QT offers over 9,500 rooms for World Cup

Qatar Tourism (QT), in collaboration with booking platforms Expedia, Airbnb, and Booking.com, has issued licences to more than 3,500 properties under its Holiday Homes initiative, offering over 9,500 rooms for the FIFA World Cup 2022 visitors.
Launched in 2021, Holiday Homes aims to add more accommodation options and promotes a safe, as well as an enjoyable experience, for visitors. “We are looking forward to an amazing tournament, to an amazing experience for every visitor that is coming to Qatar,” QT chief operating officer Berthold Trenkel told a media roundtable yesterday.
According to QT, sun and sea enthusiasts will enjoy the numerous offerings and family-friendly beach club experiences such as all-day dining, purpose-built fan zone, culinary grab & go services and live entertainment, among others, at three newly-opened beaches at West Bay: B12 Beach Club, Doha Sands and West Bay Beach.
In addition, QT’s Service Excellence focused segment witnessed the revamping of its call centre, setting up more than 60 information centres and over 10 virtual concierges, and the training of thousands of frontline service professionals under its Qatar Host programme. “I’m pleased to say that leading up to the major event... we got 550-plus licenced tour guides in the country. We have the right level of language expertise. We needed to make sure that we have plenty of German-speaking, Italian-speaking tour guides, and so on,” Denisa Spinkova from the Tourism Marketing and Promotion Sector said.
QT also partnered with Vodafone for an SMS campaign to welcome visitors, encouraging them to use of the mobile app and get information about Qatar’s curated experiences and events. The app is live in eight languages. Visitqatar.com features “Shaheen” – a visitor chatbot that allows real-time conversation with a customer service agent on the ground.
“I am really proud to say that we have managed to cover all main visitor touch points. Anyone who is starting to plan their travels to those who actually arrive in the country and until the moment they leave, we have them covered with information and inspiration and everything they need to know,” Iris Wagner from the Tourism Marketing and Promotion Sector said. Qatar Tourism added that around 500,000 copies of Qatar Now guidebook and 1mn copies of Qatar Map (pocket fold), featuring key tourism sites and event information during the tournament, will be printed and distributed at key locations. Digital versions can be viewed through Qatar Airways, digital kiosks, and Visit Qatar app.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to ride 40 newly renovated Dhow boats, supported by new pontoons built by QT’s partner at Ashghal.