Dubai: The first Four Seasons resort in the UAE will open its doors on Sunday, bringing competition for beach front properties.
The 237-room Four Seasons Resort Dubai is located on Jumeirah Beach Road (Jumeirah 2), with access to a 270-metre beach front. Among the restaurants and lounges in the property are Sea Fu, Shai Salon and Mercury Lounge.
“The resort has a strategic location; it appeals to leisure demand for beach front properties, and it is close to Shaikh Zayed Road and the Dubai International Financial Centre, so it will be able to attract businessmen,” said Christopher Hewett, senior consultant at TRI Consulting in Dubai.
He added that the property is likely to result in “new competition for beach front properties.”
The Four Seasons Resort Dubai started accepting room bookings effective September 1 from countries including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, the UK and Germany, said Simon Casson, Four Season’s regional vice-president and general manager of the Four Seasons Resort Dubai.
Room prices start from Dh2,204 per night, while suites are priced from Dh3,304, according to an employee at the reservation desk.
The resort is likely to attract new guests that are loyal to Four Seasons to Dubai, according to Rupprecht Queitsch, chief executive and senior partner at INHOCO Group, a hospitality consultancy in Dubai.
“The Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts has a strong customer base. They do their own marketing within group, so customers that have not thought of going to Dubai now have the option,” he said.
Motivating driver
Hewett does not think the resort will attract new guests to the emirate.
“In terms of attracting new guests, it will be minimal. I don’t see Four Seasons as a motivating driver for guests to come to Dubai,” he said.
Elsewhere in the UAE, a Four Seasons hotel is expected to open on Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island in 2016.
Also, Four Seasons hotels are due to open in Bahrain later this year, Kuwait in 2016, Casablanca, Morocco by mid next year and in Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — however, their opening dates have not been announced yet, according to Casson.
Canada-based Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts operates 92 hotels in 38 countries, and has more than 60 projects being developed globally. In the last three years, it has opened a dozen hotels and resorts in countries including the US, China, Azerbaijan, and Tanzania.
