Global Hotel Alliance welcomes two new members
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) welcomed two hotel brands to its membership, strengthening its membership as it now reaches nine members. The two new members are Anantara and the Cham Group. Anantara is a collection of six spa resorts in some of Asia’s most exotic destinations. Anantara Resorts are currently located in Thailand in the seaside town of Hua Hin, on Koh Samui, in the Golden Triangle; and also in the Maldives and in Bali, with several new resorts already under development.
Michael Sagild, Anantara’s Chief Operating Officer, is delighted to be joining GHA: “Anantara Resorts has established a solid reputation for offering an experience to guests unlike any other, one that couples serenity with exoticism and state-of-the-art convenience with indigenous charm. Our Membership of GHA will enable us to broaden our reach and communicate our brand to more customers, through new marketing channels, together with our GHA partners”.
Cham Group comprises Cham Palaces & Hotels, which is a collection of eleven city and resort hotels in Syria and Jordan and soon Algeria. Some, such as the Cham Palace in Damascus, are the true historical palace hotels of the region.
Royal Regency International Hotels is also part of the Cham Group with its properties in Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Marsa Allam in Egypt and Minsk. Cham Group’s hotels complement other GHA member hotels in the region, and will form part of strong network of GHA hotels in the Middle East.
Dr Ghassan Aidi, Cham’s President, is buoyant about their prospects as a member of GHA: “It’s not always easy marketing a local brand out of the Middle East, but these beautiful countries are steeped in history, and boast destinations such as Petra in Jordan, which was recently voted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and Palmyra and Afamia in Syria, which are set to become a ’must-visit’ on the tourist map in a region where the hotel business is already growing exponentially. GHA helps us to communicate our brand and to promote our destinations to customers who are looking to do business in the region or who wish to discover first-hand our magnificent history and cultural heritage.”
Anantara and Cham will use GHA’s central reservations system, gha.net, powered by the technology of its partner Micros-Fidelio, and Chris Hartley, GHA’s CEO, is bullish about the prospects of continuing success for GHA and its members. “In 2007, gha.net generated over $10m in incremental revenue to our members, while providing $1.5m in distribution cost savings. The addition of Anantara and Cham as new members, plus the prospect of more to come, enhances GHA’s ability to reduce costs for its members and cross-sell to each other’s customers, thus creating an ever-improving value proposition.”
GHA’s members are all regional brands, offering local experiences, and an attractive alternative to the standardised, chain experience. “Anantara and Cham fit GHA’s cultural mould perfectly in this regard,” Hartley added.
Rania Deimezi
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
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