Top hotel brands lured by City of Arabia are told only the best will do

Many leading hotel names are competing for the chance to put their brand on the luxury rooftop hotel at Mall of Arabia, one the world's largest shopping malls and a key element of the spectacular $5bn City of Arabia development.

But City of Arabia owners, Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group, are in no immediate rush to sign a management agreement and will call on a wealth of family experience in the hotel business to make sure the operator chosen can match their ambition.

The Galadari family, which has been doing business in Dubai for more than 50 years, opened the city's first five-star hotel, the Intercontinental, beside the Creek in 1975 and also created another landmark hotel in Dubai, the Hyatt Regency.

"Most of the big hotel operators have contacted us because they know City of Arabia is a very attractive location for a five star hotel,"

said Ilyas Galadari, Chairman of Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group.

"Our priority is to select a company which shares our vision to create a hotel which stands out by offering genuine five-star quality when it comes to service," he added.

He added, "It's all very well having a five star name and facilities, and charging five star rates, but these have to be matched by service levels throughout the hotel. As many more new hotel properties open up here, increasing competition, service standards will become even more important to attract guests and build customer loyalty."

"Our family has a wealth of hotel experience, and we'll be using all of that to make sure the hotel, like City of Arabia as a whole, excites people and exceeds their expectations," he also added.

City of Arabia's other key elements are Elite Towers, a group of 34 impressive commercial and residential buildings, Wadi Walk, a waterfront community with stylish apartments, outdoor cafes and attractive retail outlets, and Restless Planet, a $300m theme park, earth science museum and planetarium.

With all infrastructure work now completed, visible construction work has begun on the $5bn lifestyle development, and a much broader picture is emerging of City of Arabia as a key destination and urban community within the new Dubai.

Lying at the gateway to Dubailand and covering a 20 million square foot site beside Emirates Road, it is creating an important new business and commercial district while offering many desirable residential options supported by just about everything those who live and work there, and those who visit, could want or imagine.

With business and administrative offices, schools and clinics, luxury apartments, shops, galleries, restaurants and unique attractions, the project will have a phased opening starting towards the end of 2010. On completion, it will house 32,800 residents.

Mustafa Galadari, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Ilyas & Mustafa Galadari Group, said:

"It's impossible to sum up City of Arabia in a few words, but in a nutshell it will be a fabulous place to live, work, shop, dine, have fun, relax, and much more."

A self-contained community designed to minimise the use of cars, City of Arabia will be served by its own 5.1km monorail system which will transport residents and visitors to and from a designated Dubai Metro station and around the site.

The monorail will be served by six sets of two-car trains running every six minutes between 14 strategically located stations. Comfort and facilities will be to the highest international standards.

It has been designed to accommodate the expected volume of residents, visitors and staff and at peak periods additional trains will be added to the system from the storage depot.