By Claire Ferris-Lay www.arabianbusiness.com
Room prices at Dubai’s Armani Hotel, which occupies the first six floors of the Burj Khalifa, are trading at 40 percent down from the published rates at launch, Arabian Business can reveal.
Seven months after its opening, a standard room at the 160-room Armani hotel will now set back guests AED2,400 ($653) compared to a rate card price of AED4,000 at the end of April.
The cost of a two bedroom suite, originally priced at AED40,000, can now be snapped up for AED24,000, according to the hotel’s reservations desk.
Tourism levels in Dubai were badly hit by the emirate’s downturn, but the industry is showing signs of recovery. Tourists to the emirate increased nine percent during the first half of this year to 4.18 million visitors while hotel revenue increased six percent to $1.87bn, according to Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing.
A spokesperson for the Armani Hotel Dubai said its rack rates remained unchanged.
“However, we offer competitive rates based on seasonality which are in line with the global luxury hospitality trends,” the hotel said in an emailed statement.
The first Armani Hotel, which also includes 144 Armani residences, was opened to great fanfare in April this year by the designer and Emaar’s chairman, Mohamed Alabbar.
“I am a minimalist, less is more… and when I looked at what was happening here it was the opposite,” the Italian designer said at the launch. “But he wanted me and I wanted him,” he said referring to Alabbar.
Armani signed a deal with Emaar Properties, the Arab world’s largest real estate developer, in 2005 to develop a series of hotels, resorts and residences across the world, including New York and Marrakesh. A second hotel, Armani Hotel Milano, is due to open mid-2011.
Last month Mark Dardenne, CEO of Emaar Hotels and Resorts, told Arabian Business that Emaar was planning to build a third Armani Hotel, possibly in with Paris. “It’s being designed now,” he said.
