Gyms, spas and complementary wellness services have increasingly become crucial additions to any hotel experience, but they still mostly remain optional add-ons.
Siro One Za'abeel, a soon-to-open hotel in Dubai, is challenging this ethos by putting fitness front and centre in its five-star offerings. Out with the generic fitness clubs and in with specialised holistic amenities.
Hotel operator Kerzner International – owner of Atlantis and One&Only – is the brains behind this new property, which is set to have a two-phase opening. From next Thursday, guests and members will be able to access the dedicated fitness and recovery floors, while rooms will be available to book from February 12, starting at Dh900 per night. Although we were told these will go up to Dh3,500 during peak season.
The hotel occupies seven floors of the newly opened One Za'abeel dual towers – from level 30 to 37 – with access available via the tower's main lobby.
As soon as you exit the lift, you know you've entered a world of its own. There is no intimidating reception, only sporty front-of-house staff armed with iPads to check guests in should they need assistance. Otherwise, room check-ins can be carried out through the Siro mobile app, which serves as an all-in-one platform for other hotel features, such as meal plans and group classes.
The concept is based on five “biohacking pillars”, hotel manager Desmond Cawley tells The National during an early tour of the venue. These are fitness, nutrition, sleep, recovery and mindfulness.
The fitness and recovery floors
Guests first arrive on the fitness floor, which spans a 900-square-metre area with purpose-built zones for training. One section has weights for resistance training, another has treadmills for cardio and there are studios for spin, Pilates, yoga and high-intensity interval training.
Hotel guests can access this area, but the fitness lab also allows non-guests to sign up for a typical membership package, with prices starting at Dh785 for a month or Dh7,095 for a year. Members also get other benefits such as discounts on room rates.
One level up is the recovery lab, which features several treatment rooms, offering myriad therapies that go beyond traditional spa services found in regular hotels. There is a cryotherapy (or cold therapy) room, a vibroacoustic therapy room and several others equipped with more generic recovery tools.
The therapies are individually priced, but there are also areas guests and members can access free of charge, such as steam and sauna rooms, as well as the plunge pool and relaxation zone, with massage chairs and a Himalayan salt wall.
The rooms
These also differ from regular hotels. Televisions are swapped with projectors that include in-house training content for those who want to try in-room guided workouts during their stay. The mattresses are thermo-regulated, and guests can also choose from an extensive pillow menu.
Each room has a recovery cupboard, with exercise balls, stretch bands, a meditation cushion and yoga mat. The mini bar is filled with healthy drinks and snacks, and the in-room dining menu includes macronutrient measurements. Guests can also ask for the staff to draw an ice bath for them, if they wish.
For those who want a more premium stay, the hotel has 12 bigger suites, six of which are fitted with fitness-focused amenities, while the other half are focused on recovery. The fitness suites, for example, have cardio equipment in the living area, while the recovery options include stretching accessories.
All suites have their own treatment areas for in-room therapies, which can be enjoyed while soaking in the world-famous Dubai skyline.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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.”
