Amzar File

More luxury hotels to wow in Dubai



by Reuters|22 May 2009

Dubai - U.S.-casino operator MGM Mirage will manage three luxury hotels at the Dubai Pearl, a $4 billion project close to man-made island Palm Jumeirah, including the Bellagio, MGM Grand, and Skylofts hotels.

The three hotels are valued at $1 billion, Santosh Joseph, chief executive of Dubai-based developer Pearl Dubai told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Construction has begun on four out of six hotels planned for the Dubai Pearl, he said.

MGM Mirage is planning to move into the hotel industry throughout the Middle East and Asia and has already signed eight hotel management deals with developers, a company executive told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

The company told the paper it was in talks with 10 more developers about opening luxury hotels, mostly without casinos, under the banners of its Las Vegas properties. By 2014, the No 2 casino operator expects to generate revenue of about $100 million a year from its hotel operations.

Global hoteliers have been pinning their hopes on the east's underserved leisure markets to offset falling revenue as holidaymakers and business travellers cut back to save money in the global economic downturn.

The Dubai Pearl development will also feature a Baccarat Hotel and Residences that will be branded by the French crystal company Baccarat and managed by U.S.-based Starwood Capital Group.

The remaining two properties will be managed by international luxury brands from the U.S. and Italy and will be announced before the end of the year, said Joseph.

Pearl Dubai is a "well capitalised company" and will fund the development through "capital debt and pre-sales", he said.

The first phase of the project is scheduled for completion by 2012, and the second in 2013.

In Dubai, one of seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates, the tourism industry slowed in the first quarter with hotel revenues dropping 15 percent.
But Joseph said Pearl Dubai is not worried about market conditions.

"We are building for the future. It will take some time but we are sure the Dubai market will recover," he said.

Source: Asiaone