5-star Angsana hotel checks out

Dubai: The five-star Angsana Hotel and Suites in Dubai will cease to operate as of September 30 and will be converted into residential units.

Damas Hotels LLC and Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts have agreed to terminate the hotel management contract for the Angsana Dubai with appropriate compensation.

Staff will also be compensated and helped to find new jobs, Bernold Schroeder, Senior Vice-President and Managing Director, Hotel Operations, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, said in a statement.

"Our immediate concern is to minimise any inconvenience to our guests. We have ceased taking reservations and confirmed bookings will be sensitively relocated. We are also seeing to the well-being of the hotel employees and ensuring they are fairly compensated and assist them in finding alternative employment."

The building, located on Shaikh Zayed Road, will now become residential units and is expected to be sold on a vacant possession basis.

According to a letter to clients, "Guests currently staying at Angsana Dubai and booked past September 30, 2009, should be relocated to another hotel as soon as possible but latest by September 29. Guests that have an existing booking at Angsana Dubai and are due to arrive prior to September 30 should be rebooked in another hotel."

The hotel's sales executives and managers in the industry also face loss of business. Bruno Britto, Manager of Index Hospitality, said his business will be very much affected by the Angsana closing.

"We have bookings starting in October and we have very important guests and repeat guests, so it is really embarrassing," Britto told Gulf News.

Around 182 to 187 room nights have been booked at the hotel, which means around 38 rooms will now be cancelled, Britto estimated.

With each room costing Dh450 per night, Index will lose between Dh81,900 and Dh84,150 worth of business on Angsana bookings.

Salespeople who have sold the rooms will also lose their 10 per cent commissions, Britto added.

Angsana is a global hotel chain managed by the Banyan Tree Group and listed on the Singapore exchange. At the end of 2008, Angsana Hotels and Resorts managed or operated more than 25 resorts and hotels worldwide, including in the Maldives, Australia, Indonesia and Laos. They also had more than 68 spas and more than 65 retail galleries in their portfolio.

Over the next four years, Angsana will have resorts and hotels in China, the UAE, Oman, Greece, Egypt and the Philippines.