Royal Mirage Dubai has gone through a few changes in recent times - it has been re-branded after a change in management, and has opened two new hotels.
The property, which was previously managed by Sun Inter-national, is now overseen by One and Only Resorts which is the management company behind the resort hotels of Kerzner International Ltd.
Butch Kerzner, president of Kerzner International Ltd, the parent company, is chief executive of One and Only Resorts.
One and Only Resorts operates as a subsidiary company of Kerzner International Ltd, and has been formed to develop, manage and market some of the most distinctive and luxurious hotels and resorts in the world.
All One and Only Resorts are members of the prestigious association 'The Leading Hotels of the World.'
As part of the new group's branding, the hotel is now One and Only Royal Mirage Dubai.
The One and Only brand is given to "ultra luxurious" properties in the group, said Olivier Louis, general manager, One and Only Royal Mirage Dubai.
Other Kerzner properties to make the grade are One and Only Kanuhura, The Maldives, One and Only Palmilla, Mexico, One and Only Ocean Club, Bahamas, One and Only Le Saint Geran, Mauritius, and, One and Only Le Touessrok, Mauritius.
The re-branding has had little impact on the hotel's identity, confirmed Louis.
"The positive part of the re-branding is that it gives emphasis to each of the individual
properties," he said.
The new hotels: While the property has a new name, it also has two new hotels.About three years ago, when the original hotel opened - the Palace - it was quickly acknowledge as one of Dubai's premier hotels.
When there was news that the hotel was being extended many regular guests expressed concern that the "intimacy" of the hotel would deteriorate, said Louis.
But the hotel was not just extended - and that is the key to its success, he says.
Instead of just adding on extra rooms, special emphasis was placed on creating two new hotels to work with the existing style of the Palace which cost Dh275 million to develop.
"When we expanded we did not just want to add on more rooms because that would spoil the three and a half years of good work we had done with the Palace," said Louis as he sat by the pool looking out to the development of Palm Island.
The property now has two new hotels which are the Arabian Court and the Residence and Spa - which cost an additional Dh275 million.
The property's original hotel, the Palace, has 450 meters of beachfront, and, 246 guestrooms including 53 Gold Club rooms, 19 suites and 2 royal suites.
Now, with the opening in December of the Arabian Court and the Residence and Spa, the property covers nearly a kilometer of beachfront.
The Arabian Court has 172 guest rooms including eight executive suites and 2 prince suites.
Additionally, the Residence and Spa - which opened at the same time - has 52 exclusive guest rooms which includes 18 suites and two garden villas.
For guests wanting to fully indulge while on holiday the property has also developed a health and beauty institute.
Designed to reflect the architecture of the region with towering domes and carved arches, it features a Givenchy Spa, a traditional Oriental Hamman, hair salon and fitness centre.
There is no doubt that the property - including all three hotels - is enjoying success. Within a week of opening Arabian Court and the Residence and Spa, rooms were fully booked.
"We have been sold out over the New Year and the festive season," said Louis. "It has been 100 per cent occupancy which is superb."
By January 11, the hotel had already reached its monthly target.
The high level of interest in the hotel goes to show that tourists have not been put off travelling to the region even with speculation on what will happen in Iraq, he said.
"We have had 1,000 room reservations in the past five days for the next two weeks," he said.
"This means that people in Europe are reading the paper and gauging for themselves if this place is safe."
The only change that Louis has seen recently is the time people are leaving before making bookings.
"With most of our guests coming from Europe we used to see that people would book about six weeks in advance, but now we are seeing people booking this week for next week."
Gulf News 2003
