First Lodging Advisory and Operational Asset Management Firm To Meet Rigorous Qatar Financial Center Authority Licensing Standards

DOHA, Qatar & BOSTON - Tuesday, April 8th 2014 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The T.R. ENGEL Group, LLC, (TRE), a Boston, USA-based international lodging advisory and hotel operational asset management firm, today announced that it has successfully met the rigorous, corporate licensing requirements of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA). The QFCA is responsible for leading the expansion of Qatar’s financial services sector and for developing relationships with the regional and global financial community.

T.R. ENGEL Group – Middle East, LLC (TRE-ME) is the first lodging advisory and asset management firm to be awarded corporate licensing under the new, exacting QFCA guidelines. TRE-ME joins such other international companies as McKinsey & Company, Inc. Qatar; Goldman Sachs International; and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Since its inception in 2005, the QFCA has awarded licensing to less than 200 companies.

T.R. ENGEL Group – Middle East’s mandate is to deliver cost-effective lodging advisory and asset management services to Qatari hotel real estate investors and developers. These services range from hotel programming, critiquing design concepts, financial underwriting, to brand selection and negotiation of hotel management agreements.

“Qatar is in the midst of a major lodging boom designed to satisfy two major milestones ahead: The World Cup in 2022 and implementation of the Qatar Tourism Strategy 2030,” said Matthew Engel, managing partner and head, TRE-ME. “More than 240 estimated properties have been proposed by the QTA.

“This tremendous influx has created demand for sophisticated lodging advisory services and systems to help assure that the right hotel concept, financing, competitive positioning, brand and management and operating systems are in place,” he said. In addition, Engel and TRE-ME believe “existing hotels require seasoned hotel operational asset management to maintain and grow market share during a period of extensive supply growth, with expected room supply increases of as much as 10 percent annually over the next four years.”

TRE-ME’s competitive edge lies in its people, senior executives with depth of experience in every facet of the global hotel business: hotel development, operations, asset management, finance and project management.

Engel noted that Qatar is well underway in implementing an impressive, well-devised tourism growth strategy in its 2030 plan which calls for boosting leisure travel from its current 2.6 percent of GDP to 5.1 percent by 2030, increasing tourist arrivals to more than 3.5 million in 2022 and seven million annually by 2030. Much of the growth will come from positioning Qatar as a luxury leisure destination with an emphasis on cultural activities and sports.

TRE-ME has worked on four major Qatar hotel and resort developments during the last two years, providing marketing/feasibility studies and financial underwriting, detailed hotel programming, design reviews and brand reviews and selection. TRE-ME has played a pivotal role in successfully structuring often complex hotel management agreements to optimize return on investment. A cross-section of projects include the Anantara Doha Island Resort & Spa, due to open in Q2, 2014; the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Doha Old Town opening 2014; the Salwa Beach Resort & Spa, opening 2016; and concepts for the Doha Grand Park development.

“Our representation has been in place in Doha since late 2011. Achieving QFC licensing positions T.R. ENGEL – Middle East as the sole lodging advisory firm to hold this distinction for which we are most grateful. Along with our extensive background in global and Qatar hospitality, we look forward to the opportunity to play a key role in the success of the country’s lodging industry both for existing and future projects.”

T.R. ENGEL Group – Middle East, LLC, is led by Matthew Engel. Headquartered in Doha, the Qatar company contact information is:

Manuel Schneider T.R. ENGEL Group – Middle East, LLC, Al Fardan Office Tower, Level 9, Doha, Qatar, P.O. Box: 31316 Tel: +974 (44) 10 - 1560 | Cell: +974 (66) 88 0393 | Fax: +974 (44) 10 - 1500

About T.R. ENGEL Group – Middle East, LLC (TRE-ME), a subsidiary of T.R. ENGEL Group, LLC (TRE)

T.R. ENGEL Group, LLC, is a privately held, Boston, Mass., U.S.‐based lodging advisory, asset management and real estate investment firm. The company currently is engaged in hospitality advisory projects and hotel asset management throughout the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. TRE offices are located in Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C. T.R. ENGEL Group – Middle East, LLC (TRE-ME) is a subsidiary of TRE, registered in Qatar and licensed through the Qatar Financial Center Authority with offices located in Doha, Qatar. Additional information can be found at www.trengelgroup.com.

Contacts
USA Contact:
T.R. ENGEL Group, LLC
Matthew S. Engel, +1-617-451-1701
mengel@trengelgroup.com

Qatar Contact:
T.R. ENGEL Group – Middle East, LLC
Manuel D Schneider, +974-44-10-1560
mschneider@trengelgroup.com

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