RIU Hotels and Resorts and Dubai developer Nakheel have announced the official signing of their business partnership agreement, inking a deal on the 750-room RIU resort for Deira Islands, marking RIU’s entry to the Middle East.
Ali Rashid Lootah, chairman of Nakheel travelled to Mallorca to sign the joint venture agreement with Luis Riu, CEO of RIU Hotels. The partnership marks the chain’s first hotel in Dubai and is set to open its doors in 2019.
This agreement makes RIU the first international hotel chain, and the only Spanish one, to sign an agreement with Nakheel. In its strategy of expansion into the hospitality business, Nakheel is planning 10 hotels across Dubai. The first opened earlier this month, and six more have been announced or signed.
The planned RIU hotel, which has an investment value of 170 million, will be located at Nakheel’s Deira Islands, and will boast 750 rooms – the largest built there to date, as well as the first to offer 24-Hour All Inclusive service. Deira Islands is one of Nakheel’s large-scale coastal projects in Dubai and it will feature, in addition to hotels, the Deira Mall retail and entertainment complex, , the Deira Islands Night Market with 5,300 shops, a marina and an amphitheatre seating 30,000 people.
Luis Riu, CEO of RIU Hotels & Resorts, said: “The formal signing of this partnership represents another step towards making the first RIU project in the Middle East a reality. We’re proud to have a partner with the experience and prestige of Nakheel for undertaking this ambitious project. Dubai is one of the great new centres of international tourism as it represents a strategic enclave on the route between Europe and Asia.”
For his part, Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said: “Under this new partnership, Nakheel will proudly introduce one of the world’s biggest, most respected names in hospitality and an entirely new concept in hotel accommodation to Dubai. This is a major milestone for our growing hospitality business and a significant step towards creating a new range of affordable, family resort-style hotel accommodation in the Emirate, in line with the government of Dubai’s tourism vision for 2021.”