Nikki Beach Resort & Spa Set To Open In Dubai In 2015

US luxury Beach club brand Nikki Beach will open a new property in Dubai in partnership with Meraas holding in autumn 2015.

The Operator was meant to originally launch The Pearl, Nikki Beach Resort & Spa in Qatar in Feb 2012. This announcement comes weeks after the brand had confirmed that it had cancelled plans to open its first property in Middle East on Doha’s The Pearl Qatar.

This will be the brand’s first property to open in the Middle East. The $100-million (Dh367 million) 5-star resort will be located on Palm Jumeirah.

The Nikki Beach Resort & Spa Dubai will include 400 metres of white sandy beachfront, 61 branded residences, 132 units including 117 rooms and suites, 14 beach villas, one 1,350 sqm 3-bedroom ultimate beach villa, three restaurants, a VIP lounge, Nikki Spa by ESPA, Tone Fitness Centre and the brand's famous Beach Club.

The villas will feature private gardens and pools while all hotel rooms & suites will offer stunning views of the Persian Gulf and Dubai cityscape. The resort will also include 61 exclusive branded residences with a mix of 1, 2, 3 and 4 bedroom residences and townhouses and a breathtaking 850 square meters penthouse.

Nikki Beach Worldwide founder & owner Jack Penrod said “We have been waiting for the right time, location and partners to expand our brand in Dubai and after 10 years of waiting, I am happy to announce that we have finally found the perfect location and the perfect partners to open Nikki Beach in Dubai,”

Meeras Holding chief hospitality Officer Cherif Hosny commented: “In line with Dubai’s Tourism Vision 2020, Dubai needs to have close to 160,000 hotel rooms to host the targeted numbers of visitors anticipated by the year 2020. With this as a key driver, Meraas is expanding its portfolio in the hospitality industry, developing projects that will not only add to the number of rooms in Dubai but also bring in a new dimension of luxury and experience to the hospitality industry in the country.

Katara Plans Extravagant $1.6 Billion Hotel in Qatar

A New York based architectural firm has unveiled plans for a 1000 room stunning hotel rising out of sea and ready for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The Silver Pearl Hotel will be developed by Katara Hospitality and will have more than 1000 rooms. It will be located 1.5 km off the coast of Doha and the project is set to cost $1.6 Billion.

The Hotel has been designed by the Architectural firm M Castedo architects and the unique look of the hotel is meant to showcase the culture of seafaring and pearl diving history.

The design, still pending approval, will envision a building consisting of two 30-story semicircle towers connected by a vaulted climate controlled atrium over the gardens with an ocean view. All rooms will face outwards onto the ocean with the common areas furnished and decorated in the spirit of Arabian Tradition. A conference and exhibition center will be contained adjacent to the main building, while a recreational roof deck will be located above a multi-storey parking facility.

The Silver Pearl Hotel will be one of several “icons” constructed in the country for the upcoming international football tournament. The visitors to the hotel would access the hotel through a four lane elevated causeway, by private yacht or helicopter.

The number of hotels planned and under construction in Qatar is growing rapidly as hospitality operators prepare for the spike in demand driven by the World Cup.

Official figures show the volume of visitors to the Gulf country is also quickly increasing. The country attracted a record 1.5 million guests in the first half of the year, a 7-percent jump.

Qatar’s hospitality industry is currently dominated by high-end, luxury offerings. The country’s hotel room inventory has grown by an average of 13.4 percent annually and reached approximately 13,600 rooms by the middle of the year, according to professional services Deloitte.

Accor Targets Over 30000 Rooms In Middle East By 2020

Accor HotelServices Middle East, one of the world's leading hospitality groups, announced its intention to double the size of its operations in the Middle East to over 30,000 rooms by 2020.

Sébastien Bazin, The Group's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer revealed the ambitious new target as the company celebrated reaching the major milestone of 100 hotels in operation (16,000 rooms) and approximately 9,000 rooms under development in the Middle East.

Mr. Bazin said, that "Our presence in the Middle East, which stretches back 35 years, has expanded significantly in response to the dynamic growth taking place in the region and reaching 100 hotels is a significant achievement.”

“Our commitment to double in size by 2020 is a bold statement of our confidence in the future of the region, the support of our partners who work closely with our experienced and localized teams here in our three offices in Dubai, Jeddah and Cairo, and the strength of our portfolio of brands that continue to deliver operational excellence and compelling returns."

He also explained the growth potential in the region by pointing out that there are on average only two rooms per 1000 inhabitants in the Middle East, compared to 10 and above in more matured markets.

Accor is seeing a rising demand for development of hotels across all segments, from luxury to economy, and that is why they have launched three new brands in the region, including Adagio serviced apartments, Majlis Grand Mercure and ibis Styles. Bazin also mentioned that they expect the growth to increase with improvement in infrastructure and delivery of key events in the region, Dubai’s Vision 2020 and 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and Saudi Arabia’s target to attract 20 million visitors to holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. 

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MEA Hotel Occupancy Up By 13.1% in September

The Middle East/Africa region reported positive performance during September with a 13.1 per cent increase in occupancy to 65.5 per cent, a 1.3% increase in ADR (Average Daily Rate) to $145.12 and a 14.5% increase in RevPAR to $94.99, according to STR Global Data.

Elizabeth Winkle, managing director of STR Global said that “It is positive to see consistency in performance in spite of instability leading to uncertainty in certain countries.”

“Amongst the high performers, Saudi Arabia is one of the region's strongest in September as the country was gearing up for Hajj, which took place the first week in October”, said Winkle. “Cairo, whilst still in recovery mode, achieved occupancy levels of 51.8 percent with significant year-over-year growth of 107.5 percent”.

Some of the key trends from the regional key markets for September 2014 include:

• Egypt recorded 138.3% increase in occupancy to 60.8 %, and a 15.6% increase in ADR to EGP 523.76 and a whopping 175.4% increase in RevPAR to EGP 318.49.

• Saudi Arabia reported an increase of 26.7 % in Occupancy to 66.3%, a 28.1 per cent increase in ADR to SAR 858.62, and a notable increase of 62.3% in RevPAR to SAR569.12

• In UAE, Occupancy decrease by 0.1% to 72.9 %, ADR was down by 3.3% to AED 575.83, and RevPAR decreased by 3.4% to AED 419.85.

Four markets achieved double-digit or more RevPAR growth: Cairo (+133.9% to $55.82); Beirut (+68% to $82.99); Jeddah (+21.9% to $216.34); and Doha, Qatar (+12.2% to $127.50). 

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Melia Hotels To Make Qatar Debut in January

Melia Hotels has signed an agreement with Tanmiyat Real Estate Investment Company to open its first hotel in Qatar. The hotel will be located in Doha, the 280 room five star hotel is set to open in January in West Bay and will be the third property in GCC.

There will be 37 suites ranging from executive to Royal suite, and the hotel will also feature fine dinning international and specialty restaurants, a spa, pool and gym.

The agreement for the hotel was signed this week in Doha in presence of the CEO of Tanmiyat Qatar Rea Estate Investment chairman, His Excellency Dr. Brain Bin Saeed Al Marri, and International Vice President of Melia Hotels Gabriel Escarrer.

Melia already has one operational hotel in Dubai, while a second designed by Zahid Hadid, slated to open in 2016.