Kempinski Hotels commenced the annual GCC roadshow in Saudi Arabia on April 4, encouraged by the recent signing off of mock-up room designs and the hotel's green plans for the group's first five-star resort property in the Kingdom, which is set to open in Jeddah during 2011 and the recent announcement for Kempinski in Riyadh. The journey of the 15 representatives of the most luxurious Kempinski properties from across the GCC took them to various travel trade operators in key cities, including Riyadh and Dammam as well as other cities in the GCC such as Manama, Doha and Kuwait on April 11 - the last day of the roadshow. Kempinski's Samer Achcar, Global director of Sales Middle East and Africa, said “there will continue to be a market for luxury travelers, for both leisure and business and we remain optimistic about maintaining the growth we achieved last year, thanks in no small measure to the support provided by our travel trade partners, with whom we have established very good relations that we intend to continue, hence the staging of our annual GCC roadshow.” “Bannered by our existing portfolio of luxury properties in exotic destinations, as well as announcements of exhilarating new destinations, our goal is to excite our travel partners and give them further reasons to continue recommending the unique Kempinski experience to their clients,” he said. In support of improved relations with travel agencies, Kempinski Hotels has recently unveiled its partnership with Worldwide Payment Systems (WPS) to automate its data and commission payments processing. Forecasted for use by all Kempinski Hotels by June 2009, this platform will allow travel agency bookings for a Kempinski Hotel to receive personalized payments, as well as have online access to track payments, generate receipts and assist with reporting. From Indonesia to Zanzibar, a Kempinski Hotels team visited trade partners across the GCC, in locations such as Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam, Bahrain, Doha, and Kuwait. __
