Dubai: Bangkok-based Anantara Hotel Group, a major brand in the luxury hotel sector, is expediting its expansion in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.
Anantara's second hotel in the UAE will be ready to launch by the end of October, and new projects in Oman and Morocco are on track. However, the company's huge hotel and office complex in Dubai's Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) remains on hold.
Anantara has confirmed the "soft launch" of its Qasr Al Sarab luxury hotel in the Liwa oasis. Anantara spokeswoman Marion Walsh told Gulf News that the resort will be open for guests from October 25. The launch will take place one week before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. The hotel is the second five-star project of the Thai hotel group - a subsidiary of hotel and leisure company Minor International - in the UAE after the launch of the five-star resort on Sir Bani Yas Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi, which was opened last year.
The Qasr Al Sarab hotel is the first five-star luxury hotel property to be built in the hot sands of the Rub Al Khali or Empty Quarter. It is located in the Liwa oasis in the emirate of Abu Dhabi and features 150 hotel rooms and 60 private villas, all built with a view of some of the world's highest sand dunes.
According to Didier Tourneboeuf, general manager of Qasr Al Sarab, it will offer a luxury spa and hammam, opulent landscaping including hanging green gardens and a conference centre and is designed in Arabian style reflecting the local heritage. The $176 million (Dh645 million) project, built by the Al Jaber Group of Qatar, is a 90-minute drive from Abu Dhabi, but will also feature an air shuttle service to its private 500 metre airstrip. The room prices start in the lower range from Dh1,700, with a one bedroom villa going for Dh4,200 per night, but special packages are on offer for the launch, such as a 'Stay 4 Pay 3' promotion starting at Dh1,275 per room.
Meanwhile, Anantara has said its huge project on the site of Dubai's Jumeirah Lakes Towers, comprising a hotel and spa development as well as offices and apartments, remains on hold.
"Anantara Jumeirah Lakes is currently on hold until the economy improves, but definitely still on the cards, just no fixed date at this point in time," Walsh said. The three-building project with a targeted height of 234 metres, 265 hotel rooms and 208 serviced apartments was originally to have been completed at the end of 2008 and opened in early 2009, according to earlier announcements of developer Seven Tides group. As of now, nothing much than the groundwork has been done on the site which is located exactly at the entrance to Jumeirah Lakes Towers, adding to a couple of other delayed projects such as the Vue de Lac cluster.
However, the focus of Anantara on the Middle East remains strong. Next year, a new resort will be opened in Muscat, Oman, Walsh confirmed. Anantara has signed a partnership with Blue City Company 1 to develop the 100-room luxury resort and spa which will be located on a natural peninsula some 60 minutes from Muscat. Al Madina A'Zarqa (Blue City) will comprise residential, commercial, business and tourism clusters such as specific health, education and sports zones.
Other projects of Anantara in the Mena region are two new five-star resorts in Morocco, Anantara's first entry into the African market. One of them will be built in Marrakech's centre (Anantara Marrakech Resort & Spa) while the other one (Anantara Mogador Resort & Spa) is planned in the seaside destination of Mogador, adjacent to the historic town of Essaouira on Morocco's Atlantic coast.
Profile: Hospitality majorAnantara is a subsidiary of Minor International, one of the largest hospitality and leisure companies in the Asia Pacific region with over 1,000 restaurants and currently 27 hotels and resorts.
The group was founded in 1978 as a management company for a single beach resort in Pattaya, Thailand, which served as a popular recreation centre for American servicemen. After continuous enlargements, Minor made the step to list on the Thai stock exchange in 1988, which gave further expansion a significant boost.
Since then, Minor expanded under the hotel brands of Anantara, Mandara, Four Seasons, Marriott, Elewana and others throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Minor also runs the brands The Pizza Company, Swensen's, Sizzler, Dairy Queen, Burger King, The Coffee Club and Thai Express in Thailand.
Total revenue of Minor was 16.5 billion bath (Dh1.78 billion) in 2008, of which 51 per cent was generated in the food business and 36 per cent in the hotel business, with the rest coming from retail, property, spa and entertainment.
