For Seera the deal entails promoting Hilton chain to visitors coming from KSA, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt JEDDAH: Saudi travel and tourism company Seera Group has signed a distribution agreement with the Hilton chain, gaining access to the franchise’s extensive portfolio of 6,300 hotels across 118 countries. For Seera Group, this entails promoting the Hilton chain to visitors coming from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and Egypt. In return, businesses under Seera Group will get direct accessible to Hilton customers. That includes travel brand Al-Mosafer in the Kingdom, destination management firm Discover Saudi and UAE-based travel agency Tajawal. Seera Group’s partners, including its subsidiary Hajj and Umrah business Mawasim, will be able to cut impressive deals with room rate and availability with Hilton. Seera Group CEO Abdullah Al-Dawood said as a major stakeholder in the tourism and travel sector, the company is keen on “redefining the hospitality experience and setting new benchmarks.” He added: “Through our partnership with Hilton, we are expanding our hotel portfolio that will accelerate our business growth and enable our customers to enjoy exceptional hospitality experiences across a wide destination network.” Hilton expressed its excitement to partner with Seera Group, building on a 15-year-old relationship with it. “We’re delighted to have signed the direct connectivity distribution agreement which allows us access to Seera’s overseas offices, as well as additional channels such as Al-Mosafer,” said Stijn Bastiaens, vice president and Hilton’s commercial director in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. Seera Group has announced a series of hotel launches starting next year with Comfort Hotel and Suites in March and Clarion Hotel by April, both in Jeddah. Comfort Hotel Riyadh will open in November. The announcement aligns with the company’s 2018 strategy of furthering hotel development financing on six hotels, scaling up its occupancy with 1,000 rooms.