Bullish on the global luxury lifestyle hotel segment, Indian-American Sant Chatwal-led hotel group will enter the Middle East market with a flagship project in Doha and open five new hotels in the US under a major expansion worth USD 1.5 billion.
Dream Hotel Group signed an agreement with Qatar-based Al Alfia Holding for development of its flagship 325-room property worth USD 300 million in Doha.
The agreement was signed betweenAl Alfia's chief Sheikh Sultan Bin Jassim Bin Mohammed Al-Thani and Dream Hotel Group's Chief Financial Officer Rabinder Pal Singh at a ceremony here on Friday.
Outlining his company's expansion plans, Chatwal, Chairman of the Dream Hotel Group said his company will open lifestyle hotels in Nashville, Dallas, Palm Springs, Times Square, Long Island City in the US and in Doha.
The six projects, worth a total of 1.5 billion dollars, will be built with independent hotel development partners and are expected to open by 2019.
"There are not too many lifestyle hotels in America and we want to bring the lifestyle experience with a focus on food and beverage not just in the US but also across the world," Chatwal told PTI here.
He said the company is bullish on the Middle Eastern market and is making its foray there with the flagship property in Doha.
Chatwal said Dream Group will not invest in the hotel in Doha and will only manage it.
The ambitious 325-room property, featuring nine dining and nightlife venues, is the first Middle Eastern development for the brand and a pivotal step in the expansion strategy.
Joining Dream Phuket Hotel & Spa and Dream Bangkok in Thailand, Dream Doha marks the third international property for the group.
Chatwal said construction has already started in Dallas, Nashville, Long Island and Times Square.
Apart from Doha, the group is also looking at other destinations in the Middle East including Dubai and Turkey as well as markets in Asia like Bali and China.
Chatwal said he will also be building fully-owned Dream Hotels in Jaipur and Goa at a cost of about 100 million dollars each and they are likely to come up in the next couple of years.
"The company is now focussed on developing lifestyle properties and bringing the experience of the Dream group to global markets," he said.
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Dream Hotel Group CEO Jay Stein said at the signing ceremony that the six new developments double the footprint of the Dream brand.
The new locations mark a new chapter for Dream Hotels, the group's founding luxury lifestyle brand-positioning them as international hospitality innovators, he said.
"We'll be announcing additional properties in the coming months, continuing to solidify our burgeoning portfolio," added Stein.
The 169-room Dream Nashville will be located in the heart of the city's downtown and is expected to open in mid-2018.
Slated to open in 2018, Dream Palm Springs will have 175 rooms.
The first of two planned New York openings for the group, 239-room Dream Times Square will open in the second half of 2018.
Dream Long Island City will see the lifestyle hotel group's foray into the city's underutilized Queens borough.
The 254-key property is expected to open in 2019.
Times Square and Long Island City will double the Dream Hotels footprint in New York, totaling four properties in the city.
Dream Group is building these four hotels in partnership with local developers.
Opening in the second half of 2018, fully-owned Dream Dallas will be a 260-room hotel.
Dream Hotel Group, a hotel brand and management company, owns the Dream Hotels, Time Hotels, The Chatwal and Unscripted Hotels brands.
Dream Hotel Group encompasses three business lines of proprietary brands, hotel management and dining and nightlife.
In order to leverage the Dream Hotels brand, the company decided to sunset both the Hampshire Hotels Management and Debut Hotel Group names.
The change to Dream Hotel Group aims to capitalise on the company's most recognised assets to help raise awareness among guests, hotel owners and hotel developers, the company said.
