Checking into tradition

When my father used to travel he used to say to me, ‘I always stay at the Hilton. That way, you won't get food poisoning, you won't get mugged, and if anything happens, it's like staying in an embassy'."

With respect, Christopher Hartley is not one to follow in his father's footsteps. According to the CEO of Shaza Hotels, the world has changed since his ‘old man' last checked in - as have the demands of the sophisticated modern traveller.

"Tomorrow's traveller is no longer looking for the security that brands provided in the 60s and 70s," he continues, warming to his theme. "When air travel started after the war, people wanted to stay in hotels that they trusted, so they stayed in the Hilton, the Sheraton or the Intercontinental, the three that cornered the market in brand security and safety.

"As a traveller today, around the world you can plug your laptop in, you're on the internet, you're secure, and you're immediately made to feel at home," he adds. "The guy that's got to go to Rwanda, fair enough, he's probably happier in the Hilton than in the local brand but the internet has changed things, as has satellite television - people feel at home wherever."

Making people feel at home is Hartley's stock-in-trade, and his latest venture is perhaps one of the region's most ambitious forays into luxury hospitality. Launched in 2006, Shaza Hotels is the product of a partnership between Kempinski Hotels and Paris-based private equity institution Guidance Financial Group. Shaza's hook, as such, is to move deliberately away from the homogeny of big-name international hotel chains. As a brand, it is targeted at the emerging intra-regional travel market, and aims to reflect the lifestyle, culture, history, tradition and heritage of the Middle East region.

"We asked ourselves what we needed to do to make something completely different," explains Hartley. "We are bringing in people who know and understand the various different aspects of Middle Eastern life - from food and beverage to the arts to room design - and basically creating a whole new style of hotel that draws on the traditions of the region."

The new venture has so far announced the launch of seven hotels, of which four are Shaza's own investment projects, and three are management contracts. By way of preparation, Shaza is certainly doing its homework. Hoardes of experts and consultants have been commissioned to conduct extensive research into the region's history, in a bid to create an authoritative, authentic experience for hotel guests.

"It's easy to go to an interior designer and say ‘design me a Middle Eastern hotel' - a few arches and you've got the Madinat Jumeirah," shrugs Hartley. "We don't want to be the tourist destination, we want to be a hotel where people go ‘wow'."

If you're after a 200-page document outlining pictorial representations of the history of spas within the region, Hartley's your man. You'll be able to flip through reams of testimony from locals from Syria to Morocco, outlining what they want in a spa, what they find exciting, and what role the spa plays in local culture. Of course, you'll first have to wrestle a copy from the Spa Development Design Team, which is currently interpreting the findings into a hammam-style "social gathering place" within the hotel. Such attention to detail will be replicated throughout Shaza hotels.

"This is a process we're taking our time over," he emphasizes. "Where can we buy art that would be unique? Where can we source objects for the rooms? What did people like to do in the region in Jordan or in Egypt, or in Saudi, which is different and which they'd appreciate at the hotel?"

Shaza is sourcing Middle East Islamic art through a number of international auction companies, in a bid to provide an authenticity that no other brand will be able to match, and go "10, 20 or 30% further than anyone else has done", says Hartley. "We have invested in art, but also investigated what represents the true artistic culture of the region."