Dubai: US-based Hard Rock International expects to open its first hotel in the Middle East in Dubai Marina in the third quarter of 2015, the group said on Monday.
The 281-room Hard Rock Hotel Dubai Marina, with an estimated cost of Dh600 million, will occupy the first 33 floors of the Dh1.2 billion Marina 101 tower. Serviced apartments will occupy the remaining 68 floors of the 101-floor tower, developed by Sheffield Holdings.
It is expected to be the second tallest building in the UAE when it is completed.
The Hard Rock brand is not new to the UAE. There is a Hard Rock Cafe at Dubai Festival City, and in 2017 a 378-room Hard Rock Hotel, with a cafe, is due to open in Abu Dhabi.
The group chose to open a hotel in Dubai Marina because of its “central” location, said Hamish Dodds, the group’s chief executive.
“This is a central and urban location in proximity to Dubai Media City, the university and everything else. It is a hub for entertainment and business. It makes a lot of sense to be where there is a huge concentration of activity,” he said on the sidelines of a press conference in Dubai on Monday.
Hard Rock has 21 hotels, 145 cafes and 10 casinos worldwide. Its global revenue reached $3.5 billion (Dh12.9 billion) in 2013. Dodds expects that to grow by 8-9 per cent in 2014 and a “similar percentage growth” in 2015.
The Dubai hotel will feature two restaurants in its lobby and a lounge and restaurant on the 101st floor, said Mustafa Kheriba, chief operating officer at alternative investment firm Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG), a partner in the project. The lounge and restaurant will operate under a “Hard Rock- ADFG luxury brand”, he told Gulf News. He declined to say the name of the brand.
Regionally too, Hard Rock plans to open hotels in Egypt, Morocco and Qatar (Doha) in the next two to three years, Dodds said. In the UAE, it is considering opening a hotel in Ras Al Khaimah, he said.
Plans for Egypt, Morocco
Cafes are also planned for Egypt and Morocco (in Cairo and Marrakech), which are likely to open in 2015.
With one cafe in Dubai already, Hard Rock does not plan to open a second café in the city at present, according to Dodds.
“The way [the hotel] is planned, it is very unlikely that we will have a cafe inside. We have generally looked at this area [Dubai Marina] for a second cafe in the city, we have looked at places at The Dubai Mall, but we do not yet have a firm position to do a second cafe. The way we run our business is we generally have one restaurant per city. When we look at some cities where we have got two, we have to be very careful about the consequent impact on the first cafe,” he said.
