The Address Hotels and Resorts, Emaar Hospitality Group's home-grown 5-star premium hotel brand , signed on Monday its first management contract with Azmi Abdelhadi (AAH) Group, a leading Saudi Arabia-based business conglomerate, to operate a luxury property within Jnan Amar Retreat, a premium mixed-use development in Marrakech. Scheduled to open in 2011 and spread over 40 hectares, Jnan Amar Polo Retreat is developed by SIAMA (Morocco), the subsidiary of AAH Group, and is billed to be an exclusive polo spa-retreat that will strengthen high-quality tourism in the region. In its first management contract internationally, The Address Hotels and Resorts will manage the luxury 5-star retreat hotel including the dining facilities, meeting venues, leisure facilities and business lounge, as well as several luxury villas. Azmi Abdelhadi, founder & president of AAH Group and Marc Dardenne, chief executive officer, Emaar Hospitality Group, signed the management agreement in Dubai. Also present were Abdelatif Abdelhadi, chief executive officer, Abdelhadi & AlMoiabed Consulting and Design Engineering (AMCDE) and vice president of AAH Group; Ammar Abdelhadi, general manager, SIAMA; Patrick Heuze, senior director - Hospitality Asset Management & Development, Emaar Properties PJSC; Ayman Kacem, general manager, Jnan Amar Polo Retreat; and José Angel Olmo of Oktels Group, the masterplan consultants of the project. Abdelhadi said: “Jnan Amar Polo Retreat is envisaged as a powerful growth driver for tourism in the Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz region in Morocco, and the varied luxury components of the project will create a new lifestyle dynamic to the region. The Address Hotels and Resorts, with its established credentials as an international hospitality provider, is a perfect partner in achieving our goals of offering luxury facilities to our guests.” Dardenne said: “The partnership with Jnan Amar marks the first management contract for The Address Hotels & Resorts, a 5-star premium hotel brand. This is a reiteration of our founding objectives to be a global hospitality provider offering clear differentials as is demonstrated by our flagship property The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai.” He added: “Jnan Amar has five focal areas of tourism - cultural, business, meetings & incentives, health & well-being and sports & recreation. It was therefore important for us to have a partner that has diverse strengths in managing all these aspects. The Address Hotel and Resorts has proven its competencies in all these aspects of hospitality, making it our ideal choice.” Jnan Amar will essentially have two components - the hotel and the villas, all set amidst an extensive lake and polo field. The retreat property will cater for Moroccan customers as well as international investors and tourists from Europe, and the Middle East & North Africa region. Heuze said: “The retreat hotel at Jnan Amar will have 60 luxury rooms including two presidential suites and 16 private villas.” __
