London-headquartered Rocco Forte Hotels, a family of 10 luxury hotels and resorts, is showcasing its newest property, the Assila Hotel Jeddah, at the ATM.
'At the show, we are announcing the Assila Hotel Jeddah opening in Jeddah later in the year,' says Christian Renz, Rocco Forte Hotels vice president of sales and marketing.The hotel and residence consists of two 20-storey buildings, one of which has a rooftop pool and spectacular views across Jeddah to the sea. It is located on Tahlia Street right in the centre of town and shopping area, and is the first of its kind in that it offers the first fully serviced apartments in Saudi Arabia. In addition to the 146 rooms and 62 suites, the Assila Hotel offers a range of restaurants, from light dining at the rooftop pool, to steaks in the Argentine grill, he says. On expansion, he says: 'We have started to take our first steps in the Far East, signing a management contract for a hotel in Shanghai which is due to open beginning of 2018, and we continue to look further afield in this area, in addition to sites in the US and Europe.'In the past year the hotel had invested £11million ($15.60 million) in refurbishments across the group. Hotel Savoy, Florence, has had a huge refurbishment, and both Hotel de Russie, Rome, and Brown’s Hotel, London, have had their top suites completely renovated. This ensures that our properties always uphold the highest standards. On financial performance, he says: 'We have had a really great first half of this year, with record breaking results, which has set us in good stead for the rest of the year.' Renz says: 'We recently launched Families R Forte, our new brand-led family offering which focuses on giving children, whether babies, kids or teens, the same level of service and attention as our adult guests. Each hotel has a multitude of activities for younger guests, including free meals for babies; children’s amenities in the rooms such as cookies and milk on turn down; a hotel cuddly toy and lots of other additions.' The group also offers those little extra touches in all of its hotels, such as Insiders by Rocco Forte Hotels – its new project which gives guests insider tips on cities, from well-known personalities who know it best. In London at Brown’s Hotel, for example, guests can look through actor Hugh Bonneville’s ideal itinerary and explore his theatric recommendations, or when visiting Hotel de Rome in Berlin, guests can look through bar and restaurant legend Heinz Gindullis’ hot spots. The group continues to provide its guests with new innovative offerings, such as its group-wide spa proposition, which is really on trend with the healthy eating, fitness focus lifestyles of today, he says. Rocco Forte Spas combine treatments with beauty products, fitness and food, creating an all- encompassing offering. 'We have also developed an exclusive line of bio cosmetics, Forte Organics, using ingredients sourced from Verdura, our resort in Sicily. These products are then used in the treatments offered in all of the Rocco Forte Spas. We then have Rocco Forte Fitness – the fitness offering that combines the latest clothing, technology and equipment with our inspiring trainers. 'Rocco Forte Nourish is the healthy food offering available in each of our hotels. We created the menus in collaboration collaborated with renowned healthy eating experts in each of our properties to create these menus,' he adds.TTN Staff Report