The Hyatt. Slightly change the way it’s pronounced and the name of one of the world’s biggest hotel chains sounds like a close cousin of the Arabic word, Hayat or ‘life’.
Whether this coincidence helps explain the Chicago-based chain’s popularity in the region is of less interest than the fact that the chain is currently in the process of an impressive expansion of its assorted properties across the Gulf.
By the end of 2016 – which is not as far off as it might now sound – the group, which already has twelve properties in the region (5 in the UAE, 2 in Qatar, 1 in Saudi Arabia, 1 in Oman, 1 in Jordan and 2 in Egypt), will have opened an additional 17 properties, most of them in the GCC.
Beyond the sheer scale of the expansion, the number is significant because it will make the region, currently one of the hotel’s least represented, into one of its biggest markets outside of the United States, comparable to the 19 now in Europe.
Some of the newer arrivals are already up and running, like the Park Hyatt in Jeddah, which opened at the end of 2009. Eight others are currently in development and according to Thierry Bertin, Vice President of World Wide Sales for Hyatt in Southwest Asia, 7 out of them will all be in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2 more in Jeddah, 2 in Riyadh and 3 in Mecca.
“It’s a dynamic market and we have been in Saudi Arabia for 30 years,” he said, referring to the resorts on the Red Sea that were rebranded. “The Kingdom is going through a dynamic phase of infrastructure development, office and hotel building construction. Also the Saudis are our prime clientele in Dubai, which has the most Hyatt properties [in the region] to date.”
Mecca, which will be a first for the chain, will also be “the location of the first Hyatt Summerfield Suites, now being rebranded the Hyatt House, and due to open in 2014,” Bertin continues. Only 35 exist and they are all in the US. Aimed at the longer-stay market, the Hyatt House will be an ideal choice for those who’d like to linger a little longer.
