Morgans Hotel Group will make its first Middle East
Venture in Qatar with the opening of the 270-room Mondrian Doha early next
year.
The company specialises in lifestyle boutique
hotels in select resort markets. The Mondrian Doha will be shaped like a falcon
and located next to Lagoona Mall in the West Bay area of Doha and, according to
its general manager Ray McShane, will compete with the W Doha as the second
boutique lifestyle hotel in the city.
McShane, who has been in place since April 2013
told Hotelier Middle East: “Morgans operates very niche, stylised hotels”.
“Customers who know Morgans enjoy the unique
and engaging experience of our hotels. We like to partner with fashion and
music and art in everything we do and our buildings are reflective of
this,” he explained, adding that, for example, Morgans hotels do not
feature signage.
The hotel will have 270 rooms and suites including
a penthouse. McShane reveals: “Of those 270 rooms there will be some of the
largest standard rooms in the city.”
He added that, as per most of existing and new
development hotels in the market, “F&B will be a big focus”. The hotel will
also have a nightclub and extensive banqueting facilties.
Staff on board at the moment include the F&B
director, executive chef, director of sales and marketing and HR director. The
hotel is looking to take on between 550 and 650 staff.
“It was really very appealing to me to be part of
the first footprint for Morgan’s Hotels in the Middle East. The company has
been predominantly US-based until quite recently. Now there’s five or six
international properties opening this year,” McShane added.
Morgans Hotels specialises in lifestyle boutique
style hotels in select resort markets and has four brands including Delano,
Hudson, Originals and Mondrian, which the company describes as “bold, brave and
offering instant excitement the moment the door swings open”.
As well as the Doha opening, Mondrian hotels has
pipeline properties in LA, New York, London, Baha Mar in the Bahamas and
Istanbul.
Existing hotels in the US include four properties
in New York, three in South Beach, one hotel in San Francisco and one in Los
Angeles, plus the St Martin’s Lane and Sanderson hotels in London, UK.
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