UAE: The Westin,3rd Largest Hotel In Dubai Is Open

The third-largest hotel in Dubai is now open for business.

The Westin in Al Habtoor City — not to be confused with The Westin Mina Seyahi — has 1,004 rooms across 40 floors, coming in after Atlantis, The Palm (1,539 rooms) and JW Marriott Marquis Dubai (1,608 rooms).

The hotel is next door to fellow Starwood Hotels The St. Regis Dubai (234 rooms) and W Dubai (356 rooms), as well as three residence buildings and a future aquatic theatre, La Perle. The complex, dubbed Al Habtoor City, overlooks the upcoming Dubai Canal in Al Wasl.

If you book one of The Westin’s rooms for Eid, you can get a deal for Dh660 per night, including breakfast. But if your wallet is already trembling at the thought, don’t look up.

The Westin’s Heavenly Suite (under construction until the end of the year) will span the entirety of the top floor and will cost you a handsome Dh35,000 a night in low season. It’s a 425-square-metre suite — two bedrooms, two living rooms, a game room and a dining table for 10. Just below it, they’re building a club lounge.

The second-most luxurious suite, the Presidential, is on floor 38. On floors 34-37 are four Grand Suites. After that, you have the Executive Suites, the Family Suites — these house a children’s play room with a tepee and bowling pins that you can switch out for a desk or gym equipment — and The Westin Suites. 14 per cent of the hotel’s inventory is suites — that’s 142 rooms.

Westin Hotels & Resorts was founded in 1930, with headquarters in Connecticut. Their slogan is, ‘Leave better than you came’. They operate on six pillars: sleep well, move well, feel well, eat well, play well and work well, explained below.

Sleep well: Their beds are made of 10 layers, built in such a way that if you put a glass on one corner and jumped on the other, the glass wouldn’t topple. A sleep well menu, with a selection of herbal teas, can aid relaxation.

Move well: The hotel has a gym and a gear-lending programme, where you can rent out sneakers and workout clothing for the duration of your stay. A “run concierge” is available, equipped with maps and routes of the best places to run.

Feel well: Aside from the spa, the rooms have calming white tea amenities.

Eat well: 26 superfoods — ingredients that are good for your energy and well-being — are included in the hotel’s recipes. It’s not about being boring — you can still have your chocolate croissant, just with dark chocolate instead.

Play well: Play can mean different things to different people — there’s the Westin Kids Club for children, and a variety of different food, entertainment or exercise options for adults.

Work well: Aside from the meeting rooms, which can be booked over the phone or online, you can ask for a desk to be placed in your own suite if space allows.

The restaurants and lounge

For those who aren’t looking at staycationing, you can still drop by for a bite at one of their F&B outlets.

Cook Hall is a casual American gastropub. It has a rustic interior and an open kitchen. You can order sharing dishes with friends — think popcorn shrimp or sliced lemon chicken — in the middle of exposed brick, a maze of overhead piping, cow-print cushions and curtains made out of chains.

El Capo is a bit higher scale, welcoming you with black-and-white photos of Milan. It’s an Italian restaurant inspired by the New York Italians of the ’20s. The chef is Italian and they make all their pasta and pizza in house. They utilise three types or wood — beech, oak and cherry — to give different aromas to the food.

Seasonal Tastes is a buffet-style restaurant with six cooking stations including Levantine cuisine, salads, grill, Indian and East Asian food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. A brunch will be introduced mid-October.

Blinq is a lounge that looks like it was pulled out of the HBO vampire series True Blood. Metallic armchairs, mirrored walls and a dark, circular bar make this lounge stand out among the hotel’s otherwise light colour scheme.

The decor

The Westin’s interior is inspired by the Hajar Mountains, the highest mountain range in the eastern Arabian Peninsula. You’ll notice an overwhelming use of dark woods and monochromatic colour schemes interspersed with aquatic hues and leaf motifs. They call on nature and give the hotel a soothing feel.

The meeting rooms, spa and ballroom

For business, there’s 15 meeting rooms. They’re primarily located on the second floor of the hotel, which serves as a mini conference hall. The rooms, which fit between 20-50 people, can be arranged in several ways, including U-shaped, theatre style and round-table seating. For leisure: there are 20 spa rooms, including those for couples. There’s also a ballroom ideal for tying the knot. Don’t believe us? The hotel has been open one week and there’s already been a wedding at their 1,200 capacity Al Joud Ballroom. They have another four weddings booked this month.

UAE; Al Habtoor City Hotels Gets New Director

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has appointed Seema Pande as the new commercial director, complex for Al Habtoor City Hotels in Dubai.

In her role, Pande will oversee The St. Regis Dubai, W Dubai – Al Habtoor City and The Westin Dubai, Al Habtoor City.

Pande carries over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry in the UAE, having begun her career as a sales manager at the Metropolitan Hotels, before taking up the position of assistant director of sales at The Fairmont Dubai.

She spent five years with Fairmont before taking on a complex director of sales and marketing position at Southern Sun, overseeing the Al Manzil and Qamardeen properties. She then decided to accept a group director of sales and marketing role with Emaar hospitality and spent the next seven years playing a fundamental strategic role in the opening of all the Group’s hotels including all their flagship properties.

Pande then progressed to the role of corporate director of sales and partnerships with Emaar Hospitality before joining Starwood Hotels and Resorts as commercial director, complex where she will oversee sales, marketing and revenue functions at Al Habtoor City Hotels Collection.

Speaking about her appointment, Pande said: “I am very proud to take the helm of The St. Regis Dubai, W Dubai – Al Habtoor City and The Westin Dubai, Al Habtoor City, which are uniquely positioned within one of the most prestigious and eagerly awaited hospitality, entertainment and residential destinations in the region – Al Habtoor City. With our offering of almost 1,600 rooms, 18 restaurants and lounges, two spas and 34 meetings and banqueting spaces, Al Habtoor City Hotels will have something to offer all our guests.”

Al Habtoor City is a multi-use development incorporating three five-star Starwood-branded hotels adjacent to three luxurious residential towers. Located alongside the upcoming DubaiWater Canal, it will also be home to the region’s first-ever permanent Dragone theatrical production called La Perle, featuring an aquatic spectacle choreographed exclusively for Al Habtoor City. In addition, there will be a tennis academy, a European-style boulevard lined with retail outlets, a marina and multiple restaurants.