Why did you move to your new role at The Address Dubai Mall?
I moved six weeks prior to the opening on the auspicious date of 09/09/09. For me it was a natural evolution, this hotel has 244 rooms and 449 apartments, it has probably the same amount of F&B [as The Palace] but the banqueting is quite different.
The spa is also much bigger. In my career, I’ve always wanted to do an opening so doing it now rather than later was very suited to me.
What’s unique about the hotel?
First of all, the access to Dubai Mall and the fact that it’s a shoppers’ haven. It’s going to be a shoppers’ favourite because it has three access points into the mall — all of them run into Fashion Avenue.
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The hotel has a very contemporary feel to it but it has a strong influence of Arabic touches. We see that in the mashrabia that is replicated in many places of the hotel — in the logo, the uniforms, interpreted through leather, stencil, wood, plaster.
It has a very unique positioning relative to our sister hotels. The fact that we believe strongly in one size fits one means none of our hotels will look the same. The feel is going to be different; the level of service is the same.
How are you capitalising on the Dubai Mall location?
We’ll have a natural footfall because of the access to Bloomingdales (opening spring 2010) into the outlets throughout the day.
For guests, we’ll have a personal shopper and a fashion advisor who will run four different tailored packages from shopping to looking at the wardrobe and accessorising it.
It’s never been done in Dubai. None of the hotels are attached to so many top-class brands. Dubai Mall has more than 500 top-class brands and being attached to Bloomingdales makes it much more lucrative.
Can you reveal more about the food and beverage offer?
The other highlight is the F&B aspect. We have five complete food and beverage concepts. One is Amatista, which will be a lounge / cigar lounge with an exclusive offering of up to 100 cigars and humidified lockers for around 60 guests.
Then we have Ember, which is going to be our specialty restaurant along with a grill concept attached and a bar, and the Arabic restaurant NA3NA3. I believe this will be a landmark Arabic restaurant.
In Karat, our lobby lounge, the highlight is afternoon tea. The tea [supplied by Damman] is presented to the guest out of a box that looks like a book and food presentation is quite different from the usual afternoon tea, which is normally on a three tier stand. Everything is delivered like a parcel, it’s quite special.
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