A consultant has still to be appointed on the Park Inn Olaya Riyadh hotel, which is due for completion in mid-2007. The estimated SR 80 million ($21 million) hotel will have 212 guestrooms and a restaurant, a lobby lounge and up to five meeting rooms. The client is a group of local private investors.

According to Jean-Marc Busato, vice-president, Rezidor SAS Hospitality Middle East, the group plans to double the number of its properties across the region to 28 by the end of 2007. 'We aim to expand our presence in our core markets, with three properties in Dubai and two in Kuwait by 2008,' Busato says. 'In Egypt, we are increasing our presence at the Red Sea with the opening of a third property by the end of 2005, the El-Quseir Radisson SAS Resort. Qatar is another rapidly developing market, and we are hoping to expand into the state in the near future.'