Wyndham Hotel Group is to open two Ramada-branded hotels in Muscat, the company said on Thursday.
Both hotels are in Muscat’s Al Ghubra area, on Sultan Qaboos Street and connected to one another by a footbridge. The first hotel is a 200-room, three-star Ramada Encore with 173 standard rooms and 27 suites.
It comprises ‘state-of-the-art’ business facilities and leisure amenities including a fitness centre, rooftop pool and café, all-day restaurant and coffee lounge. The hotel is the largest Ramada Encore across the Middle East & Africa, Wyndham said.
The Ramada Hotel & Suites Muscat Al Ghubra will share its leisure facilities with those at the Ramada Encore. It also has three meeting rooms, as well as breakout spaces and a coffee lounge.
Conversion of the residential building is due to begin in 2017, and both properties are scheduled to open simultaneously at the end of 2018. Both properties are owned by Oman’s Al Khaleel Group.
The company only manages one other Oman hotel at present, the Ramada Qurum Beach.
Dan Ruff, Wyndham Hotel Group’s president and managing director for EMEA, said: “Oman’s unrivalled natural beauty spans spectacular mountains to beautiful coastal regions, attracting many types of travellers with 12 million expected in 2020. It’s clear there’s a demand for the international quality of accommodation that only our brands can offer. The signing of these two hotels is a real milestone for Wyndham Hotel Group as they join the existing Ramada Qurum Beach presenting even more choices to Muscat’s business and leisure visitors.”
Wyndham on Thursday also announced plans for two new hotels in the Iraqi city of Najaf. Located 800 metres from the Imam Ali Holy Shrine, the third holiest site for the estimated 200 million followers of the Shia branch of Islam, the four-star Ramada Plaza Najaf and Ramada Hotel & Suites Najaf hotels “are intended to cater to the needs of the booming religious tourism industry in the city”, the company said.
The owner of both properties is Bukhamseen Group For Real Estate, Tourism, General Trading & Contracting Company.
Wyndham has also signed to manage three new hotels in Ethiopia following last year’s opening of its first hotel there, the Ramada Addis Ababa, as part of plans to expand its presence in Africa, the company announced.
Construction of the four-star TRYP by Wyndham on Addis Ababa Bole Road is due to begin later this year, close to the five-star Wyndham Addis Ababa Bole Road, which is already under development. The third hotel is the four-star Wyndham Garden Langano on a lake 180 kilometres south of Addis. The properties are all owned by Santa Maria Real Estate & Hotels.
In 2015 Wyndham opened nearly 40 new hotels open across EMEA, and a total of 50 hotels are in the pipeline.
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