Rotana to Open New Luxury Hotel on Saadiyat Island

Rotana, the leading hotel management company in the Middle East & Africa, has announced moving forward with its development plans of the Saadiyat Rotana Resort, a luxurious five-star hotel set to open in 2015 on Saadiyat Beach, a nine-kilometer stretch of pristine white sand on Saadiyat island.

Commenting on this announcement, Mr. Nasser Al Nowais, Chairman of Rotana said: “We are delighted to announce that the opening date of the five-star Saadiyat Rotana Resort will be in 2015 – the same year when the highly anticipated Louvre Abu Dhabi museum is set to open on the island. The luxurious property, which will be designed with a distinctly themed atmosphere, will have great appeal, particularly among tourists who are looking for the kind of excellent sea-facing destinations the island represents”.

The design of the luxury Rotana Resort on Saadiyat Beach with its 354 upscale rooms and suites in addition to 13 beach private villas, has been creatively conceived with a sense of space within a conceptualized vernacular architecture, contrasting with a very innovative design in terms of facilities and features.

The resort offers a private stretch of beach, a variety of food & beverage outlets with large meeting & conference facilities, in addition to a Zen the spa at Rotana and a fully-equipped Bodylines health & fitness club. The impressive design draws on the rich vocabulary of Arabic architecture, and is fused with bold, contemporary architectural statements, with an emphasis on capturing the views of the ocean, glimpses of the landscaped courtyards and lagoon areas. Large expanses of glass feature windows facilitate these magnificent sights and simultaneously contrast dramatically with solid and more traditional load-bearing walls that speak the vernacular language.

Ali Al Hammadi, Deputy Managing Director at Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), said: “We are confident that the new Saadiyat Rotana Resort will add great value to our exclusive offering of luxury hotels on the island, and therefore enhance our visitors' experience even further. The vision of Saadiyat is coming to life as new projects are being realized. Saadiyat is en-route to becoming a world-class tourism destination which will support the emirate's hospitality sector.”

Saadiyat, TDIC's flagship project, has become the ultimate tourism hotspot following the launch of various exciting hospitality and leisure projects which have helped secure the island's appeal as an inviting destination for residents and visitors. The island's Cultural District is set to become home to premier cultural institutions designed by Pritzker-prize winning architects. These feature world-class museums that will open on the island starting with the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in 2015, followed by Zayed National Museum in 2016 and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi museum in 2017.

“We have a great belief in the transformation of Saadiyat into a premier destination which will significantly enhance Abu Dhabi's overall tourism development goals and we are proud to be managing the stunning five-star Saadiyat Rotana Resort on the island”, added Al Nowais.

In 2007, a survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal showed that the international travel industry has acknowledged Saadiyat as becoming one of the world's top 10 most trendy destinations.