ArabianBusiness.com

Flamboyance is perhaps the first word you’d associate with Sir Rocco Forte. Despite having just stepped off the plane from London, the man who is pretty much regarded as hospitality royalty sweeps cheerfully into Dubai’s Armani Hotel, where a selection of his firm’s nervous general managers are waiting for him.

Emaar Properties said on Saturday it had set up a new team of senior managers and consultants to develop a five-year action plan. The Dubai-based developer of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, said the team would "develop and roll-out a five-year corporate strategic action plan for long-term value creation".

Mohamed Alabbar is not planning to step down from his role as chairman of property firm Emaar, despite spending an increasing amount of time on a private mining company.

Marriott International, the US-based hotel operator, plans to snatch the title of world’s tallest hotel tower building with the opening of its eighth Dubai property next year, it was revealed Monday. The current title holder, the Rotana-owned Rose Rayhaan hotel in Dubai, stands at 330m-high but will be eclipsed by the 355m JW Marriott Marquis Hotel after its 2012 launch.

Arab construction projects have wowed the world in recent years, and there is a lot more to come. The opening of the Burj Khalifa in 2009 represented just the latest in a stream of projects over the course of the last 60 years that have shaped the Arab world.

Even with the limited amount we know about the project, it is impossible to conceive of how it could mirror the success of the Burj Khalifa, and thereby pay for itself. As anyone who has been to Jeddah will tell you, the idea of a Jeddah Mall, with starry-eyed tourists lining up to have their photos taken in front of the world’s tallest tower is not just implausible, it’s laughable.

Dubai-based internet startup, Yadig.com, which provides real-time feedback on restaurants and entertainment, has revealed the UAE’s top five most popular restaurants and entertainment outlets, as picked by its uses. The site sourced more than 1,500 local user reviews to rank the best eateries, night clubs, bars and coffee shops in the Gulf state.

Saudi Arabia will help China build a $1.3bn luxury hotel modelled on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, according to newspaper reports from Beijing. The People’s Daily Online quoted a senior official as saying that graphics and planning of the ‘seven-star’ hotel had already been completed. The announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday.

Missoni Kuwait is the latest in a growing list of Gulf hotels designed by top Italian fashion labels. The first Armani hotel opened in Dubai in 2010 and will be followed by the launch of the Palazzo Versace hotel later this year. Elisabetta Gucci, the great-granddaughter of the founder of the fashion label, last year said Dubai would be the setting for the first of up to 40 Gucci branded hotels.

Saudi Arabia will help China build a $1.3bn luxury hotel modelled on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, according to newspaper reports from Beijing. The People’s Daily Online quoted a senior official as saying that graphics and planning of the ‘seven-star’ hotel had already been completed.