ENVI Lodges, the ecolodge brand, and Al Rasim Hotels & Resorts, have announced plans to develop a waterfront ecolodge project on the Red Sea coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The announcement took place at the Future Hospitality Summit (FHS) in Riyadh, the leading industry conference in Saudi Arabia. The agreement was signed between Eng. Aiad Mushaikh, Managing Director of Al Rasim Hotels & Resorts, and Chris Nader & Noelle Homsy, co-founders of ENVI, in the presence of Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of The Bench, the organiser of FHS.
“We are very excited to bring the ENVI Lodges brand to the booming market of Saudi Arabia,” said Eng. Aiad upon signing the agreement. “We want to invest in unique hospitality projects and develop immersive lodges that offer both domestic travelers and international tourists the opportunity to discover the natural beauty of the Kingdom. As a Saudi company, we want to contribute to the implementation of the Saudi tourism strategy through investing in high-end tourism project. ENVI’s proposition and approach to hospitality is exactly what we were looking for, and this project will become a reference for experiential lodging on the shores of the Red Sea.”
The lodge will be made of approximately 40 modular pods, prefabricated and transported to the site, where they will be installed on individual decks, hence lowering the impact on the environment, and minimizing any disturbance on the site. The project will adhere to ENVI’s thorough sustainability standards which have been vetted by Beyond Green, the sustainability alliance that ENVI is part of. The facilities of the lodge will include a restaurant, a beach club, private pools, an experience hub, a wellness sanctuary, and a kids club. The lodge is expected to open by mid 2023.
“We are entering the Saudi market with an exciting project that completely reflects the ENVI brand,” said Chris Nader, ENVI’s co-founder. “I would like to thank Eng. Aiad for giving us this amazing opportunity for an ecolodge in the Western region.”
Nader adds: “ENVI Lodges is receiving a lot of interest from Saudi investors who have a strong desire to develop responsible hospitality projects, in line with Vision 2030, and we are collaborating closely with the tourism authorities, municipalities and major financing organisations for tourism, to create multiple circuits of lodges across the Kingdom.”
ENVI is currently working on two other lodge projects in Saudi Arabia.
