TORONTO — Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts is opening three properties in 2018, another half a dozen or more by 2020, and after that the luxury hotel brand – best known for the iconic sail-shaped silhouette of its seven-star Burj Al Arab in Dubai – is setting its sights on the Americas. And that could quite possibly include an opulent Jumeirah hotel in Toronto.
Is Jumeirah on a growth tear? “Very much so,” says Austin Frost, VP, Sales & Marketing for Europe and the Americas for the Jumeirah Group.
The Americas are part of Jumeirah’s “second wave” of development, says Frost. The company currently has 19 hotels around the world, including seven in Dubai, two in Abu Dhabi, three in London and one each in Frankfurt, Istanbul, Kuwait, Mallorca, the Maldives and Shanghai. In 2018 Jumeirah will open three new properties, including one each in Bali and Nanjing, and more in the lead-up to 2020.
Austin Frost, VP, Sales & Marketing for Europe and the Americas for the Jumeirah Group
After 2020, says Frost, “we’re going to really look at the Americas” for the company’s first property here. With so many new hotels going up in the next few years, he adds, Jumeirah is counting on more brand awareness here. “We will have much more business in this market by that point so it would make perfect sense to build a hotel in the Americas. And Toronto is a possibility.”
Frost says that Jumeirah, as a home-grown UAE company, is still best known in some markets for its hotels in Dubai, including the Burj Al Arab. In Canada, he says, “we have a reasonable amount of educating to do.” Many in the trade may not realize Jumeirah has six hotels in Europe, he added.
Frost was in Toronto last night at ONE Restaurant at the Hazelton Hotel, meeting with tour operators, travel agents and the media for an update on the company’s plans.
Looking ahead, Frost says Jumeirah has a number of projects in the pipeline, and while he’s not at a point where he can confirm specific details, Jumeirah is aiming for 30 hotels by 2020. “We’re keen to continue developing our brand in our home territory of UAE. We’re also looking at Saudi Arabia and possibly Qatar. We’ll be building five to six hotels in China in the next few years. India is also a good market for us, particularly Mumbai and New Delhi.”
