Dubai To Open World’s Tallest Hotel Tower Next Year

Marina 101 Hotel & Residence is set to become the world’s tallest hotel and residence when it opens in Dubai Marina in the fourth quarter of next year.

Although the project is being billed as “one of the world’s tallest hotels”, the 432-metre skyscraper will be 77 metres taller than the current tallest, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai.

The Dhs1.2 billion property is being built by private developer Sheffield Holdings and will be operated by Dream Hotels, part of the Wyndham group, marking the brand’s entrance in the Middle East. It will contain 720 units, with 300 hotel rooms and 420 apartments, accommodating short and long-stay guests.

Guests will need a head for heights as they shoot up in glass elevators, and inside, the lifestyle hotel will place emphasis on food & beverage and entertainment with six restaurants and a nightclub on the 101st floor.

Sant Singh Chatwal, chairman of Hampshire Hotels, the parent company which developed Dream Hotels, was upbeat about the brand’s prospects, despite stoking competition in the Marina district. “I can see Dubai becoming a mini New York,” he said. Dream Hotels has a strong 11-hotel presence in Manhattan with 3,100 rooms.

Brendan McNamara, Brand Development Communication Sales manager, Hampshire Hotels, said Marina 101 has topped out and was confident the property will open on schedule next year. Work is now continuing with the interiors and talks are ongoing with a south-east Asian operator for the spa.

“What I see here is a very traditional luxury product with food and beverage plugged into it – they are a little bit old in the thought processes. Our design is very progressive.”

Abu Dhabi, Doha, Istanbul and Lebanon are all earmarked for Dream Hotels.