“All of the existing RMAL brands will be incorporated, but it’s a huge coordination exercise. If you can imagine it, we’re almost putting in an entire F&B component for a city,” says Liddiard.

“As Santhosh mentioned before, we’re looking at 60 different restaurants, cafés, lounges, nightclubs, and also don’t forget that each of these hotel brands come with their own food and beverage outlets as well. We’re looking at the total masterplan. We’ve gone down to the details so we won’t have cross over of each hotel having an Italian restaurant or what have you, so that every hotel will have its own definition in terms of its food and beverage proposition. Then the F&B that’s married to the retail will again all fit.

“We’re not going to be selecting the same old brands for the sake of it. We’re actually going to be looking at what exciting new brands are going to add value to Dubai Pearl,” he asserts.

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But is there really a need for these luxury hotel brands, the wealth of entertainment and multiple restaurants? Absolutely, say Joseph and Liddiard simultaneously.

“Even in 2009 or 2010 when we looked around, I think Dubai has still achieved the best occupancy rate and [performed] much better than any other regional market,” says Joseph.

“There is enough experience in Dubai Pearl and we believe real estate follows a cycle, you’ll never see it always going up alone, take the last 20 years, every four /five years you’ll see the cycle and always it comes back much stronger. And it depends on the location and as you know we are one of the best locations — I don’t think anyone will argue with us on that. The best located projects always bounce back much, much earlier than projects on the outskirts. We believe in Dubai’s future, we are building for the future,” he asserts.

Liddiard backs him up: “We think as well that in 2014 we have absolute faith in Dubai and we believe that by the time we open in 2014, these brands will be absolutely ready to come into the market”.