Source: zawya.com - August 3, 2009
Two of the five luxury hotels designed to be linked to the City Center building of Doha/Qatar will open by the end of this year. The other two will open next year.
The five luxury hotels, two of which will be attached to the east side of the shopping mall and the others on the west, include the two Marriott hotels -- the Marriott Courtyard and the Renaissance Hotel -- the Doha Shangri-La, the Doha Rotana Hotel and a new Merweb.
The Renaissance Hotel, which will have around 257 rooms and the Marriott Courtyard, which will have around 204, will open by the end of the year.
The Marriott Group will also open the Marriott Executive Apartments, which will have around 123 rooms, around the same time.
The Rotana Hotel, as well as the Doha Shangri-La, which will be managed by the Faisal Bin Oassim Al Thani & Sons Holding Company, will open in 2010.
Developed by the Al Rayyan Tourism Development Company, the Doha Shangri-La hotel will have 272 luxurious guest rooms with wireless LAN and high-speed Internet access, 42 serviced apartments and a variety of restaurants including a lobby lounge: Leyla, a piano bar; Sridan, a Middle-Eastern food souq; a Latin American restaurant called Fuego and a Chinese sea food restaurant, Xi'an.
The recreation facilities will include Shangri-La's signature spa, CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La. The hotel will include an 840 square metre grand ballroom and other function rooms. It will also have a helipad on the terrace to facilitate the arrival of VIP guests.
"The Doha Shangri-La, which will open here next year, will of course, have the luxury ambience of a Shangri-La Hotel," said Debbie Cheung, Director of Business development -- Travel Trade of Kowloon Shangri-La, who was here on a short visit.
"The Shangri-La Hotel - Doha reconfirms our commitment to expanding in the Middle East. Our target is to build a regional presence of about eight to 10 hotels and we are delighted to be opening a hotel in Doha in a prime location with such dedicated owners," said Madhu Rao, Shangri-La's Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts group owns and manages 60 hotels under the deluxe Shangri-La and mid-market Traders brands.
The group also has over 50 projects under development in Austria, Canada, mainland China, France, India, Japan, Macau, Maldives, Philippines, Seychelles, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Merweb Hotel City Centre will comprise of 250 rooms and suites, furnished in an exciting modern design, in addition to 97 fully furnished one, two, and three-bedroom apartments. All accommodation will offer the very latest amenities.