2016 was a year of milestones for hotel operator Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, as it inked deals for more than 13 new properties in key growth markets, growing its total development pipeline by one-third to 33-plus hotels.

Mövenpick Hotels, which already operates 83 hotels worldwide, will add more than 9,000 extra keys to Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts’ growing inventory over the next four years, with all pipelined properties currently on track to open by the end of 2020.

New deals signed in 2016 will see the company debut in several locations across the Middle East and Asia including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and, in the UAE, the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.

2016 also saw the appointment of its new CEO, Olivier Chavy. This ushered in a new era for the hospitality firm, which also unveiled a fresh new logo and corporate identity to better reflect its warmth and inherent ‘Swissness’.

“2016 was our most successful year yet in terms of the number of new hotels we signed, which averaged more than one a month and grew our pipelined portfolio by more than 30 per cent,” said Chavy.

“We not only consolidated our position in key growth markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand, where we are now a dominant player, but signed management agreements for properties in strategic locations where we will introduce the Mövenpick brand for the first time, in some cases, setting new hospitality standards that we believe will become an industry benchmark.

“We enter 2017 in high confidence, building on our achievements over the past 12 months with firm plans to further grow our portfolio in line with our ambitious global expansion strategy. We’re well on track to operating over 100 properties by 2020.”

The regional breakdown

In Asia, where Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts currently operates 11 properties with 20 more in the pipeline, the company signed five new properties, three of which were in Thailand - Mövenpick Residences Ekkamai Bangkok (2017), Mövenpick Resort Khao Yai (2017) and Mövenpick Resort Mai Khao (2018).

The company also signed deals for Mövenpick Hotel Khulna, its first property in Bangladesh, and Mövenpick Hotel Quang Binh in Vietnam, both of which are scheduled to open in 2020.

At the same time, the 260-room Mövenpick Siam Hotel Pattaya on popular Na Jomtien Beach opened for business – the first five-star property outside of Pattaya’s city centre.

In the Middle East, currently home to 31 Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts properties with 12 more in the development pipeline, four new management agreements were signed. They included the newly opened Mövenpick Hotel Al Aziziyah Doha, in Qatar, plus Mövenpick Hotel Apartments Al Burj Business Bay, Dubai, UAE and Mövenpick Hotel & Apartments Al Tahlia, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which are both set to open in 2018. The 550-room Mövenpick Resort Al Marjan Island, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, has a mooted 2019 opening date.

2016 also saw the opening of the 228-room Mövenpick Hotel City Star Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – a unique European-style hotel which is Mövenpick’s third property in the kingdom’s city.

In Africa, where the firm has 25 properties and four more in active development, the company opened a landmark property, the Mövenpick Hotel Mansour Eddahbi Marrakech, with 503 rooms and Morocco’s largest congress centre. It is the firm’s third property in Morocco, with the two others located in Casablanca and Tangier. Deals have also been signed for properties in Tunisia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Cote d’Ivoire.

In Europe, the company currently operates 21 properties and plans to open the 262-key Mövenpick Congress Hotel Stuttgart, Germany and the 260-key Mövenpick Hotel Basel, Switzerland in 2019.

Green Globe

In 2016, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts made history as the most ‘Green Globe certified hotel company in the world’. The certification body’s 2015 report revealed the Swiss hospitality firm had an overall average compliance score of 84 per cent, an impressive 2.5 per cent higher than the average of all Green Globe certified members worldwide (81.5 per cent).

At the end of 2016, more than 63 of the company’s properties were Green Globe certified and more than half of those (35), had achieved the prestigious Green Globe Gold Member status, with more currently working towards this standard.

Awards

2016 also saw a long list of properties recognised by renowned programmes such as the World Travel Awards, Haute Grandeur Awards and Condé Nast Traveler Awards.

At the World Travel Awards, Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea was named ‘Best Luxury Resort Spa 2016’; Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach was crowned ‘Best Luxury Contemporary/Stylish Hotel 2016’; and Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi received the ‘Best Boutique Hotel in South East Asia 2016’ accolade. In Europe, Mövenpick Hotel Amsterdam City Center was ranked 9th in Condé Nast Traveler’s ‘Top 10 Best Hotels of Amsterdam’ listing and Mövenpick Hotel Istanbul was named one of US News & World Reports’ ‘Best Hotels in Europe’ 2016-2017.

2017 development plans

In 2017, nine properties are on schedule to open across Asia and Africa.

The company will mark its debut in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Kenya with the openings of Mövenpick Resort & Spa Jimbaran, Mövenpick Hotel Colombo and Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Nairobi.

The remaining four new properties on track to open this year are: Mövenpick Hotel Les Berges Du Lac Tunis in Tunisia, Mövenpick Resort & Spa Boracay in the Philippines and in Thailand, Mövenpick Residences Ekkamai Bangkok and Mövenpick Resort Khao Yai.

“We start the year as we mean to go on, forging ahead with our ambitious development plans, building on our sustainability successes, and bringing our award-winning Swiss hospitality to new locations across the globe,” concluded Chavy. - TradeArabia News Service