Upmarket hotel developments at a glance

The 13 future hotel developments in Dubai numbering almost 5,000 letting units (hotel rooms, suites and apartments) are profiled below by hotel advisers, TRI Hospitality Consulting. These hotels either are under construction or firmly committed.

TRI has classified these developments into international 5- and 4-star categories based on the project information made available. The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing has yet to classify them officially. The report also describes a further 150 hotels planned for Dubai for which full details or confirmation are not yet available.

Four-star hotels

The Bur Dubai Holiday Inn Hotel: Dubai's second property of this brand, has already won an international design award for engineering and design excellence. The 240-room property, located on a site near the American Hospital, will open by the end of 2001.

The hotel will feature Chinese and seafood restaurants, in addition to a coffee shop, an English pub, a lounge and a night-club. Also included will be a business centre, four meeting rooms, a 500 m2 ballroom and a fitness centre. Other features include a five-storey Mediterranean-style atrium with a staircase and a decorative wooden grill elevator.

Accor has confirmed that it will be operating two hotels connected with the new Convention Centre at the Dubai World Trade Centre complex. Emaar Properties, which is now responsible for developing the complex, is adding a new 4,000 square metre exhibition hall, in addition to the 6,000-seat convention centre.

The hotels, which comprise a 400-room Novotel and a 200-room Ibis (3-star, and therefore excluded from our table), will be completed on a site facing the Emirates Towers in time for the much vaunted World Bank/International Monetary Fund conference in the spring of 2003. The Ibis hotel represents the Middle East's first international branded property at this star rating.

Hong Kong based Shangri-La reports it will operate the Traders Hotel, a unit of its 4-star business brand, with 205 rooms and suites, to be located opposite the JW Marriott in Deira. The hotel will have a 250 m2 ballroom with 4 additional meeting rooms, apart from a health club, pool, business centre and a Traders Club floor. Zubair Corporation — one of Oman's major business groups will develop the property.

Five-star city hotels

A Grand Hyatt hotel, the top 5-star brand of Hyatt, is under construction near the Wafi City Complex on Quteyat Highway in Bur Dubai and is scheduled for completion by 2002. The upscale convention property will offer 674 rooms and a further 186 furnished and serviced apartments. Its 1,900m2 Grand Ballroom will have the capacity for 1,500 theatre-style, and there will be five restaurants. The property will also feature extensive recreational facilities in 30 acres of landscaped ground.

A new Hilton International business hotel owned by A. A. Al Moosa Enterprises is scheduled to open in Deira by the end of 2001. The 156-room property is located opposite the dhow wharves on Baniyas Road, near the Economic Department and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.

Designed by Carlos Ott (architect for the Opera de la Bastille in Paris and the nearby National Bank of Dubai headquarters), the sleek tower hotel will offer minimalist, avant-garde design to challenge that of the Emirates Towers hotel, and executive club-standard accommodation throughout.

Other facilities will include a rooftop swimming pool, a health club, a gym, a massage room and three restaurants. Hilton lost its contract at the Trade Centre Hotel to Jumeirah International at the end of December 2000.

Marriott's latest venture in Dubai is the Dubai Marriott Executive Apartments, located within Union Properties' $54 million Skywalk Towers, a 17-storey development, so-called for the long enclosed bridge that will link the top floors of its twin towers. Located near the new Hilton Dubai Creek in Deira, the 172-unit apartments project will cater for the extended stay traveller and will be the first of this sub-brand in the UAE.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has also signed a management agreement with the UAE-based Al Jaber Group to operate a new deluxe property opposite the Dusit Hotel, near the Defence Roundabout in Dubai. The Shangri-La Hotel will feature 300 guestrooms, suites and approximately 110 serviced apartments, within a twin tower multi-purpose complex. The property is scheduled to open by 2002.

The Sheraton Plaza Hotel and Towers is expected to open by the end of 2001 near the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The 510-unit tower will include 276 standard hotel rooms, 100 furnished suites, 9 presidential and royal suites and 115 two, three and four-bedroom unfurnished apartments.

Owned by Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the complex will additionally offer a central multi-cuisine restaurant, two business centres (one of 5,000 m2, with 14 meeting rooms), and 20,000 m2 of office space. The hotel will also feature a bridge across Sheikh Zayed Road to the Trade Centre exhibition halls. The US company Park Plaza was originally assigned as operator, but was replaced by Sheraton earlier this year.

The 32 Group has recently publicised its mixed-use Ski Trac development, which will incorporate a main ski deck, a mountain range and a mountain ski run under a massive dome beside Dubai Creek. A 400-room hotel project is part of the development plan.

A new Taj Palace Hotel is under construction by the Juma Al Majid group between Riqqa Road and Maktoum Street in Deira. The upscale hotel will have 159 over-sized (50 m2), hi-tech rooms and 90 serviced apartments, plus multiple food and beverage outlets, including Aqua Vita, an Ayurvedic cafe.

The hotel will be 'dry', and has already secured corporate business from Islamic banks for this reason. The GCC market will be another mainstay. Although not visible from the main streets, the building features innovative architecture, including a tent-roofed ballroom. Twin swimming pools and health clubs, plus an Ayoma spa will be located on the top floor of the 11-storey building, which is due to open in April 2001.

Five-star beach hotels

The German hotel chain Kempinski has announced that it will be the first to operate a 5-star hotel on the 'unique' and 'one-off' Palm Island project. The group has secured a prime location in the middle of the 11.5 km long crescent-shaped reef which will encircle the huge palm-shaped island off the Jumeirah coast. Construction could be complete within four to five years.

Jumeirah International has announced that it will build 900 new letting units in a vast Gulf-style low-rise resort next to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and Burj Al Arab on Jumeirah Beach. Madinat Jumeirah will feature a main hotel surrounded by villas, the region's largest spa, a convention centre, more than 20 restaurants and informal cafes, a souk and a network of waterways served by 'abras' (the traditional Dubai water taxis).

Following the lead of the highly popular Royal Mirage Hotel, Madinat Jumeirah will focus on local heritage to create as authentic a holiday experience as possible. The development will occupy the site of the Chicago Beach villa compound, which will be pulled down.

The Sheraton Jumeirah B