Gordon Campbell

But visitors to Dubai would be mad to overlook the charms of the Hyatt Regency whose massive twin blocks on the cornice once formed the principal land mark for aircraft landing in Dubai. This 22-year old complex is more than a 400-room hotel, and has a 360-apartment residency, ice rink, cinemas, shopping centre and several of Dubai's top restaurants.

'Hotels are still more like social centres in Dubai than in other cities in the world,' says general manager Gordon Campbell, sat in the Hyatt Regency's newly renovated revolving restaurant, the Al Dawaar. 'So the hotels have a special place in this City and a hotel like this one holds a lot of memories for people who know Dubai'.

Not that the Hyatt Regency is showing its age. The revolving restaurant that has entertained many visitors over the years has recently been given an Italian contemporary makeover, although retaining its excellent traditional Dubai international buffet.

'There are plans for the renovation of the whole hotel at the end of the year,' says Mr. Campbell. 'This will be phased around the opening of the Grand Hyatt. We are also half way through the refurbishment of the Galleria apartments, and we are adding two restaurants for casual dining in the golf park.'

But the past 12 months have been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for the Hyatt Regency. Up until September 11th last year the hotel was having a budget-beating year, but the tragic events of that day changed all that.

'We saw a 40 per cent slump in occupancy for the three to four weeks after September 11th,' says Mr. Campbell. 'It was bad with a lot of conferences cancelled. Then things picked up around the time of the Air Show and Emirates $15 billion aircraft order, and we had an increase in visitors from the GCC.

'Today our occupancy levels are back to normal, but the room rates remain lower than before September 11th. However, this is also due to the increase in the supply of rooms in Dubai and I think rates will stay at this level now'.

Does Mr. Campbell worry about the competition coming in the form of the Grand Hyatt further down the Creek?

'No, we will work together with two general managers, and it is good for Dubai to have such a variety of hotels. It says a lot about the city that the major hotel chains are queuing up to get in here. The Grand Hyatt will compete in the conference hotel market, and will find its own clientele and both hotels will complement each other.

'In so many ways Dubai is becoming just like any other major international city. Last year in the summer we had 72% occupancy whereas it used to be 40-45%'.

Meanwhile, the Hyatt Residency is 90% let, and its furnished apartments command rentals of Dhs90,000 to Dhs200,000. So these are not bad times for Dubai's original Hyatt Regency, even if it will soon be joined by an even bigger Grand Hyatt.