Ian Schrager's Edition hotel in Abu Dhabi has completed its construction and is getting ready to open its doors on October 24.
Sameh Muhtadi, chief executive officer of Bloom Holding revealed key details at the sidelines of Cityscape 2018 in Dubai. Speaking at the event, Muhtadi said to sister-title Construction Week that “we have completed the construction of a new hotel, we are opening on the October 24 in Abu Dhabi. It’s an Ian Schrager Edition hotel, a new category of hotels that have not been seen in the UAE. It is a truly super-luxury hotel, but on a very living room-friendly experience.”
He also shared details of the interior of the hotel, saying that “the architecture is beautiful, the finishing inside is fantastic. It’s very welcoming and very communal.”
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“The idea is to activate the community within the hotel, so that not everybody is in their room or having coffee in the café. It’s a new concept and it has been extremely successful – they have opened hotels in London, Miami, New York, Barcelona, and now they are opening here. Shanghai will follow next week,” he added.
Edition has been around for 10 years — it was a decade ago that the brand was announced when a partnership between Bill Marriott and Ian Schrager came to pass. In 2009, Dan Flannery was named vice president and managing director for Edition. In collaboration with Schrager, whom he calls a creative visionary, Flannery developed the team, the culture, the platform, and systems for this new brand and launched the first hotels.
At the soon-to-be-opened Abu Dhabi hotel, the general manager of the Edition Abu Dhabi is Stefan Soennichsen. He has worked with Dan Flannery previously, during their tenure at Morgans Hotel Group. Prior to this pre-opening role, Soennichsen was the vice president of Damac Hotels & Resorts, and was also in the UAE from 2001-2005 with IHG and FRHI.
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