Dubai: If you’re after something extra special and planning to book a hotel in Dubai for New Year’s Eve, you need to act quickly.
Sources in the industry said that rooms are selling fast, and most of the hotels around the emirate are almost fully booked and currently running on a 90 per cent occupancy.
Rooms in Downtown Dubai, one of the most popular destinations that attract hundreds of thousands of revellers every year, are even more difficult to find, with every property in the area now only have one to five empty spaces left.
And if you’re hoping to get a room with a Burj Khalifa or fountain view, prepare to be disappointed — unless you’re willing to spend your whole month’s salary or more.
All the rooms with a view of the world’s tallest tower at Emaar-run hotels — Address Boulevard, Address Dubai Mall, Palace Downtown, Manzil Downtown and Vida Downtown – are now sold out.
“We don’t have rooms anymore with Burj views. They have long been booked up,” said one staff. “We’re only a few days before New Year and if you book later, I can’t guarantee there will still be spaces available.”
A spokesperson of Emaar Hospitality Group said that advance bookings for New Year’s Eve, as well as current occupancy levels, “have been high.”
“There is tremendous interest among visitors on the new and innovative ‘Light up 2018’ Downtown Dubai spectacle, with visitors coming in from all over the world as well as a strong growth in the number of staycations by UAE residents,” the spokesperson told News agencies.“ There have also been strong bookings for New Year’s Eve get-togethers at our hotels.”
In Ramada Downtown, a hotel apartment that’s very close to Burj Khalifa, a source said there are only very few rooms left and interested guests need to shell out a minimum spend of a little over Dh15,000 to secure a booking for New Year’s Eve.
We don’t accept bookings for 31 December alone and the minimum stay should be three nights. We only have four rooms left and the one with Burj Khalifa and fountain view is going for more than Dh15,000 for three nights,” said a staff.
Glenn Nobbs, general manager for Copthorne Hotel in Dubai, said they’re almost reaching full capacity as more and more guests are coming in from the Gulf region, including UAE, as well as both East and Western Europe.
“Currently, we are about 90 per cent full. Each day we edge closer to being 100 per cent full,” Nobbs told news Reporters.
“With the anticipated light show at the Burj Khalifa, as well as the number of other amazing events that are planned across the emirate [there’s been a surge of visitors]. We are also seen as a very safe destination in the region for many international travellers,” he added.
Downtown Dubai will attempt to break the Guinness World Record on the eve of 2018 with its laser light show. The event is said to be a “never before seen spectacle” that will again put the global spotlight on the Burj Khalifa tower and also use Downtown’s properties as a canvas.
The celebrations in the area and other neighboring places have been among the most anticipated, and on New Year’s Eve, tourists from the world over and residents across the UAE will descend on the emirate.
Emirates said it is expecting 250,000 people arriving into Dubai starting today until New Year’s day. That is more than a quarter of the total number of flyers passing through Dubai International during the peak travel period.
“Dubai has quickly catapulted into the top five for celebrating New Year festivities with the show at the Burj Khalifa complimenting all the other ones taking place in various hotels, resorts and the [Dubai Shopping Festival],” said Premjit Bangara, general manager for travel at Sharaf Travel Services.
“The lovely weather, along with tourists coming to spend their winter break, combined with the above festivities has contributed to the influx of tourists into Dubai In December.”
With a huge wave of tourists arriving in Dubai for New Year’s Eve, Bangara said it doesn’t come as a surprise that hotel properties in the city are selling fast.
“A majority of the hotels in Downtown are fully booked for New Year’s Eve, and hotels in other areas of Dubai are running at 90 per cent occupancy during this period,” Bangara told Gulf News.
“We have seen a surge in bookings during the period starting 20th December to the 6th of January. Most of the travellers have come in from various points in Europe, India, China and a few other Asian countries.”
