‘Reimagined’ Bab Al Shams Desert Resort in Dubai has opened - now it is a Rare Find property

Dubai: One of the UAE’s destination icons, the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort in Dubai has reopened - and this time under the management of Rare Finds, part of the hospitality-focussed Kerzner International portfolio, which also includes the Atlantis.

“The reimagined Bab Al Shams is a legacy project that we are proud and passionate to present,” says Gilles Soheir, General Manager of Bab Al Shams. “The team and I are thrilled to bring forward the essence and stories of this sanctuary to bring an authentic Bedouin experience alight.”

Indeed, Bab Al Shams will continue to feed off its relative uniqueness of the location. The name means ‘Gateway to the Sun’, and the resort’s architecture and interior design do reflect that.

The property ‘blends seamlessly’ into the surrounds, with 115 rooms and suites housed in 16 two-storey buildings. “A modern oasis, the resort is reimagined as a relaxing haven with a subtly Moorish accent,” is how the hotel operator says it.

To mark the opening on February 10, the resort invited guests to experience the ‘Mystique of Arabia’ package.

Hotel developers and operators are going all out on ‘experiences’ where possible, whether it be the location within which the hotel or resort is set, or what can be provided inside for guests. Post-Covid, the nature of leisure travel itself has undergone subtle changes, according to hotel operators and which means eschewing ‘plain-vanilla’ experiences.

Kerzner International put a lot of thought into the reimagining of Bab Al Shams, which holds the mantle of being the ‘longest-running desert escape in the UAE’. Coming under its Rare Finds umbrella certainly does attest to that.