RIYADH: Abha, a city in Saudi Arabia’s Asir region, is poised to welcome its first luxury lifestyle hotel through an upcoming deal with American operator Valor Hospitality. The company, which has overseen a portfolio of major brand hotels including Intercontinental, Marriott, Hilton, Radisson, Wyndham, and Hyatt, also aims to enter secondary and tertiary markets. While major brands concentrate on large-scale developments, Valor aims to cater to “outer regions.” Speaking to Arab News at the Future Hospitality Summit in Riyadh, Julien Bergue, the co-founder and managing partner of the company, highlighted that Valor has signed a deal to break ground on a “very different” upscale property in Abha, with details to be announced within a month. Bergue said: “Saudi Arabia is a very specific market. We’re very excited about Saudi Arabia. We’ve been excited about it for five years. We’re watching, we’re learning. We signed our first property in Abha in the Asir region. I’m very proud of it. But we will make it public in about a month’s time; it is the first lifestyle hotel in Abha.” Expressing excitement about the deal, he called it a “great asset, with a very great owner as well.” “We’re excited about it. Our plans in Saudi Arabia is to tackle secondary and tertiary regions at the moment. While all the big brands are very focused on mega developments, we are helping now the outer region,” he added. The company’s future plans in the Kingdom also include collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Investment Fund to “see how we can position better investment throughout the secondary tertiary region.” This includes rolling out a training academy for young Saudis in the sector, the executive said, with plans to launch within the next year and a half. The academy will leverage the operator’s expertise to bridge the gap between the upcoming surge in the hospitality industry and the human capital needed to fulfill those goals. “In a year and a half, we should be ready to roll out the academy here with a much deeper structure behind it. This is super important for the ecosystem of our own business in Saudi Arabia and for the other players in the space. So, it"s a very good initiative,” he said. The executive revealed that they are planning to implement shorter programs. “So we are not aiming toward management training. We are going to really aim toward technical training skills, such as housekeeping and other core stuff required for running operations.” This training program aims to enroll a thousand participants every month through an “aggressive short-term program.” By 2030, Valor’s ultimate goal is to manage properties with 6,000 to 7,000 keys under their management.