Hard Rock's first hotel in Dubai to cost $1 billion
DUBAI — The first Hard Rock Hotel Dubai, to be built with Tasameem Group at a cost of Dh3.67 billion ($1 billion) and fully operational in four years, marks the global brand's foray into the hotel industry in the Middle East.
Hamish Dodds, president and CEO of Hard Rock International, said the brand is making exception of its planned properties in the UAE with regard to its "business philosophy of direct ownership through direct investment".
He said this local market is best approached through a partnership with local players such as Tasameem, its Abu Dhabi-based partner for the 91-storey property that will rise on Shaikh Zayed Road.
The global brand, owned by Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment Inc, will look to Abu Dhabi for its next hotel property, as well as to Muscat and Doha. The Arab countries of Bahrain and Egypt are also on the list.
Dodds said Hard Rock will build a café in Jeddah as its "entry point" into Saudi Arabia, the biggest economy among the six member-states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
He stressed that the brand has been receiving "great response" from investors in the Middle East and Asia, prompting Hard Rock management to consider stretching its hotel chain into China's administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong, Tokyo and Vietnam.
He said a Hard Rock hotel has the "uniqueness" in branding as it blends quality music programming that appeals to customers from all walks of life with quality restaurants and service.
The brand's hotel even goes with a recording studio to encourage world-class musicians to take part in Hard Rock's entertainment programmes, he added.
"The music studio is an integral part of every Hard Rock hotel as the brand is associated with the travel, entertainment and hospitality industries," Dodds said.
In countries or areas where the gaming entertainment is allowed, a Hard Rock hotel will be fitted with casinos such as its properties in Las Vegas, Orlando, Chicago, Pattaya (Thailand) and Bali (Indonesia). Hard Rock has 121 "high-energy" cafes and eight hotels and casinos in 47 countries. Its hotel and casino projects in Macau will open in 2009 and another one in Palm Spring by 2010.
