Category Archives: Hotels

Gloria Hotel Dubai has introduced online check-in facilities and several other tablet delivered services. Guests at Gloria hotels can now check in online prior to the arrival via the links they receive in the booking confirmation email and it will also be available in the Gloria Mobile App which will be launched this month (May). The guests can arrive at the hotel and simply collect their room key from a priority check in desk exclusively reserved for online check- ins similar to that in airlines. The new mobile App to be launched have used technology to push the business boundaries to ensure innovation and efficiency across the hotel and meeting the evolving needs of the guests.  This will further enable the guests the ability to make choices and instantly book available rooms at great prices to ease the booking process and further boost reservations. Area Manager Freddy Farid stated, “we are hoping to showcase Gloria hotels and Resorts in a multitude of different ways and lead the different markets to experience comfort living – a Gloria concept of stay in all properties. The use of digital marketing to expand our brand communication and it has become an effective tool over time. Today’s travellers are constantly connected but they have time constraints. They want information instantly and they value services that save time, we have introduced a number of ways that allow our guests to use smart devices to speed up the decision making and booking process as well as cutting down on administrative tasks related to registration and payments thus ensuring their overall experience.”  

Duetto, a hotel optimization technology provider, announced that it will implement its cloud-based Revenue Strategy application, GameChanger, and Revenue Intelligence solution, ScoreBoard, for First Central Hotel Suites, located in the heart of Dubai. Under the agreement, Duetto will provide the property with unprecedented market intelligence, the benefits of Open Pricing, and the ability to fully optimise revenue and easily analyse property performance. The partnership is Duetto’s first in the vibrant Dubai hospitality market and in the Middle East. CEO Patrick Bosworth of Duetto said, “We are very happy to announce this partnership with First Central Hotel Suites. Our GameChanger application will help First Central scale quickly by implementing a Revenue Strategy with optimal pricing and distribution management. ScoreBoard adds the ability to understand property performance and make more efficient operational decisions. We are excited to partner with First Central Hotel Suites, as we continue our expansion in key markets around the world.” By adopting Open Pricing, the core element of Duetto’s GameChanger application, the property will now be able to yield rates more rapidly and with greater flexibility, drawing on web shopping regrets and denials data to better measure price sensitivity and forecast unconstrained demand. Duetto’s recent integration with the Protel Air PMS will help First Central maximize its use of GameChanger, ScoreBoard and the hotel’s full tech stack. Ammar Kanaan, Group General Manager for Central Hotels, and Wael El Behi, First Central Hotel Suites’ general manager, added: “We are pleased to be working with Duetto, which brings an altogether new and innovative approach to Revenue Strategy. We look forward to a great working relationship in the years ahead.”

Majid Al Futtaim, the retail and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, together with Marriott International announced plans to launch the region’s first cinema-themed concept at Aloft Dubai City Centre Deira. The concept will feature a unique offering of cinematic themed rooms in addition to an ‘Outdoor’ VOX Cinema developed in collaboration with Majid Al Futtaim Cinemas, owner of the VOX Cinemas brand in the Middle East. According to the latest reports from STR Global, hotel occupancy rates in Dubai averaged 86.3% in the first two months of 2017, with the mid-market segment reporting a 7.2 per cent year-over-year growth in room uptake. The latest offering brings together the combined synergy of Majid Al Futtaim and Marriott International to extend best in class amenities, expedited service offerings and innovative leisure and entertainment options to create unique lifestyle experience for millennial audiences and caters to the surging demand for mid-market hospitality offerings in the city The Aloft Dubai City Centre Deira will feature a cinematic themed floor of 25 standard rooms and four suite rooms designed to create an integrated lifestyle offering through the combination of cutting edge technology, modern style and immersive guest experience. In a first for the region, rooms at the Aloft Dubai City Centre Deira will entail a large collection of movies, TV screens, projectors and enhanced sound systems, so guests can indulge in a world cinema experience. In addition, the hotel will feature four themed suites inspired by blockbuster movie themes from Comic superheroes to super spies, Bollywood and more. The hotel will house a state-of-the-art ‘Outdoor’ VOX Cinema concept – an all-season cinema and multifunctional event space to meet the growing demand …

Connected visitor technology will drive the UAE’s hospitality market to top $10 billion by 2020, meeting the needs of millions of Expo 2020 Dubai visitors, experts announced on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market. With 25 million visitors set to attend Expo 2020 Dubai, the UAE’s hospitality sector is on a building boom. Dubai aims to double the number of hotel and serviced apartments leading to revenue of $10 billion, according to a recent report by Alpen Capital. As hoteliers jostle for position, they are aiming to stand out from their competitors through disruptive technologies to save time and money, and meet the preferences of Millennials. “Smart technology could revolutionise the visitor experience, for the millions of visitors set to attend Expo 2020 Dubai, offering a hassle-free end-to-end experience from the plane, to easy hotel check-in, to autonomous vehicles taking them to the exhibition pavilion,” said Savitha Bhaskar, COO at smart hospitality consultancy Condo Protego. The UAE’s hospitality sector is also rapidly adopting digital solutions to streamline hospitality administrative processes and enrich the guest experience, saving time and money. Increasingly, hotels are offering remote check-in, card-free room access, and Big Data analytics to monitor customer preferences both in-room and from partners. “For UAE hoteliers to manage guest data in real-time, they need high-availability, secure, and scalable data storage and management solutions. Condo Protego has seen strong success in enabling the UAE’s leading hospitality and leisure organizations to undergo digital transformation,” added Bhaskar. In the UAE, Condo Protego is seeing strong demand for solutions such as Dell EMC converged infrastructure, Isilon network-attached storage, XtremIO all-flash storage, and VERITAS information management and data protection solutions.

Swissôtel, part of AccorHotels, announced that it has entered into a franchise agreement with Al Shiddi International for development of a new 218-room urban resort scheduled to open in early 2018. Situated next to Bosnian Parliament, within the expansive mixed use Sarajevo City Center project, consisting of shopping mall and office tower with 30,000 daily visitors, Swissôtel Sarajevo will enjoy a commanding downtown commercial and residential location, as a new landmark for Sarajevo, close to top attractions and Sarajevo International Airport. The project is being developed and operated by Al Shiddi International from Riyadh, one of the prominent investment companies in Saudi Arabia with an extensive portfolio of investments locally and globally featuring financial services, real estate, agriculture, manufacturing, industrial and retail. Interiors are designed by Scott Brownrigg Associates, a leading UK hotel design firm with extensive experience in high end hotel development across Europe, hotel will offer scenic all-glass views of the downtown and mountains, stunning guestrooms featuring spacious bedrooms. Completing the guest experience will be a private executive club, three exquisite dining outlets, the brand’s signature Pürovel Spa & Sport, and 500 square meters (5,300 square feet) of indoor meeting space with function areas.

Ahead of next week’s Arabian Hotel Investment Conference 2017 (AHIC), being held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai from April 25 to 27, its speakers have unveiled insights into the global trends and market sentiment that are currently making an impact on the hospitality industry across the Middle East. Chairman of Bench Events and Co-founder of AHIC, Jonathan Worsley, said: “AHIC is the premium networking and knowledge platform for the hospitality investment community in the Middle East and beyond. As such, we are committed to providing our delegates with the very latest market intelligence and are thrilled to be unveiling new reports at AHIC 2017, including Global Megatrends from PwC and the AHIC BLP Market Sentiment Survey Review in partnership with Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP (BLP).” On April 26, PwC Middle East’s Partner and Deals Real Estate Leader Dr. Martin Berlin, will present, for the first time, the new PwC Report Global Megatrends and their impact on Hospitality in the Middle East. Presented by Gurdish Bassi, Economist, GRMC Advisory Consulting, this report will provide a unique insight into Dubai tourist spend patterns, activities and motives – and analyse how the tourist profile will evolve by 2021. In a sneak preview of the Dubai Tourist Profiling Report, GRMC Advisory Consulting forecasts a “conspicuous change” in the distribution of tourists coming to Dubai. Bassi explained: “Multiple primary research campaigns with hotel guests across Dubai revealed that 34 per cent of Asian visitors were first-time overseas travellers – this statistic increases to 62 per cent when only two-star and three-star hotels are considered. As affluence levels in Tier-II and III cities of Asian economies rise, an increasing number of first-time overseas travellers will seek …

Dubai developer Nakheel broke ground on a new, AED176 million hotel at Dragon City. The Premier Inn is Nakheel’s second hotel at Dragon City. The ground-breaking ceremony, led by Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah, comes less than two weeks after the company awarded a contract worth AED136 million to Al Ghurair Contracting and Engineering Works to build the 304-room hotel. Nakheel’s first hotel, a 251-room ibis Styles hotel, opened in February 2016. Set for delivery in 2019, Premier Inn Dragon City is the latest project in Nakheel’s AED5 billion hospitality expansion. Last week, the company confirmed new hotels at Jumeirah Village Circle and Discovery Gardens, bringing its number of hospitality projects to 18. Lootah said: “Today marks another milestone in our hospitality expansion, and highlights our commitment to delivering new hotels across Dubai in line with the Government of Dubai’s 2021 vision. I am delighted to declare that work is officially under way at Premier Inn Dragon City, and to further reinforce our already highly-successful relationship with Whitbread through this latest partnership.” Premier Inn Dragon City is part of a huge new master plan that is transforming the area into a giant retail, residential and recreational complex of more than 11 million square feet.With a built-up area of 178,000 sq ft across eight floors, the hotel will have a restaurant, Costa coffee shop and gym. Nakheel’s hospitality expansion is bringing 18 new hotels and serviced apartment complexes, with over 5,800 rooms between them, to Dubai.

Jumeirah Islands Pavilion was inaugurated by Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah, is the fifth community retail centre in Nakheel Malls’ growing collection of neighbourhood shopping and dining hubs across Dubai. It will serve 8,000 residents at Jumeirah Islands and provide a new destination for people living and working nearby.  Set among lush gardens and greenery, the Pavilion is flanked by a 1.1 km waterside jogging track. The anchor outlet, Choithrams, is complemented by a range of cafes and restaurants including Oregano, Nando’s and The Hamptons. There’s also a Round 10 Boxing Club, medical clinic, beauty salon, barber’s shop, pharmacy, and dry cleaners. Delivery of the Pavilion – which has 30,000 sq ft of shop space – comes as handover of homes at the premium residential community is in full swing. So far, 25 properties have been handed over, with the remaining investors due to collect their keys shortly. The Townhouses and Pavilion are located on the north-western side of Jumeirah Islands, one of Nakheel’s most mature residential communities and among the most sought-after in Dubai. Comprising 46 islands, known as ‘clusters’, Jumeirah Islands has 767 luxury villas and mansions, as well as mosques, nurseries and the Jumeirah Islands Club featuring restaurants, a pool and fitness centre. Complementing the villas are 246 luxury duplex apartments at Jumeirah Heights. The villas, apartments and townhomes that make up Jumeirah Islands are home to more than 8,000 people. Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: “Today marks the delivery of Pavilion number five in our growing collection of community centres, which are key to our AED16 billion retail expansion.With its picturesque setting and spacious grounds, this new facility blends perfectly with Jumeirah Islands’ overall look …

Louvre Hotels Group (LHG) has announced the relaunch of its Golden Tulip brand, as part of an initiative to roll out new-age hotels that are more lifestyle-oriented and better suited to meet the needs of today’s travellers. To support the relaunch of the four-star brand, Louvre Hotels is investing in the renovation and rebranding of Golden Tulip hotels – including those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The rebranding initiative involves a complete revamp of the Golden Tulip logo, design guidelines and positioning strategy as Louvre is creating a “New Basics” for the hotels of tomorrow. Born out of an in-depth study of the needs and preferences of the current and next generation of travelers, Golden Tulip’s new sophisticated brand identity – based around the theme of ‘playful business’ – has spurred a set of new design principles to create social hubs and creativity platforms and environments for its guests which in turn would significantly enhance the brand’s appeal and elevate the entire hotel experience. This philosophy extends to all interior design spaces such as the lobby, food and beverage concepts, rooms and suites as well as the meeting and conference rooms. The goal is to create a shift away from the traditional thinking of how we deliver hotel design and service attitudes, with a fresh, contemporary approach to design that encompasses the creation of integrated public areas that are in sync with the expectations of today’s travelers. “The rebranding is aimed at blurring the boundaries of work and play to create moments of surprise and delight for our guests,” said Amine E. Moukarzel, President, Louvre Hotels Group MENA. “Technology and the rise of social media have changed …

DUKES Dubai, five-star hotel and residences on Palm Jumeirah, has debuted its Duchess Floor, an exclusive area dedicated to female guests. The Duchess Floor features 20 exclusive rooms and is located on the third floor at DUKES Dubai. With private lift access, the floor features women’s only public spaces, as well as discreet and private access to rooms. Full-length windows provide sweeping views of the Arabian Gulf, with the Burj al Arab to the east and the stunning Dubai Marina skyline to the west. The entire floor is adorned with Liberty Fabrics, providing elegant touches through silks, textiles and drapes in each ocean view room, while on the third floor, the Champagne and Tea Lounge will offer a Duchess breakfast exclusively for the hotel’s female guests. The Duchess initiative was borne out of DUKES Collection Managing Director Debrah Dhugga’s own business travel experience and will be showcased at this year’s Arabian Travel Market (24-27 April at Dubai World Trade Centre), from stand: HC0270. Dhugga identified a niche for five-star hotel brands to create a tailored experience specifically for women travelling alone, with a focus on comfort, service, style and quality. She said: “As somebody who travels regularly either for business or for leisure with friends and female relatives, I could clearly see a gap in the market for a women’s only area in a luxury hotel. The Duchess Floor combines the safety and security of a private residence, with beautifully elegant décor and bespoke facilities, in order to provide female guests with a sense of sanctuary when they stay at DUKES Dubai.”