Artist's impression of The Royal Amwaj Resort on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, which will offer an all-inclusive option.
What the hoteliers said
“There’s no question in my mind that an all-inclusive offering will attract a certain type of the market, perhaps a segment of the market that The Palm wouldn’t otherwise attract. Is that a good thing?
Yes, I think that the broader your offering can be in a market, the bigger the market you have that is available to you. I think what people perceive is typically all-inclusive offerings tend to be at the lower end of the market and while I’m not intimately familiar with the Royal Amwaj offering I don’t think that’s the case.
What I understand of that product, it’s a very upscale offering and, therefore, it will be priced accordingly.
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And when you’re attracting that end of the market, I don’t think the people that can afford to stay at a property like that on an all-inclusive basis are necessarily going to be constrained by saying ‘I must have every meal there because I’ve prepaid for it’. That end of the market is a bit different.
Joe Sita, president, IFA Hotel Investments
“There are some associations and clichés with the all-inclusive concept. But I don’t think an all-inclusive at the lower end would happen here in Dubai because it’s not that kind of market.
It is possible there could be an all-inclusive concept in Dubai, but it’s not something which I see spreading like wildfire. It would be very specific and restricted only to beach hotels.
“Abu Dhabi is a pure business [destination] so it would be very difficult to have an all-inclusive offering there. If you are on a beach resort and doing pure leisure holidays then maybe, but it’s something a hotel would have to be looking into very deeply as to how that will affect overall food and beverage.
When you are talking all-inclusive, more often than not you are talking discounted revenue on food and beverage.”
Rene Camilleri, director of global sales, Starwood Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East.
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Apr 21, 2011 , United Kingdom
I think we need to stop comparing the Dubai all inclusive concept with hotels in destinations such as Egypt and Turkey. They are very different to aspirational Dubai and we should be looking at hotels in Mauritius or the Caribbean as a benchmark. Understandably, the tax and duty levels are diff...