Why has Hilton expanded its development team?
If you look at the hotel market in terms of the biggest hotel operators that currently trade on an international scale and operate in the Middle East, most of them have very well-established development infrastructure in Dubai. Hilton believes that the size of its infrastructure-development team is less than what is required. If you look at companies such as InterContinental, Marriott and Starwood, they all have more human resources on the ground. When you talk about human resources, you are talking about developers because development doesn’t come from a one-man show; you need the infrastructure around it. Hilton realised that the number of brands that now exist under the Hilton family can translate into an enormous opportunity for growth and with that opportunity you need the right infrastructure in place to execute it. In a nutshell, Hilton decided to focus on the GCC to realise its full potential. The existing team is still there and there are just more people added to the team. Wh
