JEDDAH, 29 November 2005 — Elaf Group of Companies for Travel, Tourism & Hotels has been awarded the management contract of Elaf Alsalam Hotel — Mazar, Makkah. The hotel’s opening ceremony took place last week at its location at Shaab Amer, 200 meters from the holy haram.
Moutaz F. Kayal, president of Elaf Group and president of the Saudi chapter of American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), welcomed over 200 dignitaries and invitees at the inaugural ceremony.
The property features 155 luxuriously furnished and decorated rooms and a spacious lobby, and equipped with the state-of-the- art technology. Al-Salam restaurant accommodates more than 200 persons and serves Middle Eastern and international cuisine, aside from 24-hour room service.
The hotel is awarded four-star category. This is the second Elaf hotel opened within two months, after the opening of Elaf AlRayan Hotel — Nour, with 135 rooms and suites in Makkah’s Gaza district, 200 meters from the holy haram, on Sept. 20.
“We understand the highly competitive situation, market challenges and variables in the Saudi hospitality industry, and therefore concentrate on customer service and satisfaction,” Kayal said.
“We believe in our people as the driving force behind our success and rapid development,” he said, adding that until 2000 the group’s hotel portfolio consisted of four hotels with a total of 800 rooms. In 2005, its portfolio increased to 13 hotels with a total of more than 2,200 rooms in Makkah, Madinah and Jeddah. “Presently, we’re studying the feasibility of two more hotel management contracts, one in Jeddah and another in Madinah,” Kayal said, adding that these two projects will be announced in the near future.
Kayal said the group was currently negotiating two prospective management contracts for two properties within the Red Sea Mall project in Jeddah - considered to be the largest mall in the Middle East - of which one is a hotel and the other an all-suite hotel.
The Haj-Umrah segment witnessed tremendous development due to the increase in the number of flights from most feeder markets coupled with the further improvement in Saudi economy,” he said.
In the field of travel and tourism, Elaf is the general sales agent (GSA) for Saudi Arabian Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Egypt Air, Air Sahara, Ariana Afghan Airlines, and Air Tanzania, as well as for some international hotel chains and car rental companies. Elaf has its own fleet of modern buses
Elaf Group is the recipient of a number of achievement award for achieving remarkable sales targets form major airlines such as Saudi Arabian Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Egypt Air.
Elaf Group of Companies was classified among the top 100 companies in Saudi Arabia for the third year, besides being able to secure the ISO 9001 for the third consecutive year, said Kayal who has been unanimously elected resident of the Saudi chapter of ASTA for the third two-year term.