Dubai's hotel scene keeps getting hotter, with 28,000 new rooms set to debut by 2018, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle for The Hotel Show Dubai.
"With mega-events Dubai World Expo 2020 and 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar and a host of major-developments including Al Habtoor City, Bluewaters Island, and Dubailand launching in coming years, we hoteliers are preparing for the significant increase in tourists," said Wajeed Bagwan, general manager of the newly launched SUBA Hotel in Dubai.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts, is planning to double its portfolio in the Middle East in the next five years including the launch of its first W Hotel and St. Regis brands in Dubai by the end of 2015.
Alongside a new Westin, the three hotels will be located in the new Al Habtoor City complex, described by developers the Al Habtoor Group as the "world's biggest residential and hospital development currently under construction."
Dubai-based global luxury hotel company, Jumeirah Group, has two properties scheduled to open in Dubai by 2017 including the Jumeirah Al Naseem at Madinat Jumeirah and the first hotel under its lifestyle brand, Venu, opening off the coast of Dubai at the new Bluewaters Island. The Venu Bluewaters Island Hotel will offer close to 300 rooms surrounded by the retail, residential and hospitality zones of the mixed-use Island with the world's largest Ferris wheel, the Dubai-I, at its heart.
Various existing hotels are going through major redevelopments and refurbishments to remain competitive.