Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 63/w52

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 52, Edition 63

Here’s your latest issue of the ‘Dubai news worth knowing, all in 10 mins or less’.

Let’s hope you all had a lovely Xmas, Holidays or just a nice time in general.

Apologies for the delayed send this week due to Boxing Day. If there are any deals, offers or sales of note, I’ll possibly send a Special Edition maybe next Tue, then normal service resumes next Thursday.

As always, if you’d like to provide further feedback, including which content you’d like to see more of (or not!) do let me know by clicking here

Thanks for reading 👏

Shaun

Please note: some links in this newsletter may be affiliate links, and will be denoted with an asterisk (*). This is a link to a partner site that may pay me a commission - at no further cost to you - and if so, helps to support me & this newsletter. For more info, please see Disclosure and Policies

EAT

Even Christiano Ronaldo is getting in on the brunch scene, with his restaurant Tatel at Hotel Boulevard starting a Saturday brunch.

DRINK

15 of the best beer gardens in Dubai, according to What’s On.

Comment

There are some good shouts in that list, especially:-

• The Irish Village

• Garden on Eight

• Reform Social & Grill

• Distillery Gastropub

• Ernst - whilst not the biggest terrace, more than makes up for it with the (German) drinks and snacks.

If you haven’t visited Time Out Market Dubai yet (and why not?), here’s how to find the ‘secret bar’ there.

Ennismore and 7 Management announce plans to open Dubai’s first fully-licensed street, 25 Jump Street, in Central Business District (close to One Central, ie near 25Hours hotel).

STAY

Dubai Hotel Occupancy Increases 3% (January to October)

To go along with rising international visitor numbers of 14.96 million, a rise of 8% year-on-year, Dubai’s hotels have seen accordant rises, namely:-

• Average occupancy of 77% (a 3% rise)

• Hotel Room Inventory rose to 152,532 rooms

• Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) up 4%

• Average Daily Rate rose from 488 to 502, up 3 %

• 35.15 Occupied Room Nights (including short & long term)

• 33.5 AED in revenue

These reports are always insightful reading, if only to keep across the changes in the hotel landscape, such as the mix of establishments and sectors. Post-pandemic, longer staying guests and midscale brands seem to be a key focus, and this will only be helped by recent positive visa changes.

🔗 Dubai Tourism Report: Jan to Oct 24

Nicolas Bellaton will be the new head of hospitality at Emaar Hospitality Group, succeeding Mark Kirby, who recently took up a position of President at One&Only Resorts.

DUBAI

A Christmas Miracle? Ain Dubai Reopens

Ain Dubai officially reopened on Christmas Day, with tickets on sale from 145 AED via the official site. There are also several premium ‘experiences’ available, including lounge access, from 265 AED.

Apparently, this is a ‘soft opening’ according to this article. There doesn’t appear to have been any official comments from Dubai Holding, the owner, or Meraas, the operator, as yet.

Hopefully, whatever issues there may have been are now ironed out and it stays open and spinning, as it’s great attraction for Dubai.

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All The Tea on New Year’s Eve

Dubai Metro will run for 43 hours across New Year’s Eve, and Dubai Mall Metro Station will close at 5pm.

29,000 taxis will be on the roads, and parts of Sheikh Zayed Road will be closed.

Here’s a list of 36 locations to see fireworks on NYE (some will be better than others no doubt!). Or, 21 locations to “feast your eyes on spectacular displays” according to Vogue Arabia.

Emirates Woman suggests the best places to spend New Years Eve in Dubai.

Would you pay 3,750 AED per head for up to 40 people at … wait for it …. Sofitel The Obelisk on NYE? Nothing against the hotel, but it’s just well, not near to Downtown and arguably, the ‘wrong’ side of BK perhaps, at least to be paying Downtown prices per head.

What the Time Out Dubai team are doing on New Year’s Eve.

Downtown Dubai and Dubai Hills Estate will have separate viewing areas for bachelors and families on New Year’s Eve.

71.8% percent of hotel rooms have been booked for NYE.

Even in the desert, Dubai can apparently still get traffic jams 🤷 

A handful of upcoming music events of note:-

• Olly Murs is coming to Bla Bla Bla on 21 Feb 25

• Green Day on 27 Jan 25 at Expo City

• Fatboy Slim at Terra Solis on 25 Jan 25

Reminder you can still see a spectacular drone show at Bluewaters and JBR until 12 Jan 25.

Soul Beach Dubai, down at JA Resort, is set to “enter a new era, transitioning into an exclusive events-only destination”. Seemingly, to move away from the beach club/restaurant nice and towards music and other events.

Comment

Soul Beach do put on some good music events, and as the beach club market in Dubai does seem a bit saturated, it seems a smart move to focus more on out and out gigs or events rather than to compete as a beach club. Good Luck to them 🍀

DUBAI TIPS

Group Transport in Dubai? Consider Bus Pooling

If you’re a group bigger than the normal 4 for a taxi, why not consider the new bus pooling service in Dubai?

Minibuses can be hailed via an app (DrivenBus, CityLink Shuttle or Fluxx Daily) and booked on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. RTA have made 20 mini buses with between 13-30 seats available to these services, on a trial basis initially.

Launching initially from Deira, locations such as Business Bay, Mirdif, Dubai Mall and Festival City.

Comment

This is an interesting move, considering the rake of apps one can use in Dubai for several different road transport services, along with different operations such as Careem, Uber and the recently-launched Bolt. Throw into the mix what RTA already offer by way of cars and buses, it will be intriguing to see if this does catch on.

And of course, we haven’t even mentioned all the DMC companies, tour providers or ‘I know a bloke who has a minibus’ type operations ….

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT

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I try not to nag on this topic, but it really does help - and not just in a financial way - as it validates the newsletter, and the effort in creating it, is appreciated.

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