Jetsettersblog

JUMEIRAH GIVES UAE RESIDENTSREASON TO CELEBRATE

To mark the 37th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates, Jumeirah Group, the Dubai-based luxury hotel company and a member of Dubai Holding, will join in the national celebrations and acknowledge the spirit of the UAE and its residents by launching a special rate.

The rate will offer UAE citizens and residence visa holders 15% off the best available room rate. The rate will be available starting December 2nd to UAE citizens and residence visa holders in any Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts in the United Arab Emirates.

Reservations can only be made by calling the Jumeirah central reservation toll free number on 800 58634724

.This offer is valid until April 17th 2009.

Guests will be asked to present a UAE passport or passport with a valid UAE residence visa upon check in.

Opened in October 2008, Desert Islands Resort & Spa is situated on Sir Bani Yas Island the once-private Royal Nature Reserve established by the late ruler and founder of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The exclusive resort is surrounded by the wild vastness of the island, transformed into an ecologically-viable, wild-life rich natural preserve and scenic retreat.

At the Desert Islands Resort & Spa, experience a unique brand of service inspired by the local traditions of hospitality and culture. Situated along the resplendent coast line of Sir Bani Yas Island, the hotel-resort offers 64 luxuriously designed rooms with living quarters decked out in state-of-the-art amenities and styled with eye-catching Arabian touches like marble bath-fixtures. Here, wake-up to the alluring melodies of a thousand bird songs and the spectacular view of the distant sea and surrounding natural reserves; while your enclave slowly gets drenched in the warmth of the island’s natural sunlight.

For the ultimate royal indulgence choose one of Desert Islands Resort & Spa’s regal retreats - the two Royal Villas and two Beach Villas come equipped with the best standards of luxury services including a 24/7 butler. These airy abodes feature two bedrooms, living and lounge space, kitchenette, dining area, private splash pools and boast direct access to the beach.

The beautiful and supremely intimate Safaa Spa has four treatment rooms – two for couples and two for individuals - each of them spacious and all offering a wide range of world-renowned luxurious indulgences. Choose from an array of natural treatments - Thai massage, aromatherapy, Ayurvedic therapies, rich facials, and lavish body treatments and scrubs all using the finest ingredients – as well as treatments based on the healing and beautifying properties of gemstones and precious metals. Facilities include a private outdoor relaxation area, separate male and female changing areas, sauna and steam rooms.

Benefit from the well-informed local staff in scoping out pursuits of all sorts throughout the resort. For those with gastronomic adventures in mind, relish the joys of a delectable seafood menu and a waterfront view at Desert Islands’ signature restaurant Samak. Or sample the local cuisine and take the taste buds on a mouth-watering global trip at the tropically-inspired Palm Restaurant.

For lighter bites stop by The Deli and indulge in an outstanding variety of gourmet coffee. Enjoy your favourite beverage and the rich and colourful sea views in the tranquil and private Lounge Bar , situated on the Mezzanine level.

After a day of exploration, enjoy a refreshing beverage from Al Shams Pool Bar over-looking the cerulean waters of the Arabian Sea or relax in the one of the shaded quarters of the hotel pool – cool, private nooks sheltered and divided by exotic plants for visitors to unwind in privacy. For those with extra energy, other facilities include tennis courts equipped with night-playing technology and a health club that’s open around the clock.

The Desert Islands Resort and Spa tastefully merges a luxurious lifestyle experience with a memorable life experience. Combining the beautiful natural reserves of Sir Bani Yas Island and the demand for quality destination activities, the resort is at the forefront of environment based tourism featuring guided tours along some of the region’s most exciting trails and snorkeling into the pristine reefs. Desert Islands Resort & Spa can arrange a number of pursuits ranging from snorkeling to mountain biking to kayaking, tailored to each guest’s specific physical and recreational requirements.

Discovery, Adventure, Culture and Luxury define the Desert Islands experience

 

Wild Wadi Pricing and Daily Timings
Price: AED 195 General Admissions
AED 165 Children below 1.1

Timings: November – February: 11.00am – 6.00pm

Wild Wadi Cabanas
Benefits of a day in a Cabana include guaranteed private and exclusive seating with a great view of the beach all day, fast track entrance to the first slide entrance (White Water Wadi) and cold towels upon arrival.

Each Cabana can accommodate up to 8 guests and contains 4 premium sun loungers with cushions, a teakwood table with 4 chairs, 8 towels and a cooler with complimentary water.

Price: AED 1,200 (Weekdays)
AED 1,500 (Weekends)

For more information, please contact Wild Wadi Water Park
Tel: +971 4 348 4444
www.wildwadi.com

Be a Wild Wadi Citizen
Visitors to Wild Wadi can now hold a Wild Wadi passport. Have the passport stamped on every time and the fifth visit is free!

Validity: 1 year from date of issue

For more information, please contact Wild Wadi Water Park
Tel: +971 4 348 4444
www.wildwadi.com

Jumeirah Emirates Towers is offering a special weekend rate with eight exclusive benefits including early check-in from 10am onwards, breakfast at Mosaico for guests staying in Deluxe Rooms and breakfast at the Club Executive lounge for those staying at Club Executive Rooms or Apex Suites.

 Guests will also enjoy 50% off food at all restaurants and private dining, a complimentary fitness consultation at The Health Club, complimentary shuttle service and access to Wild Wadi Water Park, complimentary shuttle transfers to Mall of the Emirates and a late checkout until 6pm.

In addition, gentlemen can indulge in spa treatments at H2O The Male Spa, and ladies at The Health Club, with a 20% reduction every Monday and Sunday for three consecutive months following their stay.

Price: AED 1,290 (Deluxe Room)
AED 1,790 (Club Executive Room)
AED 1,990 (Apex Suite)
(Prices are exclusive of 20% tax & service charge)
Validity: Weekends (October – January 2009)

For more information, please contact Jumeirah Emirates Towers Room Reservations
Tel: +971 4 330 0000
Email: JETinfo@jumeirah.com

 

Spend your day in the tranquility of the infinity pool at Jumeirah Bab Al Shams Desert Resort and Spa. The day also includes use of the changing rooms, showers and personal secured lockers and unlimited beach towels. Guests will also enjoy camel rides, a falcon show, aqua aerobics classes as well as lawn games activities such as a 9-hole putting green, volleyball, table tennis and croquet.

Validity: 1st January 2009 – 31st March 2009
Pricing: AED 275 per person

For more information, please contact Jumeirah Bab Al Shams Leisure
Tel: +971 4 809 6100
Email: JBASleisure@jumeirah.com

Rejuvenating Spa
Rejuvenate and soothe upper body tension with a 25-minute deep tissue massage focusing on the back, neck and shoulders to relieve tension followed by a refreshing 25-minute aromatherapy facial.

Validity: 1st January – 31st January 2009
Pricing: AED 395 per person

For more information, please contact Satori Spa
Tel: +9714 809 6100
Email: JBASspa@jumeirah.com

 

World’s Most Luxurious Hotel receives two prestigious World Travel Awards and two Luxury Travel Advisor Awards on the same day

Dubai: The celebrated Burj Al Arab, flagship hotel for Dubai based luxury hotel company Jumeirah, collected two much-coveted accolades at the 15th Annual World Travel Awards, held in the Turks & Caicos Islands on Tuesday. The hotel was also recognised elsewhere on the same day at the Luxury Travel Expo in Las Vegas with two Luxury Travel Advisor Awards.

The World’s Most Luxurious Hotel was once again recognised as the World’s Leading Hotel as well as the World’sLeading All Suite Hotel at the 2008 World Travel Awards, for the commitment to luxury, convenience and a highly personalized service for every guest, enhanced by private reception desks on every floor, as well as in-suite check-in and a brigade of exclusive butlers that provide around the clock assistance.

The inaugural Luxury Travel Advisor Awards in Las Vegas named Burj Al Arab as Best Hotel/Resort in the Middle East and the hotel also collected the award for Top Luxury Suite in a Hotel/Resort Worldwide for the Royal Suites. The Royal Suites are located on the 25th floor of Burj Al Arab and the award–winning features include an extravagantly appointed Majlis style lounge, a spacious library, luxurious dining room, a master bedroom with rotating four-poster canopy bed, spacious dressing room and adjoining marble bathroom complete with spa bath and walk-in shower, and a second bedroom with a luxurious bathroom similar to the master bathroom. The suites also contain a private elevator and private cinema.

Heinrich Morio, General Manager of Burj Al Arab, commented: “We are proud to have been recognized at the Annual World Travel Awards yet again this year, and are delighted at the support from readers of Luxury Travel Advisor. We believe that Burj Al Arab symbolizes the very essence of Dubai, embracing the best of the new alongside traditions of the past and setting new standards of luxury, service and comfort.

At Burj Al Arab, as with the rest of the Jumeirah Group, we are truly committed to our guests, and our promise to STAY DIFFERENT™. We would like to thank all of our Jumeirah colleagues for their continued hard work and dedication to surpass guest expectations.”

The second spa for the world’s leading skin and beauty care brand, NIVEA Haus, officially opened its doors this month at the new Dubai Mall.

AMMAN, JORDAN, — The unique store concept, pioneered by NIVEA in Germany in 2006, offers expert pampering experiences using NIVEA’s extensive range of hair, skin, body care and cosmetic products. Services include a full range of spa treatments, beauty therapy as well as hairstyling. The state-of-the-art 5,000 square feet store allows customers to enjoy a retail advice centre, separate ladies and gents grooming lounges as well as private treatment cabins.

Robert Taylor-Hughes, Managing Director of Beiersdorf Middle East and project owner stated: “The NIVEA Haus Dubai concept represents one of the many pioneering expansion initiatives that we have launched this year. Through this spa facility, we hope to engage our customers in a different way, and let them experience the full and diverse range of NIVEA’s product line. It’s exciting considering the wellness industry offers tough competition in this market, but we have industry leading products and a world class location, so we are in no doubt about achieving ‘best in class’ in the day spa industry.”

The first NIVEA Haus was set up in Hamburg to astounding success leading the global skin care and beauty brand to consider the establishment of a second outlet in Dubai as a licensed venture between Beiersdorf Middle East and the local UAE partners, NMC.

The Store Manager is provided by Beiersdorf Middle East along with the necessary training required in order to offer perfect service at all levels. Sallyann Simmons, formerly with Clarins Technical Training, has been appointed to fulfil this important role.

NIVEA HAUS Dubai is located on the first floor of Dubai’s newest landmark, The Dubai Mall, directly above the grand entrance forming part of the dedicated beauty zone.

YEMEN PREPARES FOR A VERY HAPPY YEAR

The number of UK operators to Yemen looks set to triple in 2009

Yemen’s delegation to London’s World Travel Market was busy this year. Including the six tour operators already offering trips to Yemen, there are now twenty British companies planning programmes for 2009 and Yemeni operators will be hosting a series of study tours in January and February next year.

Other European tour operators from new markets in Scandinavia and Central and Eastern Europe are also keen to develop programmes and are not restricted by their governments’ official travel advisories, unlike in the UK, where the Travel Advice for Yemen is described by the British-Yemeni Society’s tour director Alan D’Arcy as “overcautious”. Such advice however is becoming less of an issue for experienced British operators. Yemen’s UK representative Dunira Strategy has negotiated special insurance cover with one of the UK’s top travel insurers for clients of British and Irish companies that are willing to travel to destinations currently proscribed by the Foreign Office.

Said Dunira’s managing director Benjamin Carey: “I personally agree with the Foreign Office that visitors should steer clear of places like Marib and Saada, but advising against ‘all but essential travel to Sana’a’ undermines its credibility. I was there last month and several friends are there at the moment. They tell me that the scenery is as sensational as ever and the legendary hospitality remains real!”

Tour operators were interested in a number of opportunities, typically involving a 10 or 11 night itinerary that includes 2 or 3 nights in the extraordinary Old City of Sana’a, which has more than 6,000 houses dating from before the 11th Century, followed by visits to two or three other gateway destinations, such as Aden, which is full of British colonial history, Shibam, the ‘Manhattan of the Desert’ with its 16th Century mudbrick skycrapers that literally rise out of the sand, and Zabid, which is an archaeologist’s paradise.

Alternative or add-on options would include 7 nights on Socotra, Yemen’s fourth and most recent UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is known as the ‘Galapagos of the Indian Ocean’, or dive sites along the mainland or on one of the country’s more than 200 islands. Said Dunira’s programme director and divemaster Christopher Imbsen: “Diving in Yemen is full of opportunities for adventurous dive operators wanting to expand their operations. Not only are there many islands, both explored and unexplored, in the Red Sea, but there is also the near mythical destination of Socotra in the Gulf of Aden. All the dive sites enjoy a profusion of tropical marine life and, with so few other visitors, you won’t have anyone else’s fins in your face in these waters!”

Another opportunity is language learning at one of Yemen’s leading institutes, since Yemeni Arabic is widely considered the purest and most beautiful in the world. Tim Mackintosh-Smith, author of Yemen: Travels in Dictionary Land and who, when learning Arabic in the 1990s had to persuade his own tutor of the merits of Yemen, commented: “Yemen is the best place on Earth for learning Arabic, especially in such a fascinating and inspiring setting as Sana’a”. Arabic students that are also fans of Paul Torday’s fantastic Salmon Fishing in the Yemen will be pleased to know that they will be able to practice their language skills by reading Abdulaziz Al-Maqalih’s magnificent translation, which was launched at the Sana’a Book Fair this October.

Yemen’s Minister of Tourism His Excellency Nabil Al-Faqih was delighted with the response from British tour operators and journalists and looks forward to seeing many more British visitors enjoy the tremendous climate and enduring hospitality of Yemen, which was known by the Romans as Arabia Felix.

The YTPB’s UK representative Benjamin Carey, who was there in October, added: “To see so few tourists in such an incredibly beautiful, welcoming and unique country was surprising. I felt entirely safe and am convinced that Yemen has what it takes to be a leading tourism destination of the future. There is now a real chance to support the growth of tourism in Yemen as a tool of economic development and encourage British visitors to contribute to Yemen’s development by going to enjoy Yemen’s magnificent cultural and natural heritage.”

Dunira is organising a programme of press trips and study tours and can support UK and Irish operators by arranging specially discounted rates and extended release periods on flights from the UK with Yemenia, enhanced baggage allowances on domestic flights in Yemen with Felix Airways and specialist insurance products for tour operators.

Yemen has retained its identity in the face of globalisation and with an incredible range of cultural and natural treasures this unique destination offers an exceptionally diverse holiday for the discerning, responsible traveller.

As a city home to some of the world’s most famous hospitality and landmark hotels, Dubai is known as one of the world’s premier travel destinations; a reputation which has recently been validated after the city was named the World’s Leading Travel Destination and The Monarch Dubai’s Monarch Suite, named the World’s Leading Suite at the World Travel Awards.

For the past 15 year’s the World Travel Awards have been recognising the world’s leading hotels and destinations, as voted for by travel agents worldwide.

Earlier in the year, The Monarch Dubai was named Middle East’s leading new business hotel and its exclusive Monarch Suite was named as the Middle East’s leading suite, before going on to be named the leading suite in the world.

For this recognition, the Monarch Suite was honoured over such prestigious competition as the Imperial Suite at the Hotel Ritz Paris and the Princely Suite at Le Prince Maurice in Mauritius.

The Monarch Dubai General Manager, Henning Fries, said that this recognition comes as a climax to a successful first year for this flagship project.

“A lot of hard work and dedication had gone into getting The Monarch Dubai to this stage, where it is being recognised by its industry peers as a leader in its field,” he said. “We are absolutely overwhelmed with what we have achieved here, being recognised as the top suite in the world. It really is a major accomplishment.”

“A lot of thought went into creating the Monarch Suite concept and every feature serves the direct purpose of enhancing a guest’s experience of the hotel and the city.”

At 1,130 Sqm, the Monarch Suite, conceptually designed and a project managed by Roya International Hospitality Consultants, is the largest suite available to the public in the Middle East and is The Monarch Dubai’s crowning glory. Located on the 32nd and 33rd floors of the hotel, it offers two floors of classic luxury with an extensive range of state-of-the-art technology, immaculate service and spectacular views. The Monarch Suite artistically blends contemporary design with traditional aspects of Arabia, where traditional Arabic archways connect the various areas of the suite and an assortment of vibrant coloured fabrics and drapes enhance its atmosphere of luxury which The Monarch Dubai cultivates throughout the hotel.

“For a flagship operation to be included in such prestigious company as the World Travel Awards, within just a year of opening, is a huge achievement and it proves that the Monarch concept is set for greatness. This is a very impressive result and I couldn’t be prouder.”

In 2008, more Russian tourists arrived in Israel than ever before, and in response to the dramatic increase, the Moscow Municipality-owned company Sun Dream has announced plans to open a $100-million luxury resort at Ein Bokek, on the southern shores of the Dead Sea, in mid- 2009.

The 52,500-square-foot hotel will feature 240 guest rooms and suites, two indoor swimming pools, conference rooms, two restaurants and a helipad. Sun Dream will begin construction within the next few months, increasing the number of guest rooms around the Dead Sea to approximately 4,300.

“The first nine months of this year have already seen 230,000 Russian tourists in Israel, an increase of over 100% compared to the same period last year,” says Ruhama Avraham-Balila, Israel Minister of Tourism. “With Russia being the third largest source of incoming tourists to Israel, an additional 240 hotel rooms will help accommodate the increase in visitors to the world’s most famous natural spa.”

The Israel Hotel Association reports that 763,000 tourists stayed in Israel’s hotels in September - a rise of 49% compared to the same month last year, and tourist stays between January and September amounted to 7.6 million - a rise of 25% compared to the same period in 2007. Israel expects an all-time high of 3 million tourists to arrive by the end of 2008.