A Swiss hotel chain expects to open its much delayed seventh property in Dubai on the Palm Jumeirah in two years’ time as room rates continued to pick up.
After three years of delay, Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts officially opened in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) on Wednesday, its sixth propety including a hotel apartment building.
In early 2016, the chain expects to open Movenpick Hotel and Spa Oceana on Palm Jumeirah, which will be owned by Seven Tides, the UAE family business which also owns Mövenpick Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel as well as Anantara Dubai Palm Jumeirah Resort and Spa.
The JLT property is owned by Kuwait’s International Financial Advisors (IFA) Hotel Investments, which also owns Fairmont the Palm. The JLT property has 168 hotel rooms and 307 residential apartments available for rent.
“This is corporate fishing ground but given our access to our Beach Club on Palm Jumeirah, we are targeting leisure tourists as well,” said Hayden Edgtton, the general manager of Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Lakes Towers, referring to this freezone area of Dubai with residential and office towers. “We expect 60 per cent corporate visitors and rest leisure travellers.”
In October, the Dubai occupancy rate was 83.4 per cent while the average room rate was US$396.87, according to HotStats Mena. The revenue per available room was $330.80.
At Movenpick JLT, the average room rate for the year ahead is expected to be Dh670 with an occupancy rate of more than 74 per cent. The top markets that the hotel will focus on include Europe, China and India, Mr Edgtton said. The hotel employs 217 people.
The Swiss hotel operators manage Movenpick Hotel Apartments The Square, which opened in Dubai in May.
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