Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 12/W1

Happy New Year, and welcome to the first edition of 2024.

Let’s start with a quick apology: this may only be a brief edition, as some of us may still be in ‘vacay’ mode. Normal service will be resumed next week. G-willing.

As always, I’m grateful for your continued support, be it readership, feedback or otherwise.

On that note, thanks to all those who kindly donated. It really does help a lot, even just a few pounds/dollars/dirhams, not only for the drinks fund but also to show this newsletter is of value to you and appreciated.

In this week’s edition ⤵

🏨 Marriott and Kempinski have five ‘new’ Dubai hotels.

🫰January Sales for flights, hotels, holidays

💷 please consider a tip for me 🙏

🏰 Dubai’s biggest-ever penthouse goes on sale

🛍️ Dubai bans single-use plastic bags

🅿️ Dubai launches new authority to manage parking

And most of all, forget those resolutions - unless they’re travel-related!

Have a great week,

Shaun

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STAY

Marriott, Kempinski open 3, 2 ‘new’ hotels

As mentioned last week, Emaar have handed five hotels over to ADNH. As of 01 Jan 24, these hotels have now been reflagged as the following brands :-

1. Address Dubai Marina > JW Marriott Hotel Marina

2. Vida Downtown Dubai Hotel > Hotel Boulevard, Autograph Collection

3. Manzil Downtown Dubai > The Heritage Hotel, Autograph Collection

4. Address Boulevard > Kempinski Boulevard Dubai

5. Address Dubai Mall > Kempinski Central Avenue Dubai

As long ago as last week, the news of the handover was hardly in the media, let alone local media, and it's a 'fast moving' story that may become more detailed over time.

Apparently, the hotels won't close at all and refurbs/improvements will be ongoing (ie: sudden - just like when the three Al Habtoor City properties reflagged). As of today, the 3 x Marriott properties are available to book via Bonvoy for cash but not points.

What may be interesting to watch over the next few months is how pricing (both cash and award nights/points costs) go for the Bonvoy properties.

JW Marriott is a pretty top-end brand in the Bonvoy portfolio, and (IMO) I'm not sure the Address can seem aligned with the JWM brand standards - at least not right away and without improvements. In other words, it could end up either overpriced or undervalued - hard to see it being for instance, at the level of Le Royal Meridien, Grosvenor House or Ritz-Carlton, Dubai for instance.

The two Business Bay (faux Downtown) hotels could be even more interesting, as they weren't really top-enders and there's a lot of competition in that neck of the woods for 'true' luxury hotels that are generally gettable for decent rates (eg Edition, SLS, Hyde Dubai etc.)

The other thing to bear in mind for future travel plans is it may take a while for the 'bricks and mortar' travel agents (as opposed to OTAs) to catch up with this.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the travel agents take bookings and don't know they've changed . Similarly, any guests currently or with upcoming stays may not notice much (if any) change at first 🙂

DEALS AND OFFERS

A Quick Roundup of Current Deals and Offers

Bear in mind January is one of the peak times for booking travel, so it’s not always the best times to get deals. So do shop around, though it may be worth checking these out.

Hilton Winter Sale for Europe, Middle East & Africa. Book by 30 Jan 24 for stays up to 08 Apr 24 👉️ Hilton EMEA Winter Sale

Luxury Escapes continue to have some decent ‘Limited Time Lux Exclusive’ offers, such as this one for Raffles The Palm Dubai

Etihad Holidays launched a sale on Boxing Day, and you can try ‘stacking’ code SAVE200 for an extra £200 off.

British Airways have a sale on, and if you book by 09 Jan 24 you will get an extra £300 discount

Virgin Holidays also have a sale, and also are incentivising quick bookings eg book this weekend (ie by 09 Jan 24) for an extra £100 off the sale prices with code EXTRA100.

PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING ME WITH A TIP

This would really help me - and perhaps you too!

I’m always up for a tip to the drinks fund, especially at this time of year.

Even a small amount really helps.

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DUBAI TITBITS

Dubai starts banning single-use plastics

As of 01 Jan 24, Dubai has announced supermarkets will no longer use single-use plastic bags.

Dubai launches new ‘Parkin’ authority to oversee all parking operations

Sadly for British expats of a Northern origin, this story does not relate to the beloved treacle-based treat. And yes, that’s exactly why this story caught my eye.

Dubai now has one authority to oversee all parking operations within the Emirate, known as ‘Parkin’.

It’s not known at this time if this will include monitoring Al Barsha for those pesky windscreen carders though 🙈

THAT’S SO DUBAI

Dubai’s biggest-ever penthouse for sale - $164 million

A penthouse that’s apparently larger than the Whitehouse, and Dubai’s biggest ever residence, has gone on sale for a paltry 600 million AED

Situated at the old Kempinski Emerald Palace/’new’ Raffles The Palm, they say:

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