Five major hotel brands opened their Abu Dhabi properties within days of one another in November in a bid to win guests visiting the emirate for the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The flurry of hotel openings, many of which had been delayed from their scheduled launch dates, added 1392 hotel rooms to the emirate’s inventory in November alone.
On November 1, the 400-key Jumeirah Etihad Towers opened, as did the 306-room Park Hyatt Saadiyat Island. Jumeirah Etihad Towers had been slated to open in July, while Hotelier reported in October that the Park Hyatt’s opening date had been pushed back from October 15.
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November 4 marked the soft opening of Rotana’s fourth Centro-branded hotel in the capital, the 229-key Centro Al Manhal Abu Dhabi. The 176-room Westin Abu Dhabi was due to open on November 1, but the hotel launched a couple of days later than expected on November 7 – the same day as the opening of the 281-key Rocco Forte Abu Dhabi.
A further 808 rooms are expected to open in Abu Dhabi this month, including the 189-key Hyatt Capital Gate which will “definitely” soft open before the end of the year.
Premier Inn’s first Abu Dhabi hotel, also located at the Capital Centre was scheduled to open last September but is now on track for a December opening, adding another 242 rooms to the inventory.
“We had hoped and expected it to be open by now, but sadly not. However, we are working towards opening Premier Inn Abu Dhabi capital Centre on December 10,” said Premier Inn Hotels’ managing director Darroch Crawford.
The largest hotel scheduled to open in Abu Dhabi in 2011, the 377-room St. Regis Saadiyat Island, had also intended to open in time for the Grand Prix. However, having experienced delays, this hotel is now expected to join the December openings. Other Abu Dhabi openings have included the Grand Millennium Al Wahda and the Cristal Salam.
According to Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority’s (ADTA) Future Hotel Register dated May 7, The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi Grand Canal, with 447 rooms, was initially planned to open this year but is now slated to open May 2012. The report included the 326-room Rosewood Abu Dhabi in its 2011 openings, but this will launch in 2012 too, in Q4.
By the end of 2011, 2458 rooms will have been added to the Abu Dhabi inventory over the past 12 months (2570 including the Cristal Salam which opened in October but was not featured on the report).
This is out of “5848” rooms ADTA forecast to open in 2011.
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