News

Dubai based entrepreneur Ghassan Aboud was awarded as the “Leading Hospitality Investor” during the Leaders in Hospitality Awards event organized by BNC Publishing on April 29^th, 2018 at the St Regis Hotel, Dubai. Ghassan Aboud is the promoter of the multi-business conglomerate, the Ghassan Aboud Group that was established 25 years back with the UAE as the headquarters.

The annual event is hosted by the leading regional publication Hotel News Middle East to recognize and honour leading regional and international players in the hospitality sector. The winners were judged by a panel of renowned experts drawn from the hospitality industry.

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Meliá Hotels International has announced the signature of an agreement to operate the Desert Palm Dubai Hotel under its Meliá brand. The hotel is an exclusive 160-acre urban oasis only 20 minutes from the centre of Dubai, providing 39 spacious rooms, suites and villas in an elegant retreat for the most discerning travellers, with an exclusive and authentic setting and a wide range of dining and wellness facilities as well as a variety of equestrian activities secluded amongst class polo fields.

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 Today, Marriott International announced it will introduce one set of unified benefits across Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) for its members in August 2018. This will create an incredibly rich hospitality loyalty program in which members will earn more points faster than under the prior programs — on average 20% more points for every dollar spent. For the first time, members will have access to book stays and earn or redeem points among 29 participating global brands comprising 6,500 hotels in 127 countries and territories. Additionally, the Moments experiential platform is expanding, with more than 110,000 experiences in 1,000 destinations from must-see attraction tickets and tours for purchase with cash by all guests, to once-in-a-lifetime events only available to members using points, including the new bespoke Moments Live event series.

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The Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) will open its doors to the public on the 18thof April 2018 following highly anticipated international interest.

PCFC Hotels – part of the Dubai government’s Ports, Customs and Free Zones Corporation – has reinvented the legendary vessel as the latest must-see tourism destination, in a city renowned for its world-class attractions.

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Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR) today announced ambitious growth plans for its Middle East and Africa region following signings for more than 30 properties and over 5,000 rooms in the last 12 months. The signings put Marriott on track to increase its portfolio in the region to nearly 370 hotels – an increase of more than 50% over the next five years. This will amount to more than 80,000 rooms across 21 brands, including the introduction in the region of brands such as EDITION, Element and AC Hotels by Marriott.  Also in line with its development plans, the company and its property owners expect to add 30,000 new jobs across the region in the next five years.

Marriott International’s planned growth over the next five years underscores the substantial emphasis that regional governments are placing on growth and investment in the travel and tourism sector.  The company estimates that the 30 projects signed in the last 12 months will drive investment of about $1.8 billion by the property owners.

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With its mantra of ‘think globally, act locally’ Steigenberger Hotel Business Bay has already started planning initiatives that will benefit the neighbouring community in Business Bay over Ramadan. After last year’s heartening outcome, the hotel is gearing up to host the Sharing Fridge concept once again.

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Insta-travel is the new norm, as vacationers seek out the world’s most picture-perfect hotels and plan their trips around snapping the perfect ‘Gram. One in six* admit they chose a hotel based on its potential social media ‘brag-ability’, so to celebrate the most brag-worthy hotels in its portfolio, Hotels.com™ has revealed 10 of the most Instagrammable hotels around the world.

The recent Mobile Travel Tracker report from Hotels.com found that millennials are spending on average 80 minutes a day on social media while on vacation and two thirds are glued to Instagram, so it’s no surprise that capturing the perfect shot is high on travelers’ list.

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