DUBAI // There is a demand for hotels in Dubai that are not only alcohol free but also cater to regional sensibilities, experts have said.
The growing popularity of the emirate among more conservative tourists has created demand for Sharia-compliant hotels, which offer separate pools and health club facilities for men and women.
“There is definitely a demand for more Sharia-compliant hotels in Dubai,” said Mohammed Nasir, the social media manager for Crescentrating, a website that rates hotels around the world based on how Muslim-friendly they are.
“The demand is increasing all the time, particularly from travellers from Saudi Arabia.”
The Singapore-based website ranks hotels on a 1-7 scale. Despite dozens of reviews in Dubai, only one hotel has been awarded a rating of seven – the Jawhara Gardens Hotel.
All the other reviewed hotels in Dubai received a ranking of five.
“If more hotels in Dubai tried to get themselves rated at least six or seven, I’m pretty sure they’d see more visitors coming in,” said Mr Nasir.
While he said there were a growing number of dry hotels in Dubai, which was a positive step, there was a need for hotels to go further.
“Many female travellers opt to not swim in the pools, because men are also swimming there too,” Mr Nasir said.
“If there is a separate pool for the ladies, sometimes they tend to be more attracted to the hotels of that nature.”
The comments come after the end of the Hotel Show in Dubai last week during which Hamad Buamim, the chief executive of the Dubai Chamber, said more hotels were going dry in a bid to cater to the Saudi tourism market.
According to statistics from the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, there were 710,000 Saudi tourists visiting Dubai in the first half of this year. Last year, there were over 1.12 million Saudi tourists in the whole of the year.
There are more than 12 hotels in Dubai which do not serve alcohol, and the number is growing.
Guy Wilkinson, managing partner of Viability Management Consultants, said the trend grew out of the beliefs of investors, rather than a desire to cater to a niche clientele.
“There’s more and more hotel investors who want to build dry hotels, because of their religious convictions,” he said.
“The whole movement started about five years ago, because of the emergence of Islamic banking as a viable alternative source of funding for hotels in the Gulf.
“With that came certain obligations with regards to how they develop the hotel. In order for the finance to be forthcoming, there has to be an Islamic sheikh who checks out the project.
“The original first burst of chains and brands in the Gulf was basically on the back of the availability of new sources of money.”
Mr Wilkinson said that over time the face of the halal hotels were changed so that they were alike to western hotels in all respects other than the availability of alcohol.
“They found that a lot of Muslims had a live-and-let-live attitude,” he said.
One of the most popular alcohol free hotels is the Gloria, which owns two branches and consistently sees high occupancy rates of at least 70 per cent.
However, Chris Hewett, from TRI consulting, said it was unlikely that major international chains would operate a dry hotel in a wet market.
“Dry hotels normally generate less returns, from an investment perspective, than what a wet hotel would,” he said.
“There’s two main reasons for that. The first is that they often don’t command as high an occupancy as a wet hotel would. Secondly, the revenues, especially through food and beverage, are often lower.
“In markets in Saudi Arabia, where the whole country is dry, it’s not an issue,” he added.
“What’s causing this trend towards dry hotels in Dubai is that there’s a lot more investors coming in from Saudi Arabia and the GCC and investing here.
“They are obviously choosing to develop a dry hotel on the basis of their own religious beliefs, not necessarily a desire to only serve a clientele that’s looking for a dry hotel.”
mcroucher@thenational.ae
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Where: Parc OL, Lyon, France
When: Wednesday, 10.45pm kick off (UAE)
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Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
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Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old
Since 2001, Ms Davison has worked at many affordable schools such as Our Own English High School in Sharjah, and The Apple International School and Amled School in Dubai
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Tips for newlyweds to better manage finances
All couples are unique and have to create a financial blueprint that is most suitable for their relationship, says Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Century Financial. He offers his top five tips for couples to better manage their finances.
Discuss your assets and debts: When married, it’s important to understand each other’s personal financial situation. It’s necessary to know upfront what each party brings to the table, as debts and assets affect spending habits and joint loan qualifications. Discussing all aspects of their finances as a couple prevents anyone from being blindsided later.
Decide on the financial/saving goals: Spouses should independently list their top goals and share their lists with one another to shape a joint plan. Writing down clear goals will help them determine how much to save each month, how much to put aside for short-term goals, and how they will reach their long-term financial goals.
Set a budget: A budget can keep the couple be mindful of their income and expenses. With a monthly budget, couples will know exactly how much they can spend in a category each month, how much they have to work with and what spending areas need to be evaluated.
Decide who manages what: When it comes to handling finances, it’s a good idea to decide who manages what. For example, one person might take on the day-to-day bills, while the other tackles long-term investments and retirement plans.
Money date nights: Talking about money should be a healthy, ongoing conversation and couples should not wait for something to go wrong. They should set time aside every month to talk about future financial decisions and see the progress they’ve made together towards accomplishing their goals.
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Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
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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