Dubai: Nobu Hospitality is still looking to open hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi even though it has made little progress over the last four years.

In 2010, the luxury lifestyle brand reportedly said it was considering opening hotels in both emirates. A year later, it signed a non-binding letter of intent with Reem Investments to operate a hotel at Reem Island in the capital.

The group did not say when it looks to have properties in both markets.

“There’s no timeline for when we have to have [a hotel]. Naturally, we’d like to have one very soon, but it depends on the location, the partners and a lot of things,” Nobu Hospitality chief executive Trevor Horwell told Gulf News in a phone interview.

He added that the group is currently looking at “various locations” in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is not in discussions with developers at present.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Nobu Hotel Riyadh is due to open in the first quarter of 2015. The group is planning to open a second hotel in the region in Bahrain, but it has not set an opening date. Construction of the property has not started.

“We’re still going through the development plans for the property, so it’s in the early stages at the moment,” Horwell said.

Nobu Hospitality is owned by chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert DeNiro and film producer Meir Teper.

Restaurants

The first Nobu hotel opened in Las Vegas in 2013. The group plans to open 10 hotels worldwide over the next three years, and aims to grow in the US, Europe and Asia, besides the Middle East.

The group has 29 restaurants globally, including one at Atlantis The Palm in Dubai.

“You have some great restaurants in Dubai. You have the majority of the brands there. I think Dubai is a great restaurant city, and I think it will grow even more. I also think Abu Dhabi will eventually start to get into the same mold as Dubai, but I think that will take a little more time,” Horwell said.

On financial deals the brand expects to strike this year, he said: “We’re going to have a few more announcements before the end of the year, but I can’t say what they are.”