Meraas to Debut 4 New Hotel Brands in Dubai

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Re Vera Bluewaters and Vivus Bluewaters

Meraas, a Dubai-based holding corporation active in sectors ranging from real estate to healthcare to technology, is planning a big expansion in its local hospitality market. The company just introduced four new hotel brands—Evado, Re Vera, Vivus, and MQ—designed to appeal to a range of traveler tastes.

Meraas’s new flags will fly above properties falling in the boutique luxury, luxury, upper upscale, and upper midscale categories. The company is casting a wide net in support of—and preparation for—an anticipated increase in tourism, courtesy of Dubai Tourism Vision 2020, the government-approved initiative for luring 20 million visitors to the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates by 2020.

“Dubai has been successful in attracting global hotel operators. The city has also succeeded in creating local hospitality experiences on par with international hospitality brands. We are confident that the new brands that we’re introducing will enrich the sector, offer modern choices, and reinforce Dubai’s position as a leading tourism destination,” Abdulla Al Habbai, group chairman at Meraas, said in a prepared statement.

The rollout of the new brand collection will begin with Re Vera Bluewaters Resort and Vivus Bluewaters Resort, which will sprout up on Meraas’s Bluewaters, a mixed-use, manmade island project. Re Vera will feature 178 rooms and 96 serviced apartments, while Vivus will provide 301 guestrooms and 119 serviced residences. The hotels will offer such amenities as a private beach spanning more than a quarter mile, and close proximity to Ain Dubai, which will be the largest observation wheel in the world. Both properties are on schedule to open in late 2018.

Meraas appears to have suitable timing; new statistics indicate that Dubai may very well have enough demand to warmly welcome four new hotel brands. According to preliminary data from global hotel benchmarking and analytics firm STR, the hotel occupancy level in Dubai reached 86.3 percent in the first quarter of 2017, marking a year-over-year increase of 2.7 percent. The upswing, per STR, can likely be attributed to the UAE government’s recent decision to grant visas on arrival for Chinese and Russian nationals, as well as Dubai’s ongoing expansion of its leisure attractions.

Yet, Meraas is anything but alone in its bid to enhance the city’s hospitality market with new options. As noted in the STR report, with more than 42,000 keys currently under contract, Dubai holds the distinction of having the largest guestroom pipeline of any city in the world. “The market faces several challenges over the next few years in maintaining a demand level that can offset some of this supply growth. On the positive side, Dubai continues to attract substantial leisure business, so this is definitely one of the top markets in the industry to keep an eye on from both a supply development and performance perspective,” Robin Rossmann, managing director of STR, said in prepared remarks.

Image courtesy of Meraas