Harrods to open chain of luxury hotels

Qatar Holding, which owns Harrods, is planning to open

a line of hotels under the name of the famous luxury department store.

As part of the company’s long-term strategy to develop the Harrods brand, Qatar Holding plans to open Harrods-branded hotels in London as well as other prime locations around the world such as Kuala Lumpur, New York and Paris, as well as in China.

In a statement, Qatar Holding said that preference will be given to sites it already owns or its affiliates, such as those at Chelsea Barracks in London and Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, and that it is establishing a hotel management company to conduct market and feasibility studies to select suitable sites for the hotels.

This week it said that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Malaysian property developer Jerantas Sdn Bhd to study the potential development of a hotel in Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur.