Bathrooms are varied throughout the hotel, with some freestanding bathtubs forming the centrepiece of the room itself.
F&B Focus
The F&B operation was one area that the GM influenced quite significantly; the number of outlets was reduced and more space dedicated to the meetings. “We basically took a non-emotional approach,” says Assman.
“It’s not about ego or who we think we are in F&B, it’s about what is the best decision for the business and where is Dubai going to be in five years' time because you don’t build a hotel for now, you build it for future years to come.
We’re still proud of our F&B operation, we’ve put a lot of effort into it but we said less is more. It has a very good chance to be really excellent in the marketplace.”
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It was down to executive chef Christopher Bateman to “fill in the gaps” and develop the concepts, the most exciting of which he says is Nomad, which comprises “three concepts in one”.
It features an Asian restaurant with seating inside for 138 and outside for 100, a wine bar that will offer Asian tapas and seat 92 inside and 60 on the terrace; and a deli with capacity for 22. The other main restaurant is Blue Flame, a steak and seafood grill with a menu using only sustainable seafood.
“It is available in Dubai – you just have to be able to change your menu and we do the printing in house so it’s not a problem,” says Bateman, but he observes that sourcing organic produce is tougher.
“The idea is to use as much organics as we can but that’s proving more difficult in Dubai than the seafood. Even if you go with Abu Dhabi organic farms by the time they drive out here it still has a carbon footprint, there’s nothing truly local.”
Across all outlets, a key focus for Bateman has been to offer menus that are reasonable priced. “It’s more about volume, you look at certain companies that do millions of people, they don’t have a huge profit line but they do so many that their profit is enormous.
It was easy just setting the idea forward of trying to get a five-star sandwich at a simple little restaurant price, that’s the goal, to try and change the game,” he says.
“You don’t need to really push it to sell it, you just need to get people in and show them what we do, have them taste the food — it’s really good and the price is where it should be.”
Director of F&B Domenico Iannone agrees that in addition to the concepts, the hotel had to offer a more fun, independent and affordable feeling to its restaurant service — something more fitting for a lifestyle hotel.
“Deciding the best strategy for a hotel’s restaurant offerings in Dubai is an increasingly difficult decision as there are several factors that we had to consider. As traditional hotel restaurants have proven to be less and less successful, free-standing are currently ruling the dining scene in Dubai.
Even more in this part of town we believe that the more we can run our restaurant like independent outlets the more successful they will be, this included hiring the right restaurant staff rather than hotel staff, empowering them to take decisions almost like it is their own restaurant.
“The concept has a great impact on how successful outlets will be, guests in Dubai really relish outlets with large outdoor spaces, good food and beverages at a good value proposition, this along with relaxed fun dining where the attention is 100% on the guest and that is what we focus on.
With the diversity of our offering, the intensive market and pricing analysis and hiring of the right candidates we will definitely meet and exceed our target market expectations,” says Iannone.
On whether the restaurants will help establish the hotel as a lifestyle destination, he says they incorporate “some pretty sleek add-ons” from the cooking pod in Blue Flame to the private cabanas at Cu-ba with 42” TV and PlayStation and the homogenizer, apparently the first in Dubai, that can infuse any liquid with a flavour within two minutes, such as vodka and passionfruit.
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