Emaar, Meraas Launch Affordable Hotel Brand, Dubai Inn

Dubai-based developers Emaar Properties and Meraas Holding have launched a new affordable hotel brand, they announced in a statement.

‘Dubai Inn’ will focus on catering to the affordable segment, with hotels located across the city.

No details were given regarding the investment.

Mohamed Alabbar, Emaar’s chairman, said: “The new hotels will be stylishly designed by Emaar to create a new hotel experience that will be highlighted by affordable elegance.

“One of the key drivers to achieving the Dubai Tourism Vision 2020, to double the number of annual tourists to 20 million by the turn of the decade, is to offer a wider choice of affordable hotels that appeal to the new generation of travellers,” he said.

The hotels will target short-haul and transit passengers and the new generation of discerning and value-conscious travellers, he added.

Currently, five-star hotel rooms account for nearly 62 per cent of the total branded hotel inventory in the city. Nearly 50 per cent of the future supply pipeline of over 42,000 hotel rooms in the emirate are also in the luxury and upper upscale segments.

“Another key driver for the affordable hotel segment is the ongoing plans to develop a number of world-class theme parks in the city,” said Alabbar.

“Theme parks traditionally attract short-haul leisure seekers that come in family groups, and the location of Dubai Inn hotels, in close proximity to these leisure attractions will appeal to the visitors,” he added.

Emaar’s hotel portfolio consists mainly of five-star properties such as Armani Dubai in Burj Khalifa and the Address hotels, located in Downtown Dubai and Dubai Marina.