Despite the Ottoman inspirations, Schupbach says the aim is not to virtually transport guests to Turkey — but have them feel they are in Dubai, being serviced by Jumeirah as part of a Zabeel Properties hotel.
For those that are familiar with the glitz and glamour of Dubai, this will certainly be the case — the property takes opulence to a new level.
What is not so common in Dubai, is Jumeirah’s teasing approach to the opening; most people didn’t even know it had happened. Considering that currently only 40% of rooms and a couple of outlets are open, keeping the anticipation until the full launch — expected by April 1 — is deliberate, explains Schupbach.
| Advertisement |
“We don’t want to make a big bang; we already had a huge response because the market has known about us for the last two years. We like having our secret and for people to come and discover us.”
So far, he says the available rooms are full and that he is already seeing booking trends he had not expected.
“It’s one thing having a strategy on paper but I probably changed the strategy 10 times in the last few months because of the response that we received.
I’ll give you an example, we thought we would have 30% of group business and you know what, we probably underestimated that. We thought that this would not really be a group or a corporate hotel but we have had such great response from around the world,” says Schupbach.
“I think it’s the uniqueness, we have a story to tell about the building.”
As expected, the hotel will be positioned at the high end of the market, alongside sister properties Madinat Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab. What sets it apart are the 38 villas, many of which back onto a vast lagoon that doubles up as what must be Dubai’s largest swimming pool.
“With having the 38 villas we are in a position where we can say nobody else has a similar product in this market at this current time,” asserts Schupbach.
The lagoon is not the only unique feature — this hotel has a Moulin Rouge-style theatre, considered the only one of its kind in Dubai, and the largest Talise spa to date.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
