Shangri-La maps out its expansion

Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts took the opportunity to outline its aggressive expansion policy at this year's WTM.

Having just opened the Shangri-La Hotel Qaryat Al Beri Abu Dhabi, taking the Asian hotel group's UAE property total to two, the company's newly appointed senior vice president sales and marketing Barbara Pang, said the company was now looking forward to opening its third GCC property in Doha in Q3, 2008.

"We are looking to operate 10 properties in the Middle East - obviously the Gulf, along with India, are two of the biggest emerging markets," she said.

With plans to almost double its portfolio from 54 to 100 by 2010, the company is also poised to open properties in several key cities including Vancouver and Macau in 2008; Paris, Vienna, Bangalore and Mumbai in 2009; Pudong Shanghai, Las Vegas, New York and Miami in 2010 and Toronto in 2011, while the Villingili Resort & Spa, Maldives, will open in Q4 2008, Pang added.

She noted that the Middle East outbound market was booming, with growth evident in sales to Malaysia and Singapore.

"The market represents 4% of total sales, but it's growing at about 30% each year," she said.

Increased brand presence through more Shangri-La openings in the Middle East would further boost sales, she added.

Since its August 12 soft opening, the Shangri-La Hotel Qaryat Al Beri Abu Dhabi performed well, according to Pang, with the business mix at 80% corporate, 10% leisure and 10% corporate meetings.

"We have seen more leisure bookings at weekends, particularly from GCC and Dubai weekenders," said Pang.

At the time of the interview (during WTM), occupancy had hit the 100% mark, with the average occupancy since opening hitting the 75% mark, Pang revealed.

"We are operating at around US$280 per room per night," she concluded.

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