May 16, 2010--ABU DHABI -- Hotel management company Rotana will add 800 hotel rooms across three new properties in Abu Dhabi's Capital Centre development -- currently under construction -- adjacent to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

Two of them will be opened next year and the third one in 2012, the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company, or Adnec, said in a Press release here on Saturday.

Capital Centre Rotana, a four-star, 300-room hotel, and Centro Capital Centre, a 300-room budget hotel, will be opened in 2011, the release said, quoting Rotana President and Chief Operating Officer Selim El Zyr.

These will be followed by the opening of Capital Centre Arjaan in 2012, a four-star, 200-room hotel apartment complex, he disclosed.

Construction at Capital Centre Rotana and Centro Capital Centre is already underway, while work on Capital Centre Arjaan is expected to commence shortly, the release said.

The projects are being developed by Adnec along with private investors, a Rotana spokesperson said in response to questions from Khaleej Times.

Currently, Rotana manages a portfolio of over 70 properties across 26 cities in the Middle East and North Africa, or MENA, region. The company's strategic aim is to have a property located in every key city in the region in the coming years, he said.

Adnec's Dh8 billion Capital Centre development will feature 23 residential, commercial and mixed-use towers adjacent to the exhibition centre. The exhibition centre hosted 119 events in 2009, an eight-fold increase over 2005 when 14 events took place during the year, the release said. Officials of both Rotana and Adnec expressed confidence about business prospects of these new hotels despite the current slowdown in the hospitality industry in the UAE.

"In 2009 we experienced reductions across all markets, which was in line with the overall world economic turndown. This has affected our industry in general. However, look at Dubai today and the high occupancies that the hotels are running at," the spokesperson said.

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