By the end of the year, the Dorchester Collection will launch its first hotel in Dubai, adding yet another luxurious option to the city’s collection of upscale hotels.
Omniyat Holdings of the emirate will develop and own The Lana, which will include 225 rooms and suites. According to Omniyat Chairman Mahdi Amjad, who began a relationship with the hotel chain in 2018, it will be the Dorchester Collection’s first property in Asia and the Middle East and 10th overall. Additionally, the Dorchester Collection manages properties in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Rome, and other cities.
“We are trying to identify other regional and global destinations that will work for this collaboration to expand into,” Amjad said in an interview. “What we have created together with the Dorchester collection is quite unique and it’s worthy of a global scale.”
Dubai is profiting from a boom in the hospitality industry that began when the city opened its hotels and restaurants when other cities around the globe were still under lockdown. Since then, a wave of immigrants has caused a boom in hotel revenue and occupancy rates.
According to real estate consultant CBRE Group Inc., the city’s hotels had average occupancy rates of roughly 83 percent in the year ending in March, and the average daily rate in the first quarter was Dh783.8 ($213.45).
A minimum room size of 50 square meters (538.19 square feet) will be required for suites, which will make up about 35% of The Lana, according to Amjad. According to him, the hotel would have seven dining establishments and a rooftop pool with sweeping city views.
A residential tower with 39 serviced apartments is joined to the hotel. In anticipation of development, they have been bought and sold for an average price of Dh3,600 ($980) per square foot. According to Amjad, prices have increased to around Dh7,000 per square foot.
Other ultra-luxury properties being built by privately-owned Omniyat include Vela, which will include 38 apartments next to the tallest structure in the world and Ava on the Palm Jumeirah.
“When we were evaluating the right high-end brand to satisfy our consumers’ uber luxury aspiration,” the Dorchester came to mind, Amjad said. “They have been delivering high level of sophisticated hospitality since the 1930s but at the same time they had a very limited exclusive collection globally.”