LXR Hotels & Resorts has signed its first property in the United Arab Emirates, a brand-new private island resort in Abu Dhabi. Al Nawras Island, LXR Hotels & Resorts will offer 80 beach and water villas as well as a 450-square-metre, two-bedroom Royal Villa.

A month after Middle Eastern real estate development company, Select Group let the cat out of the bag, Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas has confirmed it is indeed launching its first property in the United Arab Emirates, in Dubai.

Kempinski Hotels will manage what it says is the world’s first “Floating Sea Palace Resort” in Dubai. Kempinski Floating Palace will be a floating building around which 12 likewise floating luxury villas are grouped. Each villa has the ability to sail independently to other anchorage points.

Minor Hotels has boosted its presence in the United Arab Emirates, taking over the management of the five-star Ibn Battuta Gate Dubai Hotel, and positioning it under the Oaks Hotels, Resorts and Suites brand, the second Oaks property in the emirate.

This week LATTE spoke exclusively with Etihad Airways’ General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, Sarah Built, to get an understanding of how the UAE’s national airline is responding to the coronavirus pandemic and the actions being taken for the post-COVID-19 recovery.

Set deep within the desert landscape of Abu Dhabi, the Talise Spa at the brand new Jumeirah Al Wathba Desert Resort and Spa is a hallmark intimate destination offering a sense of wellbeing and tranquility.

Jumeirah at Saadiyat Island Resort opened last week as Jumeirah Group’s first luxury “eco-conscious” resort, second location in Abu Dhabi and sixth opening of the year for the upmarket hotelier. The luxury beachfront resort overlooks 400 metres of beautiful white sand on the Arabian Gulf and offers beautiful scenery and undisturbed wildlife. Guests may catch a glimpse of Indo-pacific humpback and bottle nose dolphins, green or hawksbill turtles and dugongs, which live in the Saadiyat Mangroves. Inland, gazelles, socotra cormorants, grey herons and greater flamingos are known to visit.

Tourists visiting the United Arab Emirates will be able to apply for a refund on the 5% VAT (value-added tax) when exiting the country from the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2018.

Marking the brand’s second luxury resort in Ras Al Khaimah and its fifth property in the United Arab Emirates.