Dubai’s Nakheel signs deal for new Avani hotel at Ibn Battuta Mall

Dubai developer Nakheel announced that it has signed an agreement for a new, 372-room hotel at Ibn Battuta Mall.

The developer signed a letter of intent for a management agreement with Thailand’s Minor Hotel Group for an Avani-branded property.

The new, 14-storey hotel – one of two Nakheel hotels at Ibn Battuta – will have direct access to the mall and a link to the Dubai Metro.

Features include a rooftop pool, all day dining restaurant and coffee shop.

The property will be the second Avani-branded hotel within Nakheel’s portfolio.

In September, the two companies announced a planned joint venture for a 500-room Avani beachfront resort at Deira Islands, Nakheel’s 15.3 sq km development in Dubai.

Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: “We continue to work with reputable international partners to bring new brands to Dubai.”

The new hotel is part of Nakheel’s 4.7 million sq ft expansion to Ibn Battuta Mall, which will create another 766,000 sq ft of shopping, dining and entertainment space.

The mall currently welcomes around 22 million visitors a year.

Nakheel’s other hotel at Ibn Battuta – a 372-room Premier Inn – is currently under construction and due to open this year.

The company’s hospitality portfolio includes 10 hotels, with around 4,000 rooms between them. The first – a 251-room ibis Styles hotel at Dragon Mart – opened earlier this month, with management contracts or joint venture agreements signed or in process for several others.

Those in the pipeline include a Premier Inn-operated hotel with 250 rooms in Dragon Mart and three properties in Deira Islands including a 750-room joint venture with Spain’s RIU Hotels & Resorts worth $170m, the 500-room Avani-branded beachfront resort and a planned joint venture with Centara Hotels & Resorts for a 550-room resort and waterpark.

Nakheel is also developing a 289-room luxury hotel in Palm Jumeirah to be managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts under the St Regis brand. The hotel will occupy the first 18 floors of its 52-storey hotel and residential tower.