Dubai Festival City appoints InterContinental to manage 600 room hotel

Dubai Festival City, the waterfront ‘city-within-a-city’ being built on the banks of Dubai Creek, has selected global hospitality provider the InterContinental Hotels Group to manage its planned marina-view conference hotel.

The 500-room InterContinental Dubai Festival City Hotel is being built at a cost of Dhs600 million and is scheduled to open in January 2007. The high rise hotel tower will also have 100 executive apartments and 3,000 square metres of conference and banquet facilities.

“Dubai Festival City and its hospitality offering will go a significant way to meeting the demand emanating from the vision of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minster, to build an incoming tourist arrivals rate of 15 million a year by 2008,” said Omar Al Futtaim, Chief Executive of the Al-Futtaim Group; one of the United Arab Emirates’ leading trading companies and developers behind Dubai Festival City.

The InterContinental Dubai Festival City Hotel will be an integral part of the project’s ‘Crescent’ – the 2.5million square feet retail and entertainment destination due to become a focal point for downtown Dubai. The Crescent, due to open in 2006, will also have 400 shops, cafes and restaurants, as well as 10 international flagship stores. It has a unique architectural concept, dominated by generous civic plazas and waterfront experiences. 

“The Crescent, which is now under construction, will be the jewel in the crown of Dubai Festival City with a Festival Square reminiscent of some of the premier marketplaces in the world,” said Omar Al Futtaim. “It will be a key component which will deliver the project’s ‘sense of place’ and a gathering place for residents and tourists alike; the Intercontinental Hotel project will become a substantial anchor tenant.”

The hotel will have magnificent Creek views and a 360 degree view from the bustling streets of downtown Deira; across the Creek towards the spectacular Sheikh Zayed Road towers; and on round to Dubai International Airport. It will offer guests and visitors an exciting and diverse water front dining and entertainment experience.

“This is the first hotel offering to be developed as part of Dubai Festival City’s three hotels which all form part of Phase I, Dubai Festival City will boast in excess of 1,000 hotel rooms in its phase I development, with an additional 1,000 expected to be developed as part of its remaining phases,” said Omar Al Futtaim.

“The InterContinental Hotels Group was selected among many other hotel operators for its sterling reputation for operating some of the world’s most preferred places to meet, relax and do business. This conference hotel will help meet a growing demand from the international meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions sector for world-class facilities in Dubai.”

“The Intercontinental Dubai Festival City Hotel will join a group network which boasts 3,400 hotels and 530,000 guest rooms across nearly 100 countries and territories around the world,” said Mr Richard Hartman, Managing Director of InterContinental Hotels Group for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “It is our intention to intensively market this prestigious property throughout our network and assist in firmly placing Dubai Festival City on the global tourism and conventions map.”

“This property, as with the project, will be a centreplace destination in Dubai allowing guests access to a range of sporting, retail and entertainment facilities just two kilometres from Dubai International Airport.”

Two other hotel properties are planned for the first phase of Dubai Festival City. Among them is a 170-room boutique hotel to be built within the project’s Al Badia Golf Resort, a world-class golf resort offering unmatched levels of luxury, set amidst a dense tropical landscape.