Extreme Hotels embarks on Middle East adventure

Extreme Hotels has inked a deal with Plantation Group Dubai to develop and operate 19 properties across the Middle East in the next seven years.

Under the deal, by 2009 three properties will be developed in Dubai, three in Oman and another three in Saudi Arabia.

The remaining portfolio will be spread across the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Extreme's chief executive Al Gosling told Hotelier Middle East that "key hubs of the region" were chosen as destinations.

"Our whole strategy has been based on three client [markets] that we will roll hotels out to," he said.

"We have surf or beach locations, next is winter and snow locations, and the last is urban destinations where we may not have the sports next to it, but ultimately it is a business hotel with a twist. When people have a choice between a Holiday Inn and something a little bit different, that is what we are going to offer.

"Quite a lot of those locations haven't got fantastic facilities in terms of surf next door, but we will definitely put climbing walls up the side of all of them, and there are other things we have planned that will give it an edge and give it a twist."

Gosling said the product, which has already enjoyed success in a prototype in Cape Town, South Africa, would be delivered to "a high-end three-star, low-end four-star" standard.

"We are chasing the mid-market, because what we really want to do is deliver a five-star hotel in environment and feel, but charge mid-prices," he said.

"We could make it really exclusive, but that's not what we are about."

The first hotel in the portfolio would be delivered within 14 to 18 months development time, Gosling said.

The company was also set to announce its portfolio expansion with partners in Europe soon, he revealed.