Real estate mogul Sam Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments and Equity International, is regarded as a wise voice within the industry.
According to him Brazil, Egypt, and China remain some of the best places for property investments as the global financial crisis drags on.
These countries have a shortage of affordable housing and infrastructures that support foreign investment, Zell told a forum in New York sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school.
source: PropertyWire, 6 Dec 2008
Monday, 15 December 2008
Property Investment Guru Backs Egypt
Friday, 12 December 2008
Facilicities at Best Western Zafarana
- Fitness centre
- Wellness centre with steam bath
- Swimming pools
- Tennis courts
- Diving school
- Water sport facilities
- Shuttle services to and from the airport
- In-house serviced laundry
- Limo service and car rental
- Children's playground
- Restaurants and bars
- 24 hour concierge, reception and room services
- 24 hour in house security services with manned gate
- Supermarket
- Boutiques
- Travel and excursion services
- Dive centre and water sports shop
- Private beach with house coral reef and two private jetties
- Internet connection in all apartments
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Straight From the Horse's Mouth
About the Best Western Zafarana Beach Resort, as published on the IPI website:
The construction of the Best Western Zafarana Beach Resort is in full swing. The first completions will be in the first half of 2009 and in the spring of 2009 the complete resort will be fully operational. The resort was completely sold out in 2007, but there will always be apartments and villas available for resale. Please visit the estate agency section for currently available properties.
The Zafarana Beach Resort lies on an extraordinarily beautiful virgin diving lagoon, north of the Egyptian city of Zafarana and directly on the Red Sea Coast. In the near future the accessibility of Zafarana will increase while the preparations for the international airport, containing a 3.6 km runway, 30 km north of the resort in Ain Soukhna. Until the completion of the airport the resort will provide transport to and from all the existing airports. This transport varies from shuttle to limo services.
Best Western Zafarana Beach Resort offers ample opportunities for sports and recreation with numerous tennis courts, swimming pools, a fitness/wellness centre and dive school.
The wellness centre is a place for relaxation and rejuvenation, where you can truly enjoy your well-deserved holiday.
The water sports centre, which is situated near the ‘jetty', offers ample water activities. Here your options include windsurfing, sailing and of course, diving and snorkeling where you can be accompanied by experienced diving instructors.
The resort will also feature an open-air theatre with music and theatrical performances and an in-house entertainment team so the youngsters will never get bored. Additionally there is a day nursery and playgrounds.
Of course, there are various places to eat and drink in the resort. Menus will feature dishes from various international kitchens.
Throughout the resort you will find an array of shops for your daily needs, and the boutiques will provide the perfect place to source souvenirs and the perfect gift for that special someone.
In brief, the Best Western Zafarana Beach Resort offers a great deal of luxury.
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Zafarana a Property Hot Spot
"What makes this particular development unique is not just the tennis courts, spas, restaurants and swimming pools, but for divers it is the on-site dive school, dive shop and dive safaris that will be run from the resort."
A new luxury beach resort on The Red Sea at Zafarana Egypt is set to become a property hot spot in Egypt. The 5 star resort is one of a relatively new breed of developments emerging in Egypt and will attract divers, investors and holidaymakers to its virgin reefs and pristine waters.
Most people are familiar with the best known diving regions of Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada and Taba. With huge numbers of visitors to dive sites in these areas, over recent years there has been a push to enable access to some of the more secret untouched diving locations in the Red Sea. One of these new emerging diving hot spots is located around Zafarana, situated in between Cairo and Hurghada.
The Red Sea is widely regarded as the premier diving destination in the world offering value for money, reasonable travel times and amazing reef and wreck diving opportunities. These factors also provide the basis for a booming property market with investors, holiday makers and divers taking advantage of the sound investment potential of property on the Red Sea Riviera.
Consequently, a luxury, five star, beach-front resort is currently under construction on the shores of the Red Sea near Zafarana. With 2,500 units the development will provide both holiday makers and experienced divers, the opportunity to explore areas previously not offered on a commercial basis. The Zafarana Beach Resort is one of a relatively new breed of developments emerging in Egypt, as savvy developers are creating high spec, European standard builds with first class facilities. What makes this particular development unique is not just the tennis courts, spas, restaurants and swimming pools, but for divers it is the on-site dive school, dive shop and dive safaris that will be run from the resort.
With three virgin reefs which have never been commercially dived, this development is an exciting prospect for all those looking to discover spectacular new locations to explore. The pristine waters are home to a vast array of marine life, from dolphins and turtles, to barracuda and a huge variety of sponges and coral. Furthermore the resort will provide day trip access to the multitude of wreck dives scattered along the coast from Zafarana to Ras Gharib, previously only accessible on stay aboard cruises.
The Zafarana Beach Resort is testament to the increasing popularity of the Red Sea Riviera as the number one medium haul destination for European holiday makers.
Zoë Waterhouse from Fairfax Investments explains, “ this is an amazing opportunity. There are three virgin reefs less than 50 metres from the private beach at Zafarana; it is definitely an opportunity not to be missed for sun seekers, families, divers and investors alike. We are always interested in developments which offer diving facilities and easy access to dive sites as this often results in greater rental yields and high capital appreciation. However, the facilities, virgin coral reefs, private beach and the incredible starting price of only €26,500 makes this resort unique”.
With the Zafarana Beach Resort currently one of the fastest selling developments on the Red Sea, the hope is that new developments will follow suit and allow people access to other secret places in this spectacular country.
source: simpligroupproperty, Tuesday, 04 November 2008
Monday, 1 December 2008
Best Western Growth Timeline
The following has been taken from the Best Western website, please visit for further information.
1946 Best Western Motels was founded by M. K. Guertin, a hotelier with 23 years of experience in the business. The hotel chain began as an informal link between properties with each hotel recommending other hotel lodging establishments to travelers. The "referral system" consisted of phone calls from one front desk operator to another.
1951 In a guest editorial published in American Motel Magazine, Guertin spoke of the importance of advertising properties to the general traveling public. This was considered a very revolutionary approach in the industry.
1962 The Best Western Hotel Chain had the only hospitality reservations service covering the entire United States and Canada.
1962 Best Western began using the crown logo with a rope border to identify member properties.
1963 Best Western was the largest hotel motel chain in the industry with 699 member properties and 35,201 motel rooms.
1964 The group of motels east of the Mississippi River was incorporated as Best Eastern, Inc.
1966 The entire membership, Best Western and Best Eastern, joined under the Best Western name. A seven-person Board of Directors was elected by regional members to provide leadership and make policy decisions. Guertin retired.
1966 The organization moved its headquarters from Long Beach, California, to Phoenix, Arizona. The Board decided to relocate because of the savings involved in centralizing operations and the potential for further expanding membership services.
1966 A major expansion of Best Western services was announced. Changes included: Establishing a new hotel reservation center offering toll-free service for business commuters, travel agents and vacationers through arrangements with American Express; expanding into Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific; increasing membership standards; opening sales offices in Washington, D.C., Montreal, Phoenix and Seattle; establishing tie-ins with airlines and representatives from other transportation industry members and investigating stronger infiltration of tour and business meeting markets.
1972 Properties were required to accept six major credit cards. Hotel reservations that were charged were considered "guaranteed" and a hotel room had to be held for the entire night. Properties had the right to bill for "no show" clients.
1974 Best Western Hotels decided to drop its referral organization image, eliminated the word "motel" from its name and began competing directly with other full-service hotel lodging chains.
1976 Best Western began its push for foreign expansion. Affiliation agreements were signed with 411 properties in Australia and New Zealand.
1977 To meet the demands of rapid growth, a multi-million dollar Best Western International Headquarters complex was designed and built in northeast Phoenix.
1977 The phrase, "world's largest lodging chain" became a part of Best Western's corporate identification and advertising theme.
1979 Best Western was accommodating 15 million guests and generating $1 billion in hotel room sales.
1980 Agreements were signed bringing 9 properties in Denmark, 120 properties in France, 19 properties in Finland, 23 properties in Spain, 19 properties in Sweden and 93 properties in Switzerland into the international hotel chain. By this time, Best Western's 903 international affiliates comprised 34 percent of the chain's total membership.
1980 Best Western membership rose to 2,654 hoteliers worldwide.
1981 In August, a satellite hotel reservations center was established inside the Arizona Center for Women (ACW), a minimum-security correctional facility in Phoenix. This innovative venture, employing inmates as reservations sales agents, answered the chain's business need for a flexible work force. The program brought numerous awards and worldwide attention to Best Western. The ACW satellite hotel reservations center closed in 1992.
1988 The Gold Crown Club® International Program for frequent travelers was launched in September. Within a year, it would report more than 200,000 members and sales of more than $40 million.
1993 The brand identity study, now complete, recommended the adoption of a new Best Western logo and identity. On Nov. 30, the members approved the adoption of a new logo and officially retired the Gold Crown logo.
1995 Best Western introduced its first hotel listings on the Internet at BestWestern.com. Full information on 150 member properties, including photographs, became instantly available via personal home computer. 2002 Best Western members implemented BestRequests®, a uniform worldwide package of amenities and services. 2004 Best Western launched the hotel industry’s largest High-Speed Internet Access (HSIA) initiative with the fastest implementation. In just eight months, the company established free wireless or hard-wired HSIA in some portion of the public areas, and at least 15 percent of hotel rooms, at all of its North American properties. 2004 Best Western became the first-ever Official Hotel of NASCAR®. The NASCAR® travel discount RaceFan®Rate was created. 2005 Best Western transitioned North American and international hotel reservations to a call center in Manila, Philippines. 2005 Best Western began averaging $1 million in online hotel reservations per day through www.bestwestern.com.
2002 Best Western members implemented BestRequests®, a uniform worldwide package of amenities and services.
2004 Best Western launched the hotel industry’s largest High-Speed Internet Access (HSIA) initiative with the fastest implementation. In just eight months, the company established free wireless or hard-wired HSIA in some portion of the public areas, and at least 15 percent of hotel rooms, at all of its North American properties.
2004 Best Western became the first-ever Official Hotel of NASCAR®. The NASCAR® travel discount RaceFan®Rate was created.
2005 Best Western transitioned North American and international hotel reservations to a call center in Manila, Philippines.
2005 Best Western began averaging $1 million in online hotel reservations per day through www.bestwestern.co
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Update From The Recent IPI meeting
Hopefully all investors have by now received the minutes of the recent meeting held on November 16th. Here is a summary of some of the information provided by IPI in the Question & Answer session:
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Any Questions?
A number of investors attended a meeting arranged by IPI, held in Netherland on 16th Nov 2008.
Hopefully a lot of our questions were answered, and those who were not able to attend look forward to reading the minutes of this meeting.
Meanwhile some questions cropping up in investor circles include
Will the swimming pools be heated?
Any plans to install chilled drinking water outlets at the resort?
When will we receive the minutes from the recent meeting?
Feel free to to comment and raise more questions to this list.
Bram and Connie who attended the meeting were kind enough to provide an update, which can be viewed here.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Egypt’s market may see ‘readjustment’
While few expect to escape unscathed from the worst financial crisis in 80 years, real estate executives told an American Chamber of Commerce conference demand on real estate in the country would continue to grow, albeit at a steadier rate than the giddy days of a booming property sector.
Housing Minister Ahmed El-Maghraby said, the “real estate market in Egypt is unique in its structure. Population will grow 20 million over the next 15 years, and that’s the lowest estimate. This reflects positively on real estate in Egypt. We are talking about a secure market and not a market that needs effort to create demand.”
The minister added that the Egyptian real estate market enjoys 99 percent real demand that is mostly cash-driven and does not rely on mortgages.
“Our real estate market is cash-based and is not overburdened with mortgages, which is a quality that is not present in most countries,” Maghraby said. See link below for full article.
Daily News Egypt, Sherine El Madany, November 23, 2008
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Notes on Ain Al-Sokhna Airport
Opportunities for Arab Investors in Cairo Forum This December
By Noozz, First Published: October 3, 2006
The Egyptian General Authority of Investment and Free Zones has prepared details on infrastructure, construction and tourism investment opportunities that will be offered to 1,000 Arab investors in Egypt. The investors include Arab financial institutions and investment companies.
The move comes as part of GAFI’s preparations for the Cairo Investment Forum organized in coordination with the Egyptian Ministry of Investment and the Economy and Business Group in Lebanon, scheduled for Dec. 10 and 11.
In a press conference Monday with the GAFI Chairman, the Egyptian Minister of Investment announced the date set for the forum, asserting that political leadership in Egypt is interested in the forum which he expected to become one of the most important measures to attract investments in 2007.
According to GAFI Chairman Ziad Bahaa El Din, infrastructure projects will be offered in the Public Private Partnership arrangement, especially for building schools.
Road construction will also be among the package of business opportunities, and the Cairo-Alexandria highway will be offered to Kuwaiti investors during the forum.
Bahaa El Din said that GAFI has coordinated with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to offer certain airports to investors for upgrading under the B.O.T arrangement, including the Ain Al-Sokhna Airport.
source: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3256
Also see: http://www.propertiesbyopac.com/eygptloc.html
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Scenes Around Zafarana Beach Resort
On the way to Cairo, about 1.5 km from the resort [Photo courtesy of canioeddi]
Windmills in the desert, nearest just under a kilometre from the resort [Photo courtesy of maduss]
Chalet Amr Kamel, about 3 km from Zafarana Beach Resort [Photo courtesy of mohelgindy]
Thursday, 23 October 2008
IPI Fully Committed to 5 Star Resort
A small extract from IPI's response to some recent investor concerns:
"Without input from the investors and your commitment this resort would never be a reality. IPI, as always, are committed to constructing a magnificent 5 start resort that will reach and exceed all of the investors and guests expectations. We hope that after reading this response that you can appreciate the enormous amount of additional money and sweat that is being put into this development to ensure that all are happy.
IPI are unlike most developers, intrinsically linked to the long-term success of the project and therefore have the same goals as our investors. We have never, nor ever will compromise on quality and we have demonstrated this commitment time and time again despite the cost."
Use the links below to read the full letter.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9
Zafarana Personnel
Pierre Moutte
Executive Assistant in charge and Director of Food and Beverages.
Yousry Zaghow
Director of the Rooms Division (reception, cleaning service, concierge, guest relations and transportation
Mohamed Yusef
Director of Human Resources and Training (P&O)
Chiara Agnoletti
Director Leisure and Recreation (animation, recreation, sport and fitness
Mohamed Karaa
Director Finance (Financial Management and IT systems
Steve Travers
Director Sales and Marketing
Whilst his activities will mainly be in Europe, Steve and his department will have his office in Egmond aan den Hoef.
The position of Director Facility Manager (technical service, security and maintenance of buildings and public areas) is still open.
Forthcoming Events
16th of November
From 14:00
At a central location in the Netherlands
Meeting to establish the Association of Owners
Agenda
- Presentation of the structure of the IPI group: IPI
- AoO: Proposal of possibilities: IPI
- Foundation of the association for Investors
- Questions and answers session: IPI and Investors
FAQ
Will the amphitheatre be built?
The planned theatre (to be located between blocks F and G) has been scrapped, and a theatre stage is to be located on the beach
Will the marina be built?
The Egyptian Government in an effort to protect the virgin coral reefs around the Zafarana area has decided to not issue licenses for the mooring of ships on this section of coastline. We will be constructing a long jetty to the first reef. The exact construction choice will be made referring to the licenses, which will be provided. From this jetty it is possible to enter the first reef directly when going into the water. The diving school will also run water sport activities from this point.
Where will the planned swimming pool between blocks F and H be built?
The swimming pool will be placed between blocks E and I.
Can my apartment be designated as no smoking?
It is possible to rent the apartment smoking free. This will also mean that the owners won’t be allowed to smoke within the apartment.
How is the quality of the complex that is being constructed?
Construction is according to the South European standards. Engineers who are employed by IPI, and our Dutch employees in Egypt constantly check the construction and the materials. IPI has also introduced European building techniques to Egypt. Examples of this are the cement vibrators to optimize the foundation and pillars and the sealing of the sanitary areas according to Dutch standards.
What facilities have been cancelled from the original vision / plan of the resort?
Salt water pool, crazy golf (incomplete list)
What is the cost of transfers to Zafarana?
How many restaurants will there be at the resort?
There will be seven restaurants, namely a Spanish, French and Lebanese restaurant in the hotel building; an Indian, Italian and a buffet restaurant with a variety of menus in the building which will be situated in the carousel. The seventh restaurant will be a grill restaurant situated on the beach
What provision will there be for making chilled drinking water available throughout the resort?
What will be the cost of final inspection if conducted by an independent consultant?
Hotel suite (1 bedroom) 275,00; Hotel suite (2 bedrooms) 325,00; Garden apartment 325,00; Middle apartment 325,00; Penthouse 350,00
What proof of ownership will I receive on completion?
After completion, IPI will obtain proof of ownership through the court in Cairo. This is the only official document to prove ownership. It is strongly recommend that this document is stored in a safe place
Will the swimming pools be heated?
In the unlikely event the thermoshield does not perform, what plans do IPI have to keep the units cool in summer and warm in winter?
Welcome
Hello fellow investors, welcome to the Zafarana Beach Resort Investors Group blog. The aim at the moment is to act as a central repository of information relating to the construction progress, management, and news about the resort. No doubt, if the blog proves popular and useful, it may expand to serve other functions such as holiday photos, reports from investors visiting Zafarana, etc.
Comments / suggestions, info for publishing , etc to zafaranainvestor@gmail.com
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