Senior management at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina have pointed to an increase in product and service offering as “critical” to ensure continued high room rates in Dubai are justified.
While most hotels in Dubai had a bumper year in 2004, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi led the way with a 37 per cent increase in revenue in 2004.

Karen Hardcastle, director of business development for the lifestyle resort, said: “While 2004 was a bumper year in terms of revenue, we can sustain this level of growth for another 48 months until the next crop of five-star hotels come on stream.

“The hotel registered a 11 per cent rise in occupancy, where levels never fell below 90 per cent, at a 45 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue per available room (revpar).”

Hardcastle pointed out that smart hotel operators will use the current boom to reinvest in their properties. She said: “An increase in product and service offering will continue to ensure a balanced marketplace, where rooms continue to be available at rates compatible with the international market.”

A number of extensions and refinements have come on stream recently, including a new spa, Solesenses by Clarins, with two new restaurants, Bussola and The Dhow to open shortly.

The resort has signed an exclusive agreement with the French-based beauty house Clarins to operate Solesenses. The spa, with four newly designed treatment rooms, has been designed with an “aqua” feel as it overlooks the Marina and the Arabian Gulf.

Adding to the resort’s lifestyle facilities is Jacques Caluwé‘s JeeCee Wellbeing Centre. Caluwé has built his career as a sports therapist and physiotherapist, treating former tennis star Michael Chang among others.

Turning to food & beverage offering, the resort will add two new restaurants to its existing portfolio of four.

The Dhow, berthed in the marina, is a seafood and sushi speciality restaurant. On the upper deck you can enjoy drinks al fresco while enjoying the views of the marina and the sea. The lower deck seats up to 50 people for dinner with an intimate atmosphere.

Bussola, which is scheduled to open shortly, is a hip two-storey Italian restaurant, lounge and bar, located on the waterfront overlooking the Palm. The bistro on the ground floor seats up to 170 people; the open-air terrace and lounge upstairs - complete with in-house DJ - hosts up to 130 people.

Meanwhile, the key selling points of Le Meridien Mina Seyahi, continue to be the beach and marina.

The hip lifestyle resort, with 1,200 metres of private beach and marina, has long been the pioneer of this approach, which reaches through its sport, recreation and entertainment facilities, and into the resort’s “personality”, which has been dubbed ‘the Mina effect”.

Mina Seyahi is already renowned for its sporting calendar and for the choice of leisure facilities available. Key to these are the extensive watersport options, including a 200-berth luxury marina, deep sea fishing, PADI diving, windsurfing, water skiing, canoes and five swimming pools. Watersports are now even safer than ever, thanks to The Palm acting as a buffer to high waves.

The resort comes into its own with as a total lifestyle destination, and is rapidly being the outdoor venue of choice for concerts, extreme sports competitions, and the Formula 1 Powerboating.

——-