Company representative at Al Habtoor group recently revealed that in an effort to keep pace with growing demand for hotel accommodations in Dubai, the group would purchase several buildings in the emirate and then convert them into furnished apartments.
"The hospitality sector in this country is growing too fast" and the company cannot keep pace with it by merely constructing new hotels, stated Mohammad Al Habtoor, chief executive of the Al Habtoor group, according to Gulf News.
Habtoor explained that since construction of hotels is extremely time consuming, the company has decided to shift gears and purchase apartments more readily available in the emirate and transform them into furnished units.
"We specialize in hotels only but because of demand from long-stay guests we have moved into the furnished apartments sector. We will try to have more properties in the Shaikh Zayed Road area," Habtoor added.
"We are studying this as it will not take time and save us the headache. We have spotted some opportunities," Al Habtoor said, adding between Dh60 million and Dh150 million would be invested in each building.
The group had previously invested Dh100 million in the Metropolitan Suites, Al Habtoor's first furnished apartment property located in the Metropolitan Hotel complex on Shaikh Zayed Road.
