Byblos aims to offer budget hotel option on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai

Hotel operator plans to develop a Dh180 million four-star hotel on the trunk of the island opposite One and Only Royal Mirage Hotel.

The Palm Jumeirah has luxury resorts managed by Atlantis, Waldorf Astoria, Sofitel, Fairmont and Rixos. Courtesy Nakheel

The Palm Jumeirah may be famous for its five-star luxury, but travellers on a budget could soon be heading to the man-made island.

Dubai-based Byblos Hospitality plans to develop the Dh180 million Byblos Palm Jumeirah Hotel on the trunk of the island opposite the One and Only Royal Mirage Hotel.

The 144-room property is expected to be a four-star hotel.

Next month, the group will also open the Dh100m, three-star Al Sarab Hotel on Al Rigga Road in Dubai with 87 rooms.

“The Palm Jumeirah property will cater to tourists mainly but also to meetings and events [sector],” said Jean Samman, the chairman of Byblos Hospitality, which manages five mid-scale properties in Dubai. “Most of the beach hotels are five-star properties but with the new destinations that [Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing] and Emirates Airlines have opened up for Dubai, the tourist volumes have increased and budget accommodations are needed now; moreover, four-star hotels do not need huge investments.”

The Palm Jumeirah has luxury resorts managed by Atlantis, Waldorf Astoria, Sofitel, Fairmont and Rixos, with weekend room rates at the end of the month starting above Dh1,000, according to Booking.com.

While the group, which was formed in 2009, is yet to enter Abu Dhabi or neighbouring Gulf countries, last year it bought the 263-room Byblos Niagara Resort and Spa in upstate New York for US$10m in an auction.

Dubai has 38 hotels in the economy to upper midscale range accounting for 7,734 rooms, or about 11 per cent of its total hotel and room count, according to STR Global. Eight more properties in the same range are in the pipeline.

“The question whether [an oversupply of rooms in Dubai] will [adversely] affect the hospitality industry here has been discussed for the 35 years I have been here, and it has always been proven wrong,” said Mr Samman, a 62-year-old from Lebanon who has been living in the UAE since 1979.

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