{"id":852939,"date":"2026-09-19T06:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T06:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/852939\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T06:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T06:10:19","slug":"dubai-hotels-filling-up-again-but-rates-yet-to-recover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/852939\/","title":{"rendered":"Dubai hotels filling up again but rates yet to recover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dubai | New Delhi: Dubai hotels<\/a> are seeing occupancy recover towards the pre-disruption levels ahead of the winter season, but room rates are likely to remain under pressure, with operators estimating discounts of up to 15% from last year as they prioritise filling rooms over maximising average daily rates. In fact, Indian travellers have emerged as an important source of demand due to proximity, amid continued disruption in international flight operations, they said.<\/p>\n

Hotel executives at Taj Dubai, NH Collection Dubai The Palm and Dukes The Palm said that occupancy at their properties has recovered to around 70% and could rise to 80-85% in December, traditionally the peak month for Dubai hospitality.<\/p>\n

Also read | Dubai, Abu Dhabi residents return to a new normal: \u2018Neither war, nor peace\u2019<\/a>
But the recovery in room rates is expected to take longer, with hotels forecasting average rates to remain below 2025 levels.<\/p>\n

(Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel<\/a> for all the latest updates)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been a roller coaster ride this year. The fourth quarter (October-December) looks very decent for us\u2026although it will not be the same as Q4 2025. We are forecasting a 10-15% drop in rates, but occupancies should remain very similar to the previous year, said Saurabh Tiwari, vice president – operations (Middle East, Sri Lanka & Maldives), IHCL, which operates the Taj brand. \u201cThe game changers for us will be Diwali, Dussehra, Christmas and New Year. The festive season brings in a lot of revenue, although ADR will be slightly affected,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"ETLive Events
Dubai’s hotel occupancy reached 66% in August, up from 36% in March, equivalent to 89% of the August 2025 levels, according to the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism.
Also read | Emirates offers unlimited free date changes for Dubai-bound flights; refund fees cut<\/a>Ahmad Shaban Fernandez, cluster general manager at Dukes The Palm and NH Collection Dubai The Palm, said the market had moved decisively out of the crisis phase, although a full recovery was still some distance away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe market is back in full swing compared with the past six to seven months. Have we recovered? No, we have not recovered yet,\u201d Fernandez told ET on the sidelines of Arabian Travel Market in Dubai.<\/p>\n

The two hotels, with a combined 1,100 rooms, are currently running at about 70% occupancy, he said, with occupancy expected to reach 80-83% in December. Revenues, however, are expected to remain 10-15% below 2025 levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect to see the same levels of occupancy as last year, but the average rate component will be lower. It is going to take us some time to recover the average rate,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n

He noted that the return of international air connectivity was critical to the recovery, particularly for leisure-heavy properties.<\/p>\n

With several international flight routes still recovering and some global carriers yet to fully resume their Gulf operations, India remains an important source market for the UAE hospitality sector<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Indian travellers are emerging as an important source of returning demand, particularly in leisure, MICE and weddings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Indian market has always been among the top three source markets for Dubai as a whole destination. What we have witnessed now is a stronger entrance of the Indian market into the leisure segment,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing an uplift in numbers from that market, especially in MICE and weddings for the upcoming season,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Hotels noted that the current focus remained occupancy levels and not revenues to that extent. \u201cWe are maintaining rate integrity across all three hotels, but we are trying to make sure the occupancy box is ticked, even if the average-rate box is not,\u201d said Tiwari. IHCL operates three hotels in Dubai, including Taj Business Bay, and Taj Exotica The Palm.<\/p>\n

As for December, the peak month for the hospitality sector, hotels are expecting around 80% occupancy levels this year. \u201cGiven the crisis situation, we don’t think we would have a 100% occupancy, but if we are at 75-80% occupancy, it will be great,\u201d said Tiwari.<\/p>\n

Fernadez of NH Collection said, \u201cWe expect to see the same levels of occupancy as last year, but the average rate component will be lower. It is going to take us some time to recover the average rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy is being supported by packages and staycation offers around the winter events calendar, including the Dubai Shopping Festival, GITEX and the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also seeing 30-60% discounts for resident and GCC staycation promotions. Clearly, the primary objective is to boost occupancy as Dubai heads into the peak season,\u201d said Anuj Kejriwal, CEO-Retail & CEO EMEA, ANAROCK Group.<\/p>\n

Nandivardhan Jain, founder and CEO of NOESIS Hotel Advisors, expects Dubai’s Q4 RevPAR to remain 15-20% below last year’s level, with full-year ADR at about AED600-675.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Indian traveller, this is the best value Dubai has offered in three years,\u201d Jain said.<\/p>\n

Hotels rebuild workforce<\/p>\n

The recovery in occupancy is also prompting hotels to rebuild their workforces after redeploying staff to other markets during the disruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are hiring big time,\u201d Tiwari said, adding that IHCL had redeployed employees to markets including the UK, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have also sent some of our best staff to Frankfurt, and we can bring them back when the season starts in mid-October,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fernandez said his hotels had retained staff during the downturn and were now gradually bringing them back.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learned from the mistakes during Covid. We did not let go of any of our workforce. We just gave them the time to relax and spend time with their families, but they are still with us on our books, and they are coming back slowly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we cannot source from within the company, then we will look at new talent coming from outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kejriwal said some major chains were already hiring front-desk, dining, housekeeping and kitchen staff as occupancy improves, while others were waiting for greater certainty around winter bookings before undertaking large-scale rehiring.<\/p>\n

Jain Dubai will land in the low to mid 70s for the quarter, with December in the 80s.<\/p>\n

“But rate is where the real intelligence lies. Through the worst of it, Dubai’s ADR fell only 7% while occupancy fell nearly 25 points. This market refused to discount its way out of a crisis. That single decision is worth more than any stimulus package,” he added.<\/p>\n

Add \"ET as a Reliable and Trusted News Source<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dubai | New Delhi: Dubai hotels are seeing occupancy recover towards the pre-disruption levels ahead of the winter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":852940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,360234,360233,227554,101,55870,228242],"class_list":["post-852939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-dubai-hotel-industry","tag-dubai-hotels","tag-dubai-tourism","tag-economy","tag-hospitality-sector","tag-iran-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/852940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}