A Novetel is coming to Dubai’s Healthcare City. Action Hotels is developing the Novotel Dubai Creek on land the company purchased through a 50/50 joint venture with Sheikh Mubarak Al Sabah, himself a shareholder in the company.
The hotel is Action's first under the Novotel brand, but Action already a longstanding relationship with the brand’s parent company AccorHotels. It is also Action’s first Dubai hotel, and the company is counting on its relationship with AccorHotels to help pave the way in the emirate in terms of marketing and operational efficiencies.
"We did a feasibility study and found that the economics of a four-star, full-service property is better in that area than a three-star property as there are only five-star hotels in the area," Action Hotels CEO Alain Debare told The National. “We want to tap into medical tourism and the Oud Metha area with the government and corporate offices.”
The company is also looking to cash in on the benefits of the Dubai government’s 2013 initiative to waive the 10-percent municipality fee levied on daily room rates if the construction permit is granted by December 2017.
Total development costs will be $56 million including $16 million for the land, which will be funded by loans of $35.2 million and $10.4 million of equity each from Action and Al Sabah. Profit, losses and distributions will be shared equally.
Construction is expected to begin this quarter, and the hotel is slated to open in early 2018
”Creek Park and the wider Dubai Healthcare City are emerging as important destinations for leisure, medical tourism and business travel,” AccorHotels’ Olivier Granet said.
Action Hotels opened its first property in the UAE in Sharjah last August with 168 rooms. A Staybridge Suites in Abu Dhabi is expected in 2017 with 112 rooms, and a Tulip Inn is expected in Ras Al Khaimah this month with 104 rooms.
Photo courtesy of Action Hotels