St Regis Dubai aims for hotel market leadership
The St Regis Dubai opens on November 20 in Al Habtoor City with 234 rooms, including 51 suites.
The largest of these – the AED120,000-per-night (US $32,673) Royal – is a two-storey, 913m2 suite with three bedrooms, a double staircase, private pool and its own elevator.
The GM of the complex that will comprise three Starwood hotels in Al Habtoor City, the St Regis Dubai, W Dubai and Westin Dubai, is Andreas Oberoi.
He told Hotelier Middle East that he was confident the St Regis Dubai would command a price premium. “I foresee that we will be very successful here. The price will be premium, as the service will be premium and the hardware will be premium.”
He added: “With respect to the competition, St Regis is a brand that should have been here [in Dubai] earlier.”
The order of hotel openings – The St Regis this month, the 358-room W and the 1,004-room Westin in the first and second quarter of 2016 – reflected Starwood’s “top down approach” at Al Habtoor City.
The St Regis will add to the Dubai scene, and be the leading luxury hotel in the city, said Oberoi, adding: “I didn’t come here to be number four or five in the market.”
The hotel will operate with 500 staff, including butlers, drawn from 60 nationalities. Designed in a French neoclassical Beaux-Arts style, it features: eight F&B outlets, including the J&G Steakhouse, “inspired by Jean-George Vongerichten”, and La Brasserie Quartier; the 800m2 Astor ballroom; a rooftop pool; and an Iridum Spa, in which all clocks are set to midnight so that “time stands still”.
In line with bringing the St Regis brand to Dubai, Starwood will also open the St Regis Dubai Al Habtoor Polo Resort and Club in Q4 2016, as the centrepiece of an equestrian sports complex, featuring 136 guest rooms, 24 bungalows and various culinary venues.