Sahid group opens hotel in Mecca
JAKARTA (JP): The busy Sahid Group has opened its 21st property, Sahid Suites Makkah, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to serve haj pilgrims from Southeast Asia.
Sahid senior executive Darwin Siddyumar said here yesterday the four-star hotel had 46 rooms.
"Since opening on Dec. 10, a group of 17 Indonesians have booked to stay at the hotel," he told The Jakarta Post.
Darwin, who is also the hotel's general manager, said the hotel should do well because more Indonesians were going to Mecca.
He said the property, leased from a company in Mecca, was 150 meters from Al Haram Ash Sharif holy mosque.
He said the hotel's room rate would range between US$46 and $86 in normal season and nine times higher, up to $400, in high seasons (the end of Ramadhan and during the haj pilgrimage).
"By next March, Sahid will manage another star-rated hotel in Madina," he said.
He said Sahid Group owned 50 percent of the Madina property.
The two hotels in Saudi Arabia are managed or will be managed by PT Sahid International Hotel Management Consultant which operates the five-star Hotel Sahid Jaya on Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta.
Sahid Jaya deputy resident manager Sutikno said yesterday that his hotel on Jl. Sudirman had won an Upakarti industrial award.
President Soeharto awarded 67 Upakarti awards last Monday to executives, companies and local administrations for their contribution to small business.
Sahid Jaya was one of 18 firms recognized this year for their efforts to promote small business.
"About 85 percent of the decorations, including interior, ornaments, stationery and meeting equipment at Sahid Jaya was supplied by small-scale industries," Sutikno said.
He said Sahid Jaya was dealing with 55 small businesses and 300 small-scale suppliers.
He said the Sahid Hotel in Yogyakarta and Sahid Kusuma in Surakarta in Central Java won Upakarti awards in 1992.
Sahid group has a portfolio of 21 star-rated properties in 11 provinces with more than 2,700 rooms.
Sahid chairman Sukamdani S. Gitosardjono opened the Sahid Tourism Academy extension yesterday.
He said Indonesia, which targeted tourism as its main foreign exchange earner by 2004, must train staff to face stiffer competition. (icn)