means it is small intimate kind of hotel," he noted.

"Wherever Rocco Forte are, it is at the city centres to give a sense of the surrounding environment and of the local culture for tourists and visitors," he commented.

Allvey pointed out that the travel trends in the Middle East over the past few years had been a motivation for five-star luxury hotels to expand in the region.

More than $30 billion was spent by Middle Eastern travellers last year and the number is expected to rise. Its research has shown that the outbound trips to the Middle East are expected to double over the period between 2005 and 2020.
 
Another study published in August revealed that outbound travel from the UAE has increased by 20 per cent this summer compared to last summer.-TradeArabia News Service