Gucci to join Armani and Versace with a Dubai hotel
Posted on 07 June 2010 with no comments from readers
Gucci will open a designer boutique hotel in Dubai within nine months, under the direction of the daughter of the late founder of the Gucci fashion house, Elisabetta Gucci, The National newspaper reported yesterday.
Dubai is already home to the world’s first Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. And the world’s second Palazzo Versace is under construction by the Dubai Creek, and due to open early next year.
Occupancy issues
Armani currently offers the most expensive hotel rooms in Dubai and is largely empty, with only a few Japanese designer label addicts prepared to pay such high rates when other excellent hotels in the city are going for the cheapest room rates in a decade.
How will Gucci fare with room rates starting from $400 a night? The Gucci Hotel will only have 87 rooms to fill, and offer a personal service but the project still needs to be completed.
Developer Abu Dhabi based Baitek International Real Estate Investment saw its financing crash in the crisis but says it now has the funds to complete the hotel which is built though still lacks an interior.
The next 18 months are shaping up as a bumper season for new hotels in Dubai, and coincide with a massive expansion of capacity at Emirates Airline so it is certainly going to be easier for guests to fly to the city.
On the other hand, the global economic crisis shows no signs of going away, and there is a very real danger of a double dip recession with another downturn over the next 18 months. That would be bad timing for the Dubai hotel sector. There may be less tourists with less money to spend.
Time to visit Dubai
It will of course be brilliant news for anybody who wants to stay in an upmarket hotel in Dubai for a holiday or on business. There is going to be an outstanding choice of the most modern hotels at unbelievable prices.
Will Gucci be inviting Rihanna to launch the hotel? It is certainly great for the glitz and glamor of Dubai to have such hotels and stars visiting.
Whether this proves to be good business for the fashion houses remains to be seen. But then they make little money out of high fashion. It is the perfume and downmarket items that make the money. Perhaps it will be the same with hotels
