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Nobu coming to Four Seasons

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The marina where the restaurant will be built

THE Middle East is to get its second branch of world-renowned eatery Nobu with work underway at the Four Seasons, Doha, Qatar.

The restaurant, which will be a stand-alone entity built on the tip of the pier in the hotel’s marina, is expected to be completed in around 12 to 18 months.

The hotel is also undergoing a complete soft renovation this year with new carpets, mattresses, curtains and other soft furnishings in all 232 rooms and suites.

Director of marketing Ashraf El Zahed said: “The plan for this summer is to refresh the rooms, we changed the television sets last summer because technology is advancing very fast and we have to keep pace and we completely refurbished all the ducting and air conditioning some time ago so we are now concentrating on the soft refurbishment.”

He said that business dropped last year but has begun to recover and is remaining steady despite the opening of many new properties in Qatar and he added that Four Seasons, unlike many other hotels, has a split of business and leisure guests whose numbers are expected to increase.

“The facilities in Qatar have been building over the years so I think the leisure numbers will grow with that,” said El Zahed.

“The supply and demand issue is having an impact on revenues with new places opening up but this is a transition.

“In 2004 we were four branded hotels, now there’s a transitional period, if demand remains static or relies on standard growth there could be oversupply but there are plans to build on the successful conference business and also the sporting events – for example Qatar’s bid for the Football World Cup.

“QMDI (Qatar Mice Development Institute) is part of the Qatar Foundation which is looking at large-scale conferences, for example medical conferences.

“Also Qatar Airways is regularly launching new routes, we are already seeing interest from the Brazilian market since the launch of Sao Paulo – we can be a hub and connect to other destinations such as Egypt and Jordan.”

And he added that, with Qatar’s population having more than doubled in the last five years with new companies coming in bringing new residents, demand domestically is increasing for restaurants and quick getaways.

“Its never a short term plan, it’s a slow process and we can expect our business to improve,” said El Zahed. “The increase in supply is a positive thing because it means people are working hard to maintain the competitive edge.”

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