Promoting the Ritzy lifestyle

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Bob Kharazmi.

Ritz-Carlton senior vice president Bob Kharazmi and Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa general manager and area vice president Pascal Duchauffour discuss the company's regional plans.

Tell us about the new property you have signed in Abu Dhabi?

Bob Kharazmi: The [Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi at] Coconut Islands is a project in co-operation with Aldar. It's a very unique hotel, which has two sections - one side is connected by a pool to the other side of the property. It's about 160 rooms, where the smallest room is about 55m2, and there are also some villas, a larger spa, themed restaurants and a health facility.

The beauty of it is that there are very high-end residential units and the location of it is absolutely superb - it is facing the palace right on the water. It's a fairly unique hotel that I think will add a lot of value to our portfolio in the UAE.

There seems to be a push from a lot of companies coming into Abu Dhabi at the moment. What is the attraction for Ritz-Carlton?

Kharazmi: Abu Dhabi is really growing in terms of tourism and tourism arrivals - I think the projection is that tourism arrivals will triple in the next few years. It's a beautiful city state, and it has incredible opportunities.

I think it will be a big draw-card for business and leisure, and we would want to have multiple hotels here.

We would like to have more, and hopefully we will find partners to work with so we can have more than one Ritz-Carlton. But right now we are concentrating on Coconut Island.

Pascal Duchauffour: I think that this is a destination that we want to be in because it is where our customers are going. Today we are based in Dubai, we are based in Bahrain, and we are based in Qatar, and we want to continue to be in those important centres to be with our clients. It is a desire from the brand, because we want to be in such a key location, but it is also a desire from the customers who want us to be in Abu Dhabi.

Looking across the wider Middle East, what else is in the pipeline?

Kharazmi: We are looking at our second hotel in Bahrain, again with the same owner. We are looking at another hotel in Dubai which will be in the financial centre.

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