A Dubai based management company, Shaza Hotels is famous for its strict following of Islamic values, so there’s no wonder why it’s expanding its business in the Middle East. Recently the company has opened its first hotel in Saudi Arabia – Al Madina Shaza. Among future projects is the opening of a 624-key hotel in Iraq, in Karbala region.
The Iraq-based hotel will be named Al Rawdatain Gardens. The builder of this property will be Range Hospitality. The hotel is scheduled for release in 2013. According to Munaf Ali, the CEO of Range, there’s a serious lack of hotels in Karbala. Currently there are no 5-star hotels there. Instead of this local 2-star hotels provide poor service at 5-star prices that overcome even Dubai and Europe.
In 2011 Shaza and Range will also open a hotel in Mashhad (Iran). The companies have a successful collaboration as Range already owns hotels in Mecca, Damascus and Syria with Shaza Hotels as a management provider. Shaza Hotels also has agreements with other building companies and currently manages a series of hotels in Sarajevo, Bahrain, Morocco, Cairo, and Marrakesh. The company forecasts to manage from 25 to 30 properties by 2016.
Shaza Hotels is a joint venture of 2 companies representing the Western culture – a Parisian Guidance Hotel Investment Co and Kempinski. The company’s CEO is a former Kempinski Hotels vice president Simon Coombs. Even though the hotels run by Shaza are marked as “Islamic”, they are not “Sharia-compliant”.