The First Group Hospitality solidified its status as a premier third-party hotel management firm, announcing a series of major international and regional deals during last year’s Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) World in Dubai.
The signings mark a significant shift into European markets and a deepened collaboration with global hotel giants.
TTN spoke to Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations, Tom Stevens, to gather the key highlights of the expansion.
“The First Group Hospitality has significantly bolstered its portfolio through a strategic partnership with Marriott International to integrate three flagship Dubai properties into a global ecosystem,” Stevens informs our readers.
“Under this agreement the First Collection Marina and the First Collection Waterfront will join the Tribute Portfolio while Hotel Local Dubai in Jumeirah Village Triangle is set to be rebranded under the Autograph Collection.”
The company also secured its entry into the Northern Emirates by signing the Radisson RED Marjan Island in Ras Al Khaimah which is scheduled to open in 2027 as the first franchised Radisson RED in the UAE.
In a landmark move for the Dubai based operator, the group announced its official entry into the European market with the management of the Gennadi Seaside Resort in Rhodes Greece.
The firm strengthened its ties with IHG Hotels and Resorts by confirming the signing of the Holiday Inn Dubai Village Circle which further diversifies a portfolio that already includes the upcoming Ciel Dubai Marina under the Vignette Collection.
Management company
All hotels they currently manage are owned by the group (10 properties in Dubai), but they cannot build hotels fast enough to match their management capability. Hence the decision to expand as a third party management company, managing hotels for individual owners under franchise with big brands.
“We are signing up with individual owners also as a third party management company - this is where we want to venture into as of now. Because of already running 6,000 rooms, we have the expertise and the shared services that we can plug other hotels into. This is the normal next step for us to grow,” explains Stevens.
The First Group Hospitality operates centralised shared services: central reservations, HR, finance, sales, marketing and revenue management. New hire Khaled Al Shabati serves as Director of Guest Engagement to run central reservations. Part of central reservations will move to Cairo to scale cost effectively and take advantage of remote/AI-enabled work, Stevens says. Their revenue management team can handle multiple brands and systems, which is hard-to-find expertise in the region.
The First Group Hospitality aims for strategic, not scattershot growth.
We want to build strong partnerships with brands, use economies of scale and avoid expanding ourselves too thin geographically
- Tom Stevens
AI in hospitality
The First Group Hospitality is running a pilot with a tech company that they met at FHS Riyadh on AI concierge. Guests use an app or WhatsApp, speak/type in any language, and requests are auto routed to housekeeping, engineering, etc. From there, they can build upselling, housekeeping optimisation, and other operational features. In central reservations, AI monitors calls, checks against brand-specific scripts and provides daily performance feedback and training recommendations to agents.
Stevens is particularly excited about how fast AI is changing hospitality and how it combines operations and training. He highlights that the true value of AI lies in its ability to act as a real-time personal coach for employees.
Instead of just being a back-end tool, the system provides hyper-personalised training by analysing individual daily performance and offering specific, brand-aligned feedback to improve guest engagement. In essence, he is describing a shift from general staff workshops to automated, data-driven career development.
Growth targets
The group’s goal is to reach 40 properties within the next three years, Stevens says. “The First Group Hospitality aims for strategic, not scattershot growth. We want to build strong partnerships with brands, use economies of scale and avoid expanding ourselves too thin geographically.”