Dubai, February 2014: This year several established Travel Award organisers have included new budget hotel categories for the very first time.
Recognizing that the profile of the future traveller to the Middle East will become much more diverse heading towards 2020, with a large number of visitors on tighter budgets and no need for frills, the Travel Award industry has added a new category to their nominee lists: Budget Hotels.
World Travel Awards has created “Middle East’s Leading Budget Hotel Brand” and MENA Travel Awards have come up with a “Best Price Value Hotel” category.
“This is a very welcome move for the hospitality industry in this region. Growth of the mid-market sector is inevitable in the coming years and budget hotels will become an important part of the total accommodation offering. It is consequently positive to witness that budget hotels are already now being recognized as award-worthy candidates alongside luxury hotels”, says Russel Sharpe, COO of Citymax Hotels. He predicts that the budget category will become one of the most fiercely competitive categories in the near future.
For Citymax Hotels, it is doubly welcome as they have been nominated for both a World Travel Award and a MENA Travel Award. “Receiving the nomination and of course winning a renowned travel award is an endorsement of quality from the voters as well as a guarantee of excellence for the hotel guests, and we are delighted to be participating in this year’s award season,” commented Sharpe.
Link to WTA voting: http://www.worldtravelawards.com/vote-for-citymax-hotels-2014
Link to MENA voting: http://www.menatravelawards.com/mena2014/votecard-ce5a151ae284e688ca7bf1d968c1910e.html
Link to high res image: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3evdkvbho6hl6hi/Russel%20Sharpe%202%20COO%20Citymax%20Hotels.jpg