Jumeirah Group eyes slice of Bali luxury tourism

Dubai’s Jumeirah Group, operators of the iconic Burj Al Arab, has sealed a deal to open its first hotel in Bali as it looks to grow its brand outside of its home market. The operator, owned by Dubai’s ruler, will open its second Asian hotel, Jumeirah Bali, in 2015, the group said on Tuesday. The property spans 80 hotel suites and 25 private villas, the company said in an emailed statement. The luxury hotelier in October said it planned to double its properties under management globally by early 2012. The firm, which recently opened brand-managed hotels in Frankfurt, the Maldives and Shanghai, said it planned to expand into Kuwait, Majorca and Azerbaijan. “We will open in Kuwait, Majorca, and Azerbaijan. We will almost double the number of hotels under management for Jumeirah in a 14-month period,” Lawless told Reuters. “We have a few other potential projects ‘bubbling’... Some of them are in Europe,” he said, adding that the group would count 20 hotels by the end of the first quarter. The group, which competes with the likes Mandarin Oriental and the Four Seasons, currently has one hotel in Asia, the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel in Shanghai, and has a further five hotels under development in China. The hotel chain is not currently planning an initial public offering (IPO) or a bond issue, Lawless said last year. “We are very happy with our levels of financing and debt at the moment,” he said. “The funding positions are not difficult for us, we are in a strong position where we have investors who own the hotels, they build the hotels and we brand them.” “We are asset-light ... We have been very encouraged by the success of the acquisition of management contracts and it continues to grow,” he added.