At the recent Arabian & African Hospitality Investment Conference (AHIC) in September, Millennium Hotels and Resorts Middle East and Africa (MHR MEA) announced unveiled its hotel development pipeline, with 18 new hotels set to open in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, Turkey and Iraq. This will add 5,000 keys to the hotel group’s portfolio in the region, which currently spans 17 cities across nine countries with over 17,000 rooms.

By end-2021, MHR MEA will open four new hotels – Grand Millennium Gizan in Saudi Arabia which recently opened, Millennium Place Mirdif and Studio M Al Barsha in the UAE, and Grand Millennium Al Seef Basra in Iraq – adding 1,000 keys.

MHR MEA Chief Operating Officer Mr Hamid Sidine was also one of the panellists at AHIC. He spoke at the session “The New Normal For Profitability – Is It Different To The Old Normal” alongside other industry leaders on how the operating model for hospitality is shifting, and profitability expectations of owners and operators. During the panel, he highlighted the continuous efforts MHR MEA has put in to adapting to the new normal for hospitality and to continue enriching the guest experience while maintaining a reasonable return to business partners.

AHIC is in its 17th year, and is an annual knowledge and networking platform for the Middle East hospitality investment community. It is organised by global business forum and conference organiser Bench, in partnership with Middle East business intelligence platform MEED. The 2021 edition was themed ‘Rise Together’.