UAE jobs: Rotana to hire over 1,000 employees as it launches new hotels in the country, overseas

UAE-based hospitality group Rotana will add over 1,000 employees as it plans to open several new properties in the Emirates and other countries, its chief executive said.

The Abu Dhabi-headquartered group has about 80 hotels under its portfolio with the majority of them operating in the UAE, followed by Saudi Arabia and then in other countries including Turkey, Jordan, Oman, Egypt, Congo and Tanzania.

“We've about another 20-plus properties in development; there are a couple here in the UAE and about 11 in Saudi Arabia. The majority of those are going to open in the next 18 months to two years. We're adding new hotels into the pipeline all the time. Our goal is to be at about 120 hotels within three to five years,” said Philip Barnes, CEO of Rotana.

 

“Rotana currently has just shy of 10,000 employees companywide. Within 18 months or two years, we’ll probably have over 11,000 employees — contingent on the number of rooms in each hotel. The bigger the hotel, the more employees,” Barnes told Khaleej Times in an interview ahead of the Arabian Travel Market 2025 , which will run at from April 28 to May 1.

Philip Barnes

He added that a couple of big and landmark projects are also in the pipeline that the company is finalising and will be announced in the coming months.

The UAE and regional hospitality sectors are witnessing unprecedented growth due to, , and government policies to boost tourism and hospitality sectors.

More than are set to open across Dubai by 2027, with almost 4,620 coming to the market this year, according to leading real estate advisory group, Cavendish Maxwell.

Dubai — a regional tourism and hospitality hub — added 4,255 rooms across 19 hotels alone to its inventory in 2024. Hotel inventory will grow by 3.1 per cent this year, with 3.4 per cent growth predicted for 2026, the group said, noting that by the end of 2027, Dubai is set to have more than 162,600 rooms across 769 hotels.

“We have the wonderful advantage of having been born and developed here in the UAE. We are an Emirati hotel company and we are proud of it. The big thing for us is when we talk to (hotel) owners, for example in the UAE, Saudi Arabia or many parts of the region as a whole, they know that we have an inherent understanding of the DNA of the culture that we're dealing with,” said Rotana’s chief executive.

“In this part of the world,” Barnes said, “family and relationships are such an important part of life. So it's not just a question of business. There are a lot of competitive brands that we're up against who have 3,000, 4,000, and 5,000 keys. And I always say they're actually in the business of hotels, which is very different from Rotana. We are very hands-on in our properties,” he added.