El-Hagry: Edge is Rotana Hotels' youthful brand, and we succeeded in applying 100% of their requirements in record time
The total cost of developing the "Edge Rotana Sharm El Sheikh Sea Beach" hotel reached $350 million
We seek to satisfy the wishes of all nationalities of all ages during their stay at the resort
After Nubia Sharm for Tourism Projects (Sea Beach), the owner of the "Edge Sharm El Sheikh Sea Beach" resort, succeeded in signing a contract with the Emirati hotel company Rotana to bring the Edge by Rotana brand to Egypt for the first time, and opened the hotel after its complete redevelopment last November, Travel Yalla News conducted an exclusive interview with Mohamed El-Hagry, Chairman of Nubia Sharm for Tourism Projects (Sea Beach), in which he revealed the details of this contract, the company's plan to expand its hotel investments in Egypt, and its target tourism markets.
Mohamed El-Hagry said: "I consider myself relatively new to the hotel business, which I entered in 2015 by managing this hotel. My main activity was tourism real estate investment in Sharm El Sheikh, building villas, tourist housing and a shopping center, and I had no experience in managing tourist resorts, so I leased the hotel to an experienced company to attract tourists."
He continued: "The hotel was not at the hoped-for level, which led me to decide to terminate the lease. I paid off the leasing company's debts, which amounted to about $6.5 million, and waived the rent, in an attempt to save the hotel from incurring further losses. I then leased the hotel to the Russian company Pegas, and after the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the company was unable to cope with and withstand the resulting financial crisis."
El-Hagry added that 2015 saw a new birth for the hotel after it was recovered from the Russian management company, and he decided to run it through Blue Resort, a company he founded, giving the management company more flexibility in hiring staff and contracting with tour operators. Since then, he began building experience in the details of hotel management and hospitality and identified the mistakes made in previous periods of running the hotel, whether in terms of crises and challenges or guests' requirements, in an attempt to satisfy all nationalities, as service quality, not price competition, has become every tourist's priority.
He explained that since the hotel was built from 2000 until its opening in 2008, it needed a comprehensive overhaul. Development work began in 2016 amid the decline in tourism following the Russian plane crash, and the challenge was carrying out construction work while guests were staying at the hotel. He noted that he did not stop pursuing his goal during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and kept the workforce, "but we reduced salaries somewhat to cope with the drop in revenue."
El-Hagry stressed that the climate conference held in November 2022 marked the real take-off and comprehensive development of Sharm El Sheikh, after which Egypt received 144 nationalities, some of them visiting Egypt for the first time.
The Birth of the Edge Brand in Egypt
He pointed out that with the gradual recovery of inbound tourism to Egypt since 2023, "I thought about contracting with an international company by obtaining a franchise for one of its brands, so that I could continue running the hotel under my own responsibility, because I had become the person best placed to know the operating costs and revenues, while a management company's priority is only its share of the profits." He added that all he needs is a company with standards he can adhere to and a company name trusted by customers, both tour operators and tourists.
He noted that Sharm El Sheikh goes through periods of contraction and stagnation as well as periods of recovery, "and so I have more flexibility to adjust prices and operating costs within an hour, whereas any management company may take at least a month, by which time any event and its repercussions would be over," based on following other resorts run by international companies.
Successful Application of Rotana's Hospitality Standards
Mohamed El-Hagry, Chairman of Nubia Sharm, stressed the hotel's commitment to applying Rotana's hospitality standards since signing the Edge brand contract during the first quarter of this year, revealing that Rotana's standards consist of 968 points, "which we succeeded in achieving 100% in record time."
He said the development work at the hotel, with a total cost of about $350 million, covered 600 of the total points of the service standards, so implementing the remaining points was easy, including the finest details, from the way rooms are furnished and the type of furnishings to the cleaning methodology and technology used, the type of music in the lobby and restaurants, and the type of flowers, noting that the management company conducts a monthly review to ensure all standards are being applied.
In a related context, El-Hagry explained that Rotana executives from various departments were brought in to provide administrative and technical consulting in some specialties at the hotel in order to apply Rotana's standards and train staff on them, with the hotel bearing their costs during their stay at the hotel.
He added that the accounting and management systems are linked to Rotana, enabling it to view the hotel's revenues and expenses and its ratings on all international travel and tourism websites, such as Booking and Tripadvisor, because in the end they are protecting the reputation of their brand.
Edge, Rotana's Youthful Brand... Hotel Facilities That Satisfy All Guests
El-Hagry described the Edge by Rotana brand as youthful, as it is characterized by flexibility, compared with the classic character of Rotana hotels, most notably bed-and-breakfast stays, whereas Edge is the brand characterized by all-inclusive stays at 5-star tourist resorts, which is what the "Edge Rotana Sea Beach Sharm El Sheikh" resort delivers.
El-Hagry reviewed the resort's capabilities and facilities after the redevelopment. It currently includes 650 hotel rooms of different categories, including 6 suites, 4 villas under construction and 27 villas, 12 of which are tourist villas with hotel service, as well as 95 family rooms (a large room divided into two rooms with an internal door separating them) and 21 Swim Up Rooms on the sea inside the resort, which offer privacy, overlook the sea directly and have a swimming pool exclusively for this group. He revealed that there are plans to increase the hotel's capacity to 1,050 rooms within two years.
The resort includes more than 11 restaurants and cafes and 5 swimming pools, including a children's pool, in addition to a water park area with 27 slides and a lazy river. It also offers direct access to a private sandy beach stretching 255 meters and a 968-meter boardwalk overlooking the famous coral reefs of the Red Sea, leading to the most beautiful snorkeling and diving sites and close to the El Gharkana shipwreck, after which the area in Nabq Bay is named.
The facilities also include a kids' club, sports courts, an integrated health center, conference halls and a medical clinic, providing an integrated experience suited to families and leisure travelers.
The Resort Attracts Various Nationalities
El-Hagry stated that occupancy stands at 100%, with the top nationalities being Russian, British, Italian, Kazakh, Polish, Czech, Armenian, Latvian and Jordanian, while Gulf tourists are few. "We are strongly targeting Gulf tourists in the coming period, as they are high-spending tourists, which is why I contracted with Rotana," he said, noting that the challenge is how to satisfy all nationalities given their different cultures and ages.
He added that since the contract with Rotana, the Arab market has gained greater confidence in the hotel's management, especially the Gulf market, which "we are strongly targeting," pointing to the experiences of major tourism countries such as France, Spain, Malaysia and England, where most tourism comes from the Gulf and has contributed strongly to these countries' economies, as Gulf tourists head to hotels run by international companies and do not come to locally managed resorts.
Plans to Expand in Tourism Projects
On Nubia Sharm's expansion plans, Mohamed El-Hagry said: "I am a supporter of focus, and I prefer to direct any financial surplus toward development, because spreading into other tourism projects may affect quality. In the end, the market is what determines the best direction."
El-Hagry noted that he plans to invest in Marsa Alam, as it is a promising area, pointing out that all investment routes are feasible, whether acquisitions, management or building a new hotel, but sometimes the size of the debts of the property being purchased is an obstacle to completing deals. He added that investment in the North Coast is also being studied, given the great attention it receives from the state.
El-Hagry pointed out that the tourism company Traviond Travel has been established to contract with foreign tour operators to attract tourists from various markets to the hotel, completing the promotion cycle, and that it also contracts with other hotels. He revealed that luxury buses and limousines are to be purchased to meet the requirements of Gulf tourists.
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