Knowledge Economic City and Archipelago to create Saudi hospitality brand

Knowledge Economic City (KEC) plans to establish a Madinah-based hospitality management company after signing a 50:50 joint venture with Indonesia’s Archipelago International.

The new partnership aims to establish a Saudi hotel brand and deliver the first project in Madinah as part of KEC’s expansion in the Kingdom’s hospitality sector.

The joint venture’s first project will be the development of a hotel comprising nearly 2,500 keys, which will be one of the largest hotel assets ever launched by KEC and among the most significant new hospitality projects entering the Saudi market.

The new project will serve as the launch platform for the new Saudi hotel brand, inspired by national identity and the cultural spirit of Madinah.

Designed for scalability, future growth of the new brand will be through franchise and management models across the Kingdom. The project will operate under a unified hotel management model centered on operational efficiency, asset optimisation and enabling national talent across the full spectrum of hotel operations to create employment opportunities.

KEC is a publicly listed master developer operating under the regulation of the Economic Cities and Special Zones Authority and contributing to Madinah’s urban and economic transformation. With a masterplan covering 6.8 million square meters within the sacred boundaries of Madinah, KEC is developing fully integrated modern destinations that combine residential, commercial, cultural, and leisure components.

The Jakarta-based Archipelago brings decades of multi-market operational experience incubating scalable hotel brands, managing large accommodation portfolios, and ushering growth through asset-light, high-tech and high-governance hospitality models across Southeast Asia, Oceania, MENA and LATAM areas. Archipelago’s hospitality frameworks enable rapid launch, operational efficiency, structured competence transfer, and scalability.