Dubai's Palazzo Versace hotel is back in auction, but at higher asking price

Dubai: It’s back to auction for the Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel, one of the city’s most popular luxury hospitality destinations. Bidders have until 5pm on February 26 to decide whether to take a shot at buying the property.

The base price is set at Dh1.1 billion, which is lower than the Dh1.34 billion the first time the property was placed for auction last year. But higher than the Dh700 million, which was the base price set in a subsequent auction.

This time, with the price now back at Dh1 billion, ‘the seller must be reasonably confident about investor demand this time’, said an industry source. “The earlier auction processes last year were pulled because there weren’t any bids coming through.”

Whether this time proves different will be known in the coming two days. The auction will not impact in any way the current management of the 215-room property. There are also residences attached to the development, which too have never been part of any auction. (The hotel management contract extends to early March 2028.)

The location of the property, Al Jadaf, has been gaining in investor interest, and more so after Dubai confirmed that several properties and plots in the area would be re-designated as freehold from their leasehold status. (The same was done to some properties/plots in Sheikh Zayed Road area too.)

"If the return to auction of Palazzo Versace Dubai ends up being successful this time, it will also mean Al Jadaf is firmly on the investor's map," said an analyst. "There is also a lot of pent up interest to see how some of the re-designated Al Jadaf and Sheikh Zayed Road properties fare in any new deals."