User:Siobhan.mcmorran/Hospitality Management Holding

Hospitality Management Holding, also known as HMH or The HMH Hotel Group, was founded in 2003 and is a hotel management company with properties in the Middle East and North Africa. The company is known for being one of the pioneers specialising in the dry segment, these are hotels that do not server alcohol or allow it on the premises.

Hospitality Management Holding is made up of five hotel brands, including Bahi Hotels & Resorts, Coral Hotels & Resorts, Corp Hotels, ECOS hotels and EWA Hotel Apartments, making it one of the largest operators in the dry segment in the Middle East and North Africa.

The company provides a range of management solutions for hotel owners and developers catering to a range of marketing from luxury to budget travelers.

History
Hospitality Management Holding was founded in Dubai on the 29th of September in 2003 by H.E. Sheikh Faisal bin Sultan Al Qassimi, H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Faisal Al Qassimi and Mr. Michel Noblet, along with the launch of Coral Hotels & Resort. The first hotel to come under Coral Hotels and Resorts was Coral Beach Resort Sharjah. In 2004 the company saw the expansion of a second property coming under Coral Hotels and Resorts, Coral Dubai Deira Hotel.

2006 saw the launch of a second hotel brand under Hospitality Management Holding, Corp Hotels. In the same year, Coral Hotels & Resorts were awarded three top honours at the MENA Travel Awards in Dubai, including Silver for Best 4-Star Leisure Hotel, Silver for The Best Environmental 5-Star Hotel and Platinum for Best 4-Star New Hotel.

The following year saw the launch of ECOS Hotels, an environmentally friendly focused budget hotel brand in the Middle East. 2007 also saw Coral Hotels and Resorts expand into Sudan and Saudi Arabia with the Coral Al Khobar Hotel and the Coral Khartoum Hotel. During 2017 Coral Hotels and Resorts entered into a strategic partnership with Skywards, the Emirates (airline) frequent flyer program.

In 2008 Hospitality Management Holding launched another brand called EWA Hotel Apartments, focusing on niche of residential style hotels in the Middle East. The same year saw the first hotel come under Corp Hotels with the signing of the Corp Amman Hotel. During this period Coral Hotels and Resorts saw expansion into Beirut with the signing of the Coral Beirut Al Hamra Hotel.

As part of an expansion strategy into Saudi Arabia, Coral Hotels and Resorts signed a management contract for Coral Al Ahsa Hotel in 2009. The year also saw Hospitality Management Holding enter into a strategic alliance with Trust International to implement a central reservation system and carry out a soft launch of the Coral Beirut Al Hamra Hotel.

During 2010 Hospitality Management Holding entered into a management agreement with Sudanese Kuwaiti Hotels Co. Ltd (SKHC) adding two new properties to Coral Hotels and Resorts, Coral Khartoum Hotel and Coral Port Sudan Hotel.

As of 2011, two new properties came under the Coral Hotels and Resorts brand, Coral Beirut Concorde Hotel and Coral Jubail Hotel. It was also announced that four new hotels would be joining Coral Hotels and Resorts from Sudan.

The Ajman Palace Hotel was launched in 2012 to commemorate the 41st UAE National Day. During the same year Coral Beach Resort Sharjah introduced non-smoking and smoking zones on its beach, making it the first beach resort in the norther emirates to do so.

Laurent A. Voivenel was named as the next CEO of Hospitality Management Holding in 2013, with an aim to expand the brand in the UAE. Following the appointment of the new CEO there were also a number of other changes made to the corporate executive team. One of the first notable things the new CEO did, under the patronage of H.H. Sheikha Wafa Hasher Al Maktoum, was to launch a special awards program for women was play a key role in the UAE society.

The group began to invest heavily in new digital platforms in 2014, with 90% of the capital expenditure being allocated to digital upgrades. As part of this digital strategy the group launched Coral Hotels & Resort with a new website focusing on digital-friendly design with an aim to improve the groups competitive advantage and rolled out an e-commerce strategy paired with a multi-lingual website. The group also invested in search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and meta-search advertising. This year also saw HMH unveil ECO Vision, an in house strategy that aimed to cut down on energy and water consumption by 20% across all of the groups properties by 2020. 2014 also saw further expansion for the group with a development in partnership with Sudanese Kuwaiti Hotels Company, along with the relaunch of ECOS Hotels and the signing of Coral Al Madinah Hotel in KSA with Mobarak Hotels Group. Coral Beach Resort Sharjah underwent a AED 15 million upgrade during the same time period.

Hospitality Management Holding announced the launch of EWA Khartoum Hotel & Apartments in 2015, along with their partnership with Ethiopian Airlines' Frequent Flyer Program – Sheba Miles. HMH pair with another frequent flyer program during the same year, Alfursan – the Frequent Flyer Program of Saudia.

The group continued its expansion into Oman with the signing of Corp Muscat Al Muzn Hotel with Muzn Oman Commercial (S.A.O.C.) in 2016.

Bahi Hotels and Resorts
Bahi Hotels and Resorts was launched in April 2017 by Hospitality Management Holding as a five start hotel brand for luxury travellers. At the launch the CEO stated, “We have witnessed nearly 50% growth in luxury travel over last five years. In keeping with our commitment to deliver the highest service standards Bahi is designed to maximise further our brand offering and allows us to exceed the high expectations of premium travellers.”. It was also announced that the first hotel joining this brand would be HMH’s flagship hotel in the Middle East, The Ajman Palace Hotel, which would be re-branded to the Bahi Ajman Palace Hotel.

Coral Hotels and Resorts
Coral Hotels and Resorts is headquartered in Dubai and has a range of 4 and 5 star properties located across the Middle East and North Africa. The brand recently underwent a number of changes, including a website update and a new corporate image, with the aim of increasing the brands competitive advantage.

Corp Hotels
Corp Hotels launched in 2006 as a cosmopolitan focused brand for value conscious business and leisure travelers.

ECOS Hotels
ECOS Hotels is an environmentally friendly focused hotel brand aimed at budget travelers across the Middle East and North Africa.

EWA Hotel Apartments
EWA Hotel Apartments is aimed at a specific niche of homely, causal style hotels that are located in the Middle East. EWA Hotel Apartments are aimed at short and long-stay guest wanting accommodation with a more residential feel.

Bahi Ajman Palace Hotel
Hospitality Management Holding launched Bahi Ajman Palace Hotel in 2012 as part of the groups development of five star properties in the United Arab Emirates. It was announced in April of 2017 that Bahi Ajman Palace Hotel would be the first property to sit under the Bahi Hotels and Resorts brand that had been newly launched by Hospitality Management Holding.

Coral Al Khobar Hotel
Coral Al Khobar Hotel is located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and was launched in 2007 by Hospitality Management Holding. The hotel was launched as part of HMH's aim to provide alcohol-free, family friendly accommodation in the Middle East.

Coral Beach Resort Sharjah
Coral Beach Resort Sharjah is an alcohol-free beach resort in Sharjah. The hotel opened in 1979 and underwent refurbishment in both 2002 and 2014 to help modernise the hotel.