Dubai hotels face challenges as summer heats up (page 2 of 2)

'It will be more telling in October,' he said.

One possible reason for a slowdown among Dubai hotels is that it is harder to book flights to the emirate because seats are increasingly being filled by travellers who are not staying in Dubai but instead are flying on to other destinations.

Another reason why occupancy may be down is because there is a larger supply of hotel rooms in the emirate.

Fourteen new hotels with a total of 1,605 rooms have opened this year, according to the Dubai Department of Commerce Marketing.

However, Scully remains upbeat about the performance of his hotels so far this summer. The Westin, which opened in May, recorded 73% occupancy in its first month, and is now in the 50%-60% range, which is good for a hotel which is only a few months old, he said.

Le Meridian's occupancy rate was at 95% in May, and is in the high 80s at the moment, which is typical for the hotel. However, he acknowledged that the hotel has offered discounts this summer.

'The Mina Seyahi is one of the most recognized hotels in Dubai, our beach and our bars are well known. We do a lot of business with people who live here,' he said.

'Some hotels market themselves to Europe, or Russia, or the GCC only. We try to spread ourselves across all markets.'


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