Meliá Hotels International has set plans to open two new hotels in the UAE and Morocco in 2018.
Dubai
The first hotel—Dubai's Desert Palm Hotel—will be rebranded as a Meliá property through a partnership with Albwardy Investment Group, the hotel's owner. The official rebranding for the 38-guestroom Desert Palm Polo Club & Resort by Meliá is scheduled for July 1.
This will be Meliá's fourth partnership with Albwardy, following three others in Tanzania and Argentina: the Meliá Zanzibar and Meliá Serengeti Lodge in Tanzania and the Meliá Iguazu in Argentina. The Desert Palm Dubai originally operated under the Per Aquum brand by Minor Hotels before Meliá agreed to take over operations earlier this month.
The group’s Me by Meliá Dubai—the first Me by Meliá in the UAE—is scheduled to open after its hotel with Albwardy begins operating. Architect Dame Zaha Hadid designed the 93-room hotel with 98 serviced apartments while developer Omniyat is developing it in the Opus building in Downtown Dubai’s Burj Khalifa district.
Marrakech
Meliá has added the Sol Marrakech in Palmaraie to its portfolio of four hotels in Morocco. The existing hotel, which opened in 1998, is closed for a full refurbishment and rebranding as a Sol by Meliá hotel with plans to reopen in late 2018. Sol Marrakech will have 211 guestrooms, including 25 family units, once the renovations are complete.