The UAE-headquartered hospitality company TIME Hotels, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Feb. 28, by recognizing key milestones during a decade of service excellence and corporate achievement.
TIME Hotels was founded in Dubai in 2012 under the leadership of Mohamed Awadalla, the co-founder and CEO of the hospitality group. The company initially launched with six properties in Dubai and Sharjah, before introducing a new brand concept “TIME Express” and expanding its portfolio into Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and most recently Mauritius, TIME’s first property outside the MENA region.
With three more hotels due to open this year, TIME’s portfolio will grow to an impressive 19 properties.
“Our success as a homegrown brand can be attributed to our progressive corporate strategy, which consists of four main pillars — environmental issues, staff welfare, social responsibility and ethical governance. More than 10 percent of our existing staff has been with us from the beginning.
“Another benefit of being independent is that with a flat management structure, we are also very flexible and have been able to react quickly to market trends and issues,” said Awadalla.
Since launching, one of TIME’s first achievements was to secure an international hotel sustainability certification, initially through Green Globe, then subsequently with Green Key, which it has maintained ever since, complying with global standards through annual audits.
More sustainability achievements followed, in 2014, TIME became the first hospitality company in the Middle East to offer a carbon management program for its guests, offsetting 326 tons of CO2 emissions during the first nine months.
TIME’s humanitarian projects include a food collection initiative in 2021 with the Red Crescent, as well as donating thousands of dollars to cancer hospitals in Cairo and Luxor, and a renovation project for a girls’ school in Kenya in partnership with Etihad Airways.
Other notable milestones include TIME’s strategic decision in 2019 to centralize all individual property reservations departments into a dedicated central reservations office in Cairo, which has streamlined reservations and harmonized rates. One year later, the TIME Asma hotel opened in Dubai, which was the first hotel in the region to be managed entirely by a team of women.
“In recognition of our efforts, we have received a total of 79 local, regional and international awards, over the last decade. It is particularly gratifying to receive accolades from industry professionals, governments and humanitarian organizations,” added Awadalla.
