Raucous sunburnt party-goers, bog standard buffets and gaudy wrist-bands are not to be expected at Rixos Bab Al Bahr, the first all-inclusive property in Ras Al Khaimah.
The resort, which opened its doors in March, boldly challenges the stereotypes of all-inclusive, bringing a whole new ultra-exclusive meaning to the concept
Opening three hotels within 22 days is quite a feat for even the most experienced operator, but for a 13-year-old company, which currently has just 21 operating hotels, it must have taken a certain aplomb.
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The Rixos Davos, a 45-room converted traditional property perched in the highest city in the Swiss Alps opened on January 22. The second opening, marking the company’s first Russian venture, was Rixos Krasnaya Polyana Sochi, which fought to steal the limelight from the winter Olympics, brazenly swinging open its doors on February 7 – the first day of the event.
With similar pluck, the Rixos Bab Al Bahr took the crown as the largest property to grace Ras Al Khaimah’s shores on February 12, almost exactly two years after the company’s first UAE opening, Rixos Dubai.
Established in 2000 in Antalya Turkey with the adventurous objective of creating an all-inclusive concept that would target the upper scale segment, Rixos Luxury Hotels & Resorts returns to its all-inclusive roots with the Ras Al Khaimah opening. The 655-key government-owned resort on Al Marjan Island, marketed under the strapline ‘all-inclusive, all-exclusive’ is another milestone in the strategic growth plan of Rixos.
“We are not after the mass inclusive where people are standing in queues at buffets,” comments Rixos Bab Al Bahr general manager, Haytham Omar. “We are targeting a totally different market segment to get to the people who would like a really hassle-free holiday.”
The Egyptian national certainly knows his audience having spent two years dealing with a range of tour operators and airlines as chief executive officer of UAE destination management company Meeting Point Emirates, the Dubai leg of Meeting Points International, a subsidiary of German travel enterprise, FTI.
This was after 12 years learning the ropes of the hotel business in the UAE at what is now called JA Resorts and Hotels, where he started out — another of the few companies in the emirates that offers all-inclusive packages — and Hilton and Rotana, where he spent 10 years in regional sales roles.
“I was on the other side of the business and I saw how the Rixos brand was expanding, and its philosophy and exclusivity,” Omar explains. “I’ve fallen in love with the brand.”
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