Hotel brands announce expansion plans at Arabian Travel Market

(Banyan Tree)

Sol Melia is to open a little corner of Spain in the UAE, it announced May 3 at the Arabian Travel Market.

The Spanish chain, which owns brands including Gran Melia, TRYP and Paradisus Resorts, will open a five-star luxury property in Dubai later this year, and plans further properties in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The 164-room Melia Dubai is set to open October 12 and is expected to draw on the strong cultural links between Spain and the Middle East.

It will feature five restaurants (including one by celebrity Indian chef Sanjeev Kapoor), a full-service spa and a rooftop swimming pool with adjoining tapas bar, adding what Sol Melia describes as an "unmistakable touch of Spanish hospitality."

The hotel is set to open on October 12, the Fiesta Nacional holiday in Spain, with rates beginning at AED650 (€120) a night.

It is one of a series of hotel announcements that have been made at the Abu Dhabi travel show - Hyatt also elaborated on its expansion plans this week, promising to open a total of nine new hotels across India.

The properties will include a luxury Grand Hyatt hotel in Noida and Hyatt Regency hotels in Jaipur, Surat, Ghazibad, Chandigarh, Lucknow and Guwahati.

Banyan Tree too unveiled major expansion plans at the show - properties expected to open this year include the Banyan Tree Macau in China on May 15, Banyan Tree Riverside/ Shanghai, Angsana Hangzhou, and Angsana Balaclava/Mauritius.

http://www.solmelia.com

http://www.hyatt.com

http://www.banyantree.com