His Highness emphasized that the Eastern region has plenty of touristic sites and is undergoing an exponential growth in its tourism and several other economic developments, thanks to God and then thanks to the care and attention given by the wise leadership to the tourism and hospitality markets.

During the official opening ceremony, Mr. Nasser Al Nowais, Rotana Chairman, one of the leading hotel management companies in the region with over 100 properties across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Türkiye, expressed his pride in launching this new hotel which is an embodiment of Rotana’s long-term vision for the Saudi hospitality market that is undergoing a period of rapid growth under Saudi Vision 2030.

“The Saudi Vision aims to attract 100 million visitors annually to the Kingdom by 2030, raising the contribution of the tourism sector to the nation’s GDP from 3% to 10%. As Saudi Arabia plans to diversify its economic resources and promote tourism, the opening of this stunning property comes in line with the prosperity of the Saudi hospitality market and the strong growth of the entertainment, conferences and exhibition segments.” He added.

Al Nowais extended his deepest appreciation to HRH, Governor of the Eastern Region, for inaugurating the hotel and for his continuous support for everything that serves the region and contributes to stimulating tourism.

From their end, SHUAA Capital Saudi Arabia commented the opening of Dana Rayhaan by Rotana saying: “The new hotel embodies the unique and strategic partnership that brings us together with Rotana, which is one of the most pioneering companies in the region’s hospitality market. Dana Rayhaan by Rotana is another significant milestone in our successful partnership after Centro Waha Riyadh and Centro Shaheen Jeddah.

Guy Hutchinson, Rotana’s President and CEO, noted: “The opening of Dana Rayhaan by Rotana, Rotana’s eighth hotel in the Kingdom, comes as part of Rotana’s ambitious strategic plan to expand in Saudi Arabia with six new hotels over the next four years, which will double the number of room keys in the Kingdom to 6,000.”

Dana Rayhaan by Rotana nestles in a prime location in the heart of the bustling city of Dammam, offering 285 rooms & suites with striking modern design, exceptional amenities and stunning views of the Arabian Gulf and the city.

With four distinctive dining options, Dana Rayhaan by Rotana offers various culinary experiences including Rodeo Grill steakhouse with a stunning outdoor terrace, that is in addition to fully equipped meeting facilities, a grand ballroom, separate recreational facilities for males and females, and an outdoor pool with a spacious terrace offering healthy meals and refreshing beverages.

Rabih Merhy, Director of IT, Amwaj Rotana knew that reliable, high-performance Wi-Fi was now perceived by hotel guests as a basic utility, rather than a luxury. “To cope with this increased need for connectivity, we needed to upgrade the guest internet service to more than double its previous speed,” said Rabih.

Having utilized Aruba’s 801.11n technologies since 2012, to meet basic connectivity requirements, Amwaj Rotana was aware of the performance, rich-feature sets and cost-effectiveness of Aruba’s solutions. A challenge, unique to this project, was the solid concrete walls between the hotel rooms and the IT team knew they would need a reliable solution from a market expert to overcome this. The thorough six week evaluation and testing phase led to the selection of Aruba’s 801.11ac solutions.

An internal study of guest’s internet usage characteristics uncovered, that in recent years over 71% of guests utilized more than two mobile devices requiring an internet connection in a typical double occupied room. To support this influx of devices, and get up to date with the considerable developments made in the wireless domain since its last upgrade, Amwaj Rotana decided to utilize a combination of the latest 802.11ac indoor and outdoor Access Points (APs).

The IT and engineering teams of Amwaj Rotana worked together with Aruba’s partner, Precedence to roll out the implementation across all the guest rooms and the public areas. Special considerations had to be made in order to avoid inconveniencing guests. The whole implementation took just under two months. Aruba’s local team engaged regularly with Rabih and his team to deliver the necessary trainings and hands-on tutorials. Because of the simplicity and power of Aruba’s management interfaces, the team was quick to master administration of the new infrastructure.

The size of the property, and the fact that physically accessing APs for troubleshooting would pose an inconvenience to guests, meant that simplified management and troubleshooting of the entire wireless network was essential. Aruba’s Mobility Controller, which addressed these requirements through a streamlined and easy-to-use interface, was therefore a cornerstone of this implementation. The ability to remotely configure, monitor and troubleshoot each AP drastically reduced the management efforts for Amwaj Rotana’s IT team. Updates are now automatically pushed to the APs and by eliminating the need for repeated manual intervention, the Aruba solution has also mitigated the inconvenience to guests.

Rabih sees the Aruba implementation as having a three-fold benefit. “From a business perspective, we now have better coverage and far superior performance. The 11ac technology with its advanced back-end features meets our present and future technology requirements. And most importantly from a user perspective, they can now enjoy fast and uninterrupted Wi-Fi,” he said.

Having more than met its primary purpose of providing guests with world-class connectivity, the Wi-Fi solution is now being leveraged to enhance the guest experience in new and innovative ways. The hotel intends to upgrade its television systems in the coming year and Aruba’s high-speed wireless network has allowed the team to explore the possibility of adopting the latest smart TVs.

Rabih believes that in Aruba, he has found a partner for long-term success. “We don’t only need a great product, but also reliable post implementation service and solid relationships with our partners. We are proud to say that we have struck a successful partnership with Aruba on all counts,” he concluded.