At YouTravels 15th anniversary roadshow, Travel Bulletin heard exclusively from Stasya Rakhmanova, First Collections cluster director, on new developments and more.
As the Dubai EXPO draws to a close, what do guests to the First Collection properties have to look forward to this year?
"For our company, we're quite excited as we'll be opening a new hotel. It's the First Collection Business Bay, quite close to the Burj Khalifa with great views. It will open in July - so pretty soon! Hopefully it'll be as successful as the First Collection JVC which we opened in September.
"First Collection JVC has been a great success, with 490 rooms. Since opening six months ago, we've been running at almost full occupancy - around 90%. As we move into summer, which is historically Dubai's low season, we have Easter and Eid, which tend to be quite busy periods."
How have you found the response from the UK markets since Dubai opened up for international travel?
"We've seen that after the ease of restrictions, things have gotten better with the UK market. Emirates is running approximately six flights daily, most of which are full. We feel that it's really working in our favour.
"Of course, we want more, we hope Dubai will be a top summer destination, as we know that the UK love Dubai in the summer. We have thermal-controlled pools and air conditioned rooms to give guests a break from the heat."
Off-property, is there any exciting developments happening in 2022?
"In September, we will open our own beach club on the Palm. Since we're a cluster of hotels, three hotels and four by July, all of them will have free access to the beach club. It'll have around 700 sunbeds, three restaurants, and that will enable us to offer new meal plans, such as all-inclusive. All of our properties are four-star, we describe them as 'affordable luxury', but this flexibility is really exciting."
Have you got any further plans to interact with the UK trade?
"We have had a number of meetings with the major operators, but it's really nice to come on the road and meet the agents directly. We have had really productive days with YouTravel, and we're keen to reach out to those who actively sell Dubai and the Middle East.
"I believe now it's even more important, and it's the right time for us to target the trade market."
