Riyadh, June 18th 2003: Jumeirah International, the Dubai-based luxury hospitality group, introduced a new hotel concept to the Kingdom’s journalists with an exclusive preview of Dubai’s newest resort hotel, Mina A’ Salam.
 
Mr. Bill Walshe, Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing, who visited the Kingdom with his Sales Team, also announced special summer rates for Saudi travellers to Dubai.
 
Mina A’ Salam, translated as “Port of Peace”, has been designed as a ‘Grand Boutique Hotel’, a 292-room luxury hotel embodying the attributes of intimacy, comfort and personalised service associated with fine boutique hotels around the world.
 
Scheduled to open in September 2003, Mina A’ Salam will be the first hotel to open within the vast and spectacular Madinat Jumeirah. This Arabian Resort will be the largest, luxury beachfront property in the United Arab Emirates, extending along more than one kilometre of Arabian Gulf shores.
 
It is also the most complex and extensive hotel and leisure development worldwide in the last 25 years. The design of Madinat Jumeirah has been inspired by the architectural legacy of the Arabian Peninsula. It is scheduled to open fully in Autumn 2004 and the corporate and incentive business segments will welcome its diverse and unrivalled facilities.
 
“Once completed, Madinat Jumeirah will add value to the Gulf Region’s reputation for excellence in the hospitality and leisure sector,” said John Pelling, General Manager of Mina A’Salam. “Our guests will be able to enjoy the serenity, intimacy and personalised service associated with boutique hotels around the world in an authentic Arabian maritime setting.”
 
“We want to create a peaceful refuge for our guests with spectacular views, leisure facilities, fine cuisine and excellent service while being able to venture forth into a rich and diverse world of leisure, luxury, relaxation, entertainment and shopping,” he added.
 
All 280 guest rooms and 12 suites feature balconies with views of the warm waters of the Arabian Gulf and a beachfront harbour leading to the 3.5 kms of Madinat Jumeirah waterways.
 
Rooms are spacious with a minimum of 50 square metres and interior designs inspired by traditional Arab motifs. Mirage Mille, which was responsible for the development of Sun City, South Africa’s themed resort masterpiece, are the Project Developers for Mina A’Salam and Madinat Jumeirah.
 
According to Pelling, the Grand Boutique Hotel concept evolved out of an attempt to combine the personalized features and intimate atmospheres of boutique hotels within a larger resort context. “Most boutique hotels are located in fashionable metropolitan districts,” he explained. “Guests can retreat in to these intimate havens of comfort and personalised service and then walk out to enjoy the cosmopolitan buzz of cities like Paris, London or Beverly Hills.”
 
“We are creating a fascinating microcosm of life in Madinat Jumeirah, connected to a rich recreational and leisure environment of prestige beachfront hotels and resorts that include Burj Al Arab, The Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Beit Al Bahar and Wild Wadi Water Park. Mina A’Salam has been designed as a unique refuge in the boutique hotel tradition,” he added.
 
Madinat Jumeirah has been designed to highlight the rich Arabian Heritage of the Arab world to provide tourists with an opportunity to understand and appreciate Arabian culture, history and traditions in a luxurious, comfortable and modern environment.
 
Madinat Jumeirah will encompass two five star hotels: Mina A’Salam and Al Qasr, as well as 31 villas which have all been designed to reflect the Gulf’s heritage in design and architecture. The resort will be completed by Autumn 2004.
 
To celebrate their very well received visit to the Kingdom, the Group announced a special summer rate offer for all Saudi travellers to Dubai. The offer, which is valid until the end of August 2003, offers Saudi visitors to Dubai special rates at all Jumeirah International properties.
 
Rates start at AED 250 per night at The World Trade Centre Hotel; AED 375 at Emirates Towers Hotel; AED 1850 at Burj Al Arab. Guests can also benefit from “added value incentive packages” which include complimentary breakfast, courtesy transport to and from the airport and complimentary access to Dubai Summer Surprises activities for children. Prices for these packages are AED 350 per night at The World Trade Centre Hotel; AED 550 at Emirates Towers Hotel; AED 2500 at Burj Al Arab. If a guest chooses any one of the “added value” packages, they are entitled to a complimentary night’s stay, in the same hotel, for every three nights booked in any Jumeirah International property in Dubai.
 
Further benefits for all Saudi travellers to Dubai staying at Jumeirah International properties include: guests staying at either The Jumeirah Beach Hotel or Burj Al Arab are granted complimentary access to Wild Wadi Water Park – the most advanced water fun and entertainment parks in the world - for the duration of their stay. Saudi travellers to Dubai staying at any other Jumeirah International property will receive reduced rate access to Wild Wadi Water Park of AED 40 per person instead of the rack rate price of AED 120 per person.
 
-Ends-
 
Note to Editors:
Jumeirah International properties are regarded as among the most luxurious and innovative in the world and have won numerous international travel and design awards. The group encompasses the world-renowned Burj Al Arab that has become a true icon and landmark for Dubai, the award winning Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Emirates Towers Hotel, Offices and Shopping Boulevard, The Jumeirah Beach Club, The World Trade Centre Hotel Dubai and Wild Wadi water park. In addition, the group opened The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in summer 2001.
 
Jumeirah International has expanded outside the Middle East into London, taking over the management of The Carlton Tower and The Lowndes Hotel in London’s Belgravia in December 2001.  Following on from Jumeirah International’s move into the UK, The Carlton Tower was immediately included in the prestigious ‘Leading Hotels of the World’ handbook following Burj Al Arab, Emirates Towers Hotel and The Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
 
The company’s latest expansion is the unique resort development Madinat Jumeirah. Enhancing Dubai’s reputation as one of the world’s most idyllic destinations, the 100-acre resort will offer the ultimate Arabian experience against the setting of a highly luxurious, world-class, multi-facility resort. Madinat Jumeirah will include two 300 room five star hotels and clusters of 340 rooms and suites all featuring authentic architecture reflecting the heritage and culture of Dubai and the Arabian region. The first phase of the resort is scheduled to open in September 2003 followed by the second phase in autumn 2004. Jumeirah International has officially opened its central reservations office in Dubai, which handles reservations for all Jumeirah International hotels in Dubai and London.

Country                                           Toll Free Number
United Arab Emirates                     800 4346
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia               800 8971 439
Bahrain                                           800 555
United Kingdom                             0800 082 8000
United Kingdom Fax                     0800 082 2222
Germany                                        0800 182 8000

For further information please contact:
Bassem Al Terkawi 
Public Relations Manager Middle East
Jumeirah International
Head Office: 8th floor,
Emirates Towers Offices
P.O. Box 73137,
Dubai,
U.A.E
Telephone: +971 4 3300111
Fax: +971 4 3016655
Email: bassem.alterkawi@jumeirahinternational.com
Website: www.jumeirahinternational.com
 
Carlo dei Tedeschi
Traccs Public Relations for the Middle East
505 Khalid Al Attar Tower,
Sheikh Zayed Road,
P.O. Box 72583,
Dubai,
UAE
Phone: + 971 4 3316954
Fax: + 971 4 3316976
E-mail: carlo@traccs.net
Website: www.traccs.net

© Press Release 2003