Tourism & Hospitality | Monday 2 March, 2015 1:44 pm |

2nd March 2015: This month the UAE’s largest five-star hotel, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, is celebrating its 2nd anniversary since the iconic opening event in February 2013. Operating 1,608 rooms and offering over 8,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor event space, the hotel is the tallest in the world and flagship in the globally renowned Marriott International portfolio. Part of the JW Marriott luxury tier, the property’s 14 acclaimed restaurants and lounges, indulgent spa and innovative Meetings, Incentive Conference and Event facilities have entrenched the hotel as a leading destination, boosting the UAE’s ability to cater for the luxury leisure and business markets.

In just two years, the hotel has made a significant contribution to the UAE’s rapidly expanding tourism and travel sector. Since inception, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai has opened a full inventory of 1,608 suites and rooms while maintaining occupancies close to 80% throughout 2014, despite the addition many more rooms to the market in a city-wide effort to reach 160,000 rooms by 2020. New data reveals the hotel’s top five source markets for leisure in 2014 were the GCC (22.9%), United States & Canada (19.2%), Western Europe (15.7%), and Asia (8.8%). Meanwhile for group bookings, the local market (31.8%), Western Europe (16.6%), Asia (15.4%), GCC (6.4%) and North Africa (5.4%) were the biggest drivers.

The property owner Emirates Group had the vision to build a convention hotel with scale and facilities on par with those in New York, Hong Kong and Paris, making Dubai a viable and attractive option for high volume international conferences. In tandem with Emirates Airline rapidly expanding network of routes, JW Marriott Marquis continues to target new markets and BRIC economies, seeing considerable growth in this area. The property is the only business hotel in the UAE capable of hosting groups of over 1,000 people to meet, eat and sleep in one location. This was best exemplified in the hosting of the largest segment of the NuSkin group from China in 2014, the largest incentive group ever received in Dubai.

JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is supporting the ongoing efforts of Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) to raise awareness of the city’s offering as a leading destination for business events. Under Dubai’s ‘Tourism Vision for 2020’ roadmap, partners such as JW Marriott Marquis are working together to double the number of tourists visiting Dubai in 2020 to 20 million people, up from the 10 million people who visited in 2012. The aims of the strategy are to double leisure visitors to the emirate to 17 million by 2020 while increasing business visitors by 50% to 75% to around 3.5 million people.

Gearing up for 2020, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is ideally placed to host international planners and guests with a range of 24 hour facilities and a close proximity to the Expo site in the run up to this major event. Architecturally designed like the date palm, the two towers of the JW Marriott Marquis have become iconic in the Business Bay skyline, ideally located halfway between old and new Dubai, and a short drive from both of the city airports. Serving the international community, the hotel boasts nine authentic restaurants, five lounges, a world-class spa, health club and two ballrooms and 32 meeting rooms. Special dedicated rates and complimentary transport will be implemented for Expo 2020 guests. In synergy with UAE government initiatives to be a preferential choice for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions internationally, the JW Marriott Marquis continues to target convention and group planners with its unrivalled facilities, establishing itself as a favoured hotel for international business travelers.

Reaching new heights in hospitality excellence, the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai has been recognised for a notable total of 31 international and local awards since opening. Throughout 2014, the hotel was awarded a number of prestigious international titles including; Business Traveller Middle East Best Overall Business Hotel Middle East and the Tatweej-Academy for Excellence, Excellence and Quality award -Best Hotel in the UAE. The food and beverage offering has been the most highly awarded segment; with 10 accolades received from renowned regional publications such as Time Out Dubai, BBC Good Food, and What’s On magazine. The most awarded outlet is Kitchen 6 which won What’s On Best International restaurant for two years running. Kitchen 6 is capable of hosting groups of 350 people delivering exceptional cuisine through 6 live cooking stations. Other awarded outlets include Rang Mahal, the hotels resident Indian restaurant operated by Michelin starred Chef Atul Kochhar, followed by Tong Thai, serving authentic Asian cuisine in an oriental setting, Time Out Dubai’s Best Thai Restaurant. Furthermore, the hotel showcases a principled commitment to ongoing Corporate Social Responsibility, proudly being largest in the UAE to claim the coveted ISO14001 Environmental Excellence certification, as well as being the first JW Marriott hotel of 67 globally to achieve it.

“We are immensely proud of our multi-award winning hotel’s achievements to date. We have grown to epitomize the JW Marriott brand with breathtaking design and service excellence”, comments General Manager, Bill Keffer on the hotel’s 2nd anniversary of successful operation.

“The JW Marriott Marquis is firmly established within the UAE market, setting the president for luxury hospitality industry standards within the region and internationally. The resulting benefits for the UAE are clear, yet our vision continues on an innovative journey with expansive potential for further growth.”