The Jordache Enterprises group, controlled by brothers Joseph, Rafael, and Avi Nakash, is expanding its hotel business in Israel. In the coming months, the group will open three new hotels with four-star or five-star ratings under the Herbert Samuel brand: the 162-room Milos Dead Sea Hotel, which will open next month; the 110-room Opera Tel Aviv Hotel in the old Tel Aviv opera house; and the 30-room Boutique Tel Aviv Hotel, in a building designated for preservation.
The Setai hotel brand will also open three new hotels, all of them with a five-star rating: Setai Akko on the Khan al-Umdan site and two Tel Aviv hotels - one of them on the site of the country club near the Glilot Interchange and the other in the area of the Tel Aviv promenade. Both of them will also include residential apartments. The group plans to have 21 hotels in Israel by 2023.
"The Nakash family is investing billions of dollars in Israel," Jordache Enterprises CEO Avi Homero said today. Jordache Enterprises controls Arkia Airlines, Ampa Real Estate, Eilat Port, the Halutsa cooking oil company, and the Prinir brand of processed food. Through Ampa, the group is also a partner in the Selina hostels brand, which is set to enter Israel this year.
The group has 15 more hotels outside Israel, mostly in the US. "The Nakash brothers are very emotionally involved in the Israeli hotel sector," Homero added. "They believe that more hotels in Israel will make the number of tourists increase. Actually, there is no reason why Israel should not attract 10-12 million tourists a year, triple the current number."
According to Homero, the group will make back its NIS 1 billion investment in the six new hotels in 10-15 years. "In the hotel business, you have to look into the distant future and be optimistic. If more hotels are built in Tel Aviv, it will upgrade the city, and everyone will benefit. Joseph Nakash taught me to look 1,000 years ahead, and that's what I intend to do."
"Globes": Why is your focus only on the luxury brands?
Homero: "Because there's a big audience for it. Incoming tourism is starving for luxury hotels, especially in Tel Aviv. After we opened the Setai Hotel in Jaffa, we discovered that there was an audience that wanted and was willing to pay for luxury hotels. Some people complain that hotels in Israel are too expensive, but that's wrong. When you compare apples with apples in the luxury category, you discover that the prices here are like in Europe, or even cheaper, although operating costs in Israel are higher.
"We're planning to also operate a cheaper product through Selina, but for us, whatever brings tourists here is good. At this stage, we don't plan to enter medium-class (three-star) hotels."
Will you also enter apartment renting on an Airbnb format?
"Not at the moment. I think that the idea of renting out apartments is fantastic, but not in the current free-for-all situation. Competition has to be fair, subject to the regulation and taxes that I am subject to as a hotelier."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 29, 2019
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