“It feels like you’re checking out of Dubai when you come here. With this getaway factor being so close to the heartbeat of Dubai, staycations will become huge for us,” he adds.

Another element for the resort will be working with corporate luxury brands, reveals director of sales Lena Wantjer.

In addition to working with key DMCs in Dubai with overseas traction, Wantjer says many other beach resorts in the city don’t focus on corporate demand, “whereas we get such a great demand from corporate, especially luxury brands that want to be associated with Nikki Beach”.

“So we have quite a focus on the corporate market. We didn’t want to go with big volume operators, rather we chose partners who deal with clients directly — more the B2C approach and lifestyle agents,” Wantjer says.

She adds: “When it comes to MICE, we have a limited inventory, so it’s small incentives, it’s high-end. We can’t do a lot of corporate meetings but we can do social events, destination weddings. That’s where we position ourselves in MICE: high-end and boutique.”

Schneider is also convinced that the brand will actively drive guests to Dubai because of the loyalty to the Nikki Beach brand. He gives an example: “For the first White Party we had people flying in from Majorca, San Tropez, Marbella, and even from Miami. So I think we really contribute to the demand of Dubai. We give it a certain element that we create visitors — obviously not in a way that you will see an increase of 10% in arrivals to Dubai — but at this stage it is super important for Dubai to bring brands that draw customers in and not create propositions that are forced to steal from the existing pie. With our size, we are not forced to steal. We have a good amount of new visitors coming to Dubai who come due to the brand, and we will have a very good positioning in the market overall.”

Schneider acknowledges the growing supply of rooms on the market, but says with 132 keys, he has a property that’s ideal for current market conditions. “Is it going to be easy? Probably not. But it is important that the industry and the rates stick to the brands, and this is the most critical part right now, especially in F&B. If you sell cheap, you need to buy cheap. If you buy cheap then you just don’t give the real thing anymore to the guests.

“And that’s my biggest fear when it comes to a buyer’s market — some propositions might get a little bit desperate and they drop the rates and that’s dangerous for the destination. It’s very good that we have this influx of mid-market now in the destination because it takes the motivation away from luxury brands to try and dip into the mid-market — because now somebody’s there to slap them across the wrist and tell them that you have no reason of being here.

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