At a press conference today at ATM, Dubai, Allan Edgar, vice president marketing, Hyatt International Corporation announced that Hyatt is about to open its third property in Dubai, a 225 luxury resort style hotel on the banks of Dubai Creek, within the Dubai Creek and yacht club. The hotel is set to open in August 2005.Each of the guest rooms will offer the latest in contemporary solutions for business and leisure travelers, such as LCD television and High Speed Internet access.

Allan said that what will make this property unique is that although it will be located in the city centre, it will maintain the more leisurely feeling of a resort with a low-rise.

InterContinental Hotels already has properties in Dubai, Cairo, Jeddah, Doha, Beirut and Istanbul

Launching a new Hyatt Sub-brand, Hyatt are planning to rectify discrepancies between the two brands with a massive refurbishment program set to take place over the next 12 - 18 months.

When questioned about whether Hyatt will follow in InterContinental’s footsteps and withdraw their partnership with online travel distributors Expedia, Allan responded:

“The Internet has exploded in the last two years. InterContinental has made the decision not to be represented by 3rd party websites. We are evaluating the fact that they operate on an operational basis - it’s a distribution channel so if the costs are the same as our own distribution costs then we should continue to use 3rd parties. If it doesn’t meet our brand image, then this is a reason to change”.

Allan continued: “The real challenge for us is unauthorized hotel representation companies”.

According to Allan, Hyatt web rate guarantee was set up to encourage customers to book via InterContinental.com and to help to police the environment.
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