Emirates Hotels & Resorts, part of Emirates airline's Destination and Leisure Management division, plans to add one property a year for the next four years, with a total investment of more than Dh2 billion, said a senior executive.
This includes two properties in Dubai and one each in Australia and Seychelles.
"For Dubai properties, our key feeder markets are GCC, Middle East, United Kingdom and Germany," David Garner, Manager-Commercial, Emirates Hotels & Resorts, told Emirates Today.
Asked if the company would extend its reach to other emirates in the UAE and across the Middle East, Garner said: "I cannot say anything for sure, but wherever there is an opportunity for us, we would look at it." Emirates Hotels would be opening its first Dh900 mil lion property, the first citybased hotel in Dubai - Emirates Marina Hotel and Residence on November 1. An all-suites five-star hotel, the property will have 261 suites, comprising studios, one-, two and three-bedroom ranges.
Giving an estimate of the prices, Garner said the price of a two-bedroom unit would start from Dh180,000. "We expect to run 50 per cent occupancy during the soft opening period in the first month. And at the end of first quarter of operations, we hope to be running 80 per cent occupancy," he said.
The second Dubai property will open in March 2008.
Called Emirates Green Lakes Serviced Apartments, it will have about 290 apartments.
Competing directly with the likes of Grosvenor House, Oasis Beach Hotel and other beach properties in Dubai, Emirates properties are targeted at long-term guests and short-term guests from corporate and leisure markets, Garner pointed out.
"We would be competing with both hotels and hotel apartments in Dubai. We would like to get the cream from both segments," he said.
Emirates Holidays & Resorts operates the 42-suite Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa in Dubai, built in the 1990s at a cost of Dh125m.
Globally, Emirates is developing a Dh253m Wolgan Valley project in Australia's Blue Mountains in New South Wales.The construction of this 40-suite property will begin next month, said Garner.
The largest international investment of Dh929.14m has been made in a project in Mahe, the Seychelles, scheduled to open in 2010.
By Shweta Jain
© Emirates Today 2007
