The JW Marriott Marquis Hotel under construction in Dubai will become the world's tallest hotel when complete. Sammy Dallal / The National
The JW Marriott Marquis Hotel under construction in Dubai will become the world's tallest hotel when complete. Sammy Dallal / The National

Travel and Tourism

Phase II of world's tallest hotel plan in Dubai gets go ahead from Sheikh Mohammed

The twin tower hotel will eventually have 1,600 rooms, making it Dubai's biggest hotel by room number. At 355m tall, the structures will be only 26m shorter than the Empire State Building in New York.

Lucy Barnard

November 26, 2012

The second phase of the tallest hotel scheme in the world is to start in Dubai after Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid visited the project yesterday.

The Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai ordered the start of the second phase of Emirates Group's twin tower JW Marriott Marquis Dubai hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road after being shown around the first phase, an 804 room tower, which opened to the public earlier this month.

The Dh960 a night hotel, which is scheduled to be completed in late 2014 or early 2015 will eventually have 1,600 rooms, making it Dubai's biggest hotel by room number. And at 355 metres tall, the structures will be only 26 metres shorter than the Empire State Building in New York.

The towers supercede Rotana's 333m tall Rose Rayhaan hotel, also located along the Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai as the world's tallest building used entirely as a hotel.

Originally described as a Dh1.8bn project, Sheikh Mohammed's website described the hotel as having a total value of Dh2.5bn.

The hotel also boasts the largest function room in the Middle East and 19 restaurants.

Sheikh Mohammed said the project would provide a boost to Dubai's tourism sector.

The announcement follows Sheikh Mohammed's announcement on Saturday that Emaar Properties and Dubai Holding would be pressing ahead with the Mohammed Bin Rashid City mega project which will include at least 100 new hotels as well as the world's new largest shopping centre and a Universal Studios theme park.

The proposed increase in hotel supply comes at a time when Dubai's tourism market is showing solid growth.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle's most recent report, Occupancy rates for the year to August 2012 increased by 3 per cent over the same period in 2011, reaching 77% on a city-wide basis while average daily room prices increased by 8 per cent reaching US$224 for the period.

The number of visitors to the UAE is expected to reach 9 million this year, according to a forecast yesterday by Business Monitor International. Passenger numbers flying into Dubai's main airport increased to more than 33 million in the year to July 2012.

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While you're here

Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

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Results

5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: Nadhra, Fabrice Veron (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)

5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Dars, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: AF Musannef, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: AF Taghzel, Malin Holmberg, Ernst Oertel

7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: M’Y Yaromoon, Khalifa Al Neyadi, Jesus Rosales

7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (PA) 1,400m; Winner: Hakeem, Jim Crowley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe