Dubai Lifestyle News
Why Dubai’s Hotel Classification Scheme is so important
A senior figure at Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has explained why a new Hotel Classification Scheme could be so important to the city's hospitality sector.Majid Al Marri told Hoteliermiddleeast.com the system will give people a better idea about the quality of resorts across the region.Dubai is renowned for its multitude of glamorous hotels and it seems that more investors are now pouring money into the emirate's hospitality sector.Like many other parts of the world, Dubai was badly affected by the economic downturn and some developers were forced to shelve plans to build new hotels in the sheikhdom.However, many of these projects have been resurrected in the last 12 months and there are some impressive structures starting to emerge in popular areas like Dubai Marina and the Palm Jumeirah. Mr Al Marri said the Hotel Classification Scheme introduces new categories for university campuses and hostels, while also providing a new buffer between standard and luxury accommodation.”We found there was a gap in this area, which is why there is also a new category for serviced apartments,” he was quoted as saying.The law was first introduced in 1998 and this latest update is aimed at increasing transparency across the sector, thus allowing visitors to see which resorts offer the best facilities.Mr Al Marri said there are 18 new “designators” – including optional extras like rooms with a sea view or spa and wellness services – which hotels can add to their rating.This, he added, will help hotels to market themselves and will ultimately aid the DTCM in its quest to attract 20 million tourists to the city annually by 2020.It is certainly a good time for investors to add Dubai-based hotels, apartments and villas to their property portfolios, as the demand for accommodation in the emirate has soared in recent months.In fact, Mastercard recently hailed Dubai as a “city to watch” in the coming years, with more and more people expected to take a holiday in the city in the near future. Continue reading
Emaar eyes tower even taller than Burj Khalifa
Emaar Properties is considering building another world-record breaking tower bigger than its own Burj Khalifa, which is the current holder of the world’s tallest building, according to its chairman Mohamed Alabbar. “We may try to build something a little taller,” Alabbar said at a conference in Dubai. “The emirate needs another tall building. Dubai is only about 30-year old, so we have a lot of time and lot of investment left,” he added. Emaar Properties built the 828-metre Burj Khalifa tower in 2010 and is also involved in the Kingdom Tower, which is being developed by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and is under construction in Jeddah. The Saudi tower is reportedly set to be as high as 1km tall. Already the holder of the world’s tallest building title, the new plans Alabbar has hinted at would have appeared fanciful three years ago, when a crash in the inflated real estate market triggered a corporate debt crisis and a slew of company restructurings. But Dubai, home to an archipelago of man-made islands and an indoor ski slope in one of its shopping malls, staged a dramatic economic recovery last year, partly because of a tourism boom. Tourist arrivals grew 10 percent and hotel revenue rose 19 percent in the first half of 2012. Some state-linked companies have been working through their debt loads while some property prices have started to rebound. Continue reading
Is a new property law set to be introduced?
New legislation has been proposed that will give Dubai property investors greater levels of protection.According to the Real Estate Investment Management and Promotion Centre of the Dubai Land Department (DLD), the Tanweer law has been set up and is now ready to be officially sanctioned, the National reports.The organisation said that legal experts had given feedback on the draft regulations last year.Head of the centre Majida Ali Rashed told the news provider the law – which protects the rights of real estate investors and aims to create more transparency across the sector – is the first of its kind in the world.”The [DLD] will issue in the coming period a fully integrated law that will protect the rights of real estate investors through a comprehensive framework based on transparency and clarity of the contractual relationship between the developers and the investors,” she was quoted as saying.Experts have welcomed the impending introduction of the law and stated that more information would be made available once it is officially put in place.Alexis Waller, partner at the legal firm Clyde & Co, said anything that enhances confidence in the city's property sector is to be welcomed and the rules have been set up in a way that balances the interests of both developers and investors.Several recent studies have highlighted the growing demand for property in the UAE and it is generally accepted that the government's proactive approach to stimulating investment activity in the country is one of the main reasons for its popularity.Earlier this month, Global Investment House's GCC Real Estate Quarterly report showed the UAE and Saudi Arabian property markets are still leading the way in the Middle East.The research indicated that Dubai landlords were able to hike their rents by ten per cent in the first quarter of 2013, while the hospitality and commercial property sectors also performed extremely well during the three-month period.With new legal safeguards in the pipeline as well, it is easy to see why Dubai is one of the most sought after investment hotspots on the planet at the moment. The First Group can find you some excellent properties in Dubai Continue reading
