Manzil Downtown Dubai, the Arabian little sister of Vida Hotels & Resorts opened its doors in December, putting a Middle Eastern spin on Emaar Hospitality Group’s home-grown lifestyle concept. General manager Stefan Viard gives Hotelier Middle East the lowdown on Dubai’s latest boutique lifestyle offering
Emaar Hospitality Group opened its first hotel under Arabesque lifestyle brand Manzil on December 15, 2015, following a six-month refurbishment. The property owes its smooth turnaround to an ExCom that had already gone through the process with Vida Downtown Dubai in 2013.
Both hotels were taken over by Emaar Hospitality Group in 2012 from South African operator Tsogo Sun. The Qamardeen Hotel was transformed into home-grown lifestyle concept Vida Downtown Dubai, and its Arabian counterpart will cater to “Arabic, young trendy travellers and families,” according to Stefan Viard, general manager of the two hotels, and urban café Pavillion Downtown Dubai.
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“We market Manzil as a boutique hotel, the same as we do with Vida. Both cater to the global traveller, and here we are trying to distinguish this hotel to attract the GCC clientele, whereas at Vida we are looking at corporate business and international travellers.”
At 197 keys, Manzil is slightly bigger than Vida, which has just 156 rooms. In Manzil, the same rooms were kept, and 40 connecting rooms were added to cater to families.
With the same ExCom working across both properties, and most of the staff having stayed in place during the transition, the second property conversion was an easier task, particularly since the foundations of the brand were already in place.
“It was much smoother than the first time because with Vida we had to create a brand. Now we have the foundations, we just had to create the sub-brand Manzil and it was very interesting to see it being brought under the umbrella of Vida Hotels & Resorts, but being perceived as a bit more traditional.
“Obviously you learn from your mistakes. It started with the fantastic support of our COO Philippe Zuber who has been heavily involved, then the design team from Emaar and Emaar Projects — so it was a nice synergy between the different business units of Emaar to open in such a short period.”
One of the key differences between the two brands is communication. While at Vida, “it’s all very direct and cool” according to Viard, at Manzil, “it’s a bit more sophisticated, without being stiff”.
Manzil, like Vida will have a strong F&B scene, which is something Viard claims he is “passionate” about, having risen through the ranks on the F&B side with Jumeirah Group, GHM Hotels and then Emaar, where he started out as executive assistant manager I/C F&B at The Address Hotels & Resorts in 2008.
While Vida is well-known for its trendy international style restaurants, with home-grown French concept La Serre Bistro & Boulangerie, Japanese restaurant Toko and cool brunch concept Urban Picnic, Manzil will offer a more family-friendly dining set-up.
The hotel has overhauled its much-loved signature eatery Courtyard, while Nezesausi, a casual sports grill with big TVs and food portions, is another important outlet for the hotel.
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