Millennium
Airport Hotel Dubai doubles room inventory
150 new guestrooms
expands offering by 130% with a further 75 rooms and suites planned; three new
dining outlets and poolside & terrace upgrade as visitor numbers to Dubai
continue to rise unabated
The award-winning Millennium
Airport Hotel Dubai, has just completed the current phase of its expansion
programme, adding 150 new superior rooms to the
existing inventory of 115. The business-focused premier four-star hotel, will
add a further 75 club rooms and suites before the end of the year, making
a total of 341 bedrooms.
Located on the first four floors
of the extension, the 40-square metre superior rooms are equipped with corporate
travellers in mind and feature an executive working desk, 40-inch flat screen
television, WiFi internet access, coffee and tea-making facilities and a
spacious bathroom with separate bath and walk-in shower.
Named the Middle East’s
Leading Airport Hotel at the 2013 World Travel Awards, the opening of the
hotel’s extension is timely, according to general manager Simon Moore. ”These
additional rooms, not only increase the number of guests we can accommodate,
but by offering the very latest in technology, design and guest comfort, they
also enable us to compete more effectively for greater market share.”
The extension will also be
home to 75 club rooms and suites before the
end of this year, as well as three new food and beverage outlets and state of
the art ballroom and meeting facilities which should come on stream early next
year.
The hotel extension comes
to market at a time when MasterCard’s latest Global Destination Cities Index, positions
Dubai, as the seventh most popular destination city with 9.89 million
international overnight visitors in 2013, up 8.2% from last year. And if Dubai
continues its current rate of growth, by 2016 it will have moved into third
place, above Paris and Singapore, which measured 13.92m and 11.75m visitors,
respectively.
Hospitality Consultant TRI
measured Dubai’s hotel occupancy levels during the first half of this year at
86%, and forecasts an 11% increase for the full year 2013 compared with the
previous year.
“With our location close to
Dubai Airport, we are ideally situated to take advantage of the increasing
numbers of stopover passengers, short stay leisure visitors and of course
business guests quite literally on ‘flying visits’,” said Moore.
Of course if Dubai wins the
World Expo 2020 bid, this will dramatically increase the number of visitors to the
UAE.
A recent Expo 2020 economic impact report by Oxford
Economics shows that Dubai Expo 2020 would support over 277,000 jobs – many
generated by the $7.2 billion that would be invested in transport infrastructure.
HSBC estimates 45,000 new hotel rooms would be needed to host Expo 2020, the
equivalent to adding over 6% per annum to Dubai’s existing room capacity, which
will cost a further $7.2 billion.
Turning his attention to
the significant outdoor space that has also been renovated, Moore added. “With
the cooler temperatures putting outdoor events back on the agenda, our al
fresco venues are a major driver for banqueting business, giving us an added
value edge, especially for the MICE market,” added Moore.
Popular settings for outdoor
social gatherings and corporate events, the 503-square metre Oasis Pool &
Bar area has been re-landscaped to offer an enhanced experience for large scale
events for between 150 and 600 guests.
This is complemented by the
popular Terrace area adjacent, which cumulatively incorporates the outdoor
spaces used by the hotels’ three dining and entertainment outlets – Cactus
Jack’s, Biggles pub and Gozo Garden – with a combined capacity for 550 guests.
The hotel has also been
nominated in the ‘World’s Leading Airport Hotel’ category at the 20th annual
World Travel Awards, taking place 30 November in Doha Qatar.
For
more information about The Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai, please log onto www.millenniumhotels.com
Photo caption: The new superior rooms at
the Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai.
