Thanks to Allan C—one of our savvy readers and a successful hotel GM, we received some truly fantastic pictures and mock-up sketches for an awesome variety of hotels and attractions either planned, or currently under construction in Dubai.
The captions that accompany the images are worth the effort of clicking over to the flickr photoset (for a larger size), but I’ve also featured the images below in a slide show.
A number of my hotelier colleagues in Cairo are heading out to the ATM next week in Dubai. Since I had no idea what this was, I did a little research:
“The Arabian Travel Market (ATM) is the industry’s leading travel and tourism exhibition dedicated to unlocking business potential within the Middle East and pan-Arab regions. ”
This year marks the fifteenth annual ATM, which is expected to attract over 23 thousand industry players from over 100 countries to the Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre on May 6th, 2008.
Check out some pics from last year’s event:
I just read on Marriott Corporate PR’s Twitter feed that they will be attending this year’s event. Bill Marriott himself mentioned on a recent blog post that his company is branding 35 more hotels in the Middle Eastern region, increasing their portfolio to 64 properties in the next three years.
Sheraton has embarked on its largest growth initiative in the brand’s history, with half of these developments launching outside of North America. Ten new properties are currently in Starwood’s pipeline in the Middle East:
“Europe, the Middle East and Africa will continue to experience significant growth with over ten new hotels expected to open this year and close to 50 scheduled to open by 2012. More specifically, Starwood is expanding in key Middle Eastern markets such as UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar, where currently there are 20 operating hotels and another ten in the pipeline. ”
Looks like Dubai won’t be the only “place to be” before long!
The tourism industry in Dubai, U.A.E. is growing at an astronomical rate and there seems to be no end in sight to the massive hotel construction boom.
In 2006, over six million tourists visited Dubai, compared with 8.6 million who visited all of Egypt according to the World Tourism Organization. To accommodate these fast growing numbers, Dubai is building a new airport complex that is expected to be the world’s largest when completed in 2012.
I recently heard a statistic from a hotel director of human resources here in Cairo that completely blew me away: Dubai is going to need more than 26,000more mid-level managers in the hotel industry alone over the next five to ten years. I asked her to repeat the number twice because it just wasn’t registering in mind.
Perhaps it stands to reason, however, that all the incredible growth, wealth and luxury that seems to be defining the Dubai experience might also come at a huge cost to the many thousands of foreign workers who are flocking to Dubai in pursuit of employment, and the promise of a better life.
Simon Clark is a writer for Bloomberg.com, and today he published a fascinating story that gives some balance to the incredible stories of wealth and success in Dubai.
If you are inclined to read an interesting alternate perspective on the current state of affairs in the U.A.E’s second largest Emerate, I highly recommend Simon Clark’s article titled ”As Dubai Millionaires Multiply, Money Masks Missing Liberties “.
We’re always on the lookout for interesting new hotel industry blogs and websites, and late last year I discovered a promising site from Dubai, UAE called YoungHotelier.com.
The site features video interviews with “young” hotel industry professionals, hosted by blog co-founder Erin O’Neill from Ireland.
Since launching in October, 2007, Young Hotelier has assembled an impressive video collection, covering both personal and professional topics. Erin has interviewed a wide variety of hotel pros, including a Hotel GM, Public Relations exec, Front Office Manager, Housekeeping Supervisor and Chef.
These video conversations offer valuable insider perspective from some interesting people, and I have to congratulate Erin and her co-founders Joynal Abedin and Jitendra Jain (also a seasoned blogger) for developing a truly engaging space for young, international hoteliers.
From experience I know that video isn’t always an easy medium to work with, and some of the videos on the Young Hotelier blog are pretty hard to hear over lots of ambient noise. No doubt the blogging team at “YH” will sort this out over the long run.
There is plenty of room in the blogosphere for a whole bunch more hotelier blogs, so please do drop us an email if you know of any other new sites out there catering to the hotel trade. We’d love to feature them here.
Here’s a sample video interview from the Young Hotelier site with Shaun Parsons, the Executive Assistant Manager (EAM) in charge of Food & Beverage operations at the Mina Seyahi Complex (Le Meridien & Westin) in Dubai:
This dapper looking maverick is my friend Daryl, a hotelier from London who spent time working the cruise ships after honing his craft in London’s exclusive boutique hotel segment.
Most recently, Daryl headed the uniformed services department in a luxury hotel in Vancouver.
I know that Daryl enjoyed his time in Vancouver, but, like many hoteliers, the lure of expatriate packages in sweet international locations proved too great an opportunity to ignore.
Daryl recently relocated to Dubai, UAE, joining hundreds of hotel industry pros seeking fame, fortune and excitement in the exploding Dubai hotel scene.
As a guest services manager in the uber-luxurious Madinat Jumeirah, also known as the ‘Arabian Resort of Dubai’, Daryl joined a hotel brand that is consistently recognized as the best-of-the-best at the World Travel Awards. Earlier this month, the Madinat Jumeirah was named the World’s Leading Luxury Resort--in a market known for its extreme luxury and hospitality.
Daryl was kind enough to share some first impressions of the Resort:
“The hotel is absolutely amazing. Words cannot describe it nor do it any justice at all. From the $10K a night suites to the $2M chandelier in the lobby, to the incredible level of service, to the 42 restaurants & bars, to the sandy white beaches...it just blows your mind in absolutely every aspect. Which, is probably why we were voted the World’s Best Luxury Resort in the World Travel Awards this week!”
And if you’re thinking that all this luxury is reserved for guests alone...think again. Here’s a p.s. for all you hoteliers stuck in closet-inspired offices:
“Even my office is amazing. It’s on the third floor and from my window I have a view of the entire resort including the Burj al Arab and the beach, and there is a door leading out of my office onto a terrace surrounded by palm trees where you can hear the birds chirping. Not bad, although I am sure the chirping is going to start driving me nuts very quickly.”
Congrats to Daryl on this awesome appointment. We can’t wait to hear more.
Check out this video produced by the Madinat Jumeirah outlining its incredible facility. 42 food and beverage outlets? Whoa!
Chris · April 29, 2008 
We’re always on the lookout for interesting new hotel industry blogs and websites, and late last year I discovered a promising site from Dubai, UAE called 
The site features video interviews with “young” hotel industry professionals, hosted by blog co-founder 
This dapper looking maverick is my friend Daryl, a hotelier from London who spent time working the cruise ships after honing his craft in London’s exclusive boutique hotel segment.
