Fifty percent of the AED 100 million luxury 5-star hotel project, Al Bait Hotel in Sharjah, has been developed, according to Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq). The new hotel, which is expected to be a prestigious hospitality and heritage landmark located in the Heart of Sharjah – the largest heritage-focused project in the region, is being developed to provide a premium array of hospitality services and luxurious experiences to its guests, and to raise the bar for the expanding cultural and authentic tourism sector in Sharjah.
Scheduled for completion by H2 2017, the new hotel is inspired by the historic heritage and traditional Emarati lifestyle, which is preserved and restored all throughout the Heart of Sharjah project, carefully tailored through the hotel’s mix of modern and traditional design and lifestyle offering. Guests at the 5-star hotel will receive the unique opportunity to experience an authentic living experience through the hotel’s interior and exterior designs, indulging in one of the rarest traditional and cultural tourism memories.
“Al Bait Hotel is an extremely important project for both Sharjah and the UAE. It marks the first heritage development of its type in the region, especially that it’s located in the centre of the Heart of Sharjah – a place that first hosted our forefathers 6,000 years ago. The new hotel is expected to deliver 54 keys to a variety of guests arriving from different parts of the world, as well as enable them an exclusive living experience in Sharjah” said Ahmed Obaid Al Qaseer, COO of Shurooq.
Al Qaseer continued: “The development is a tangible example of Sharjah’s vision to restore and protect our cultural heritage, and to restore and enhance its historic fabric in order to further promote Sharjah as an authentic and cultural destination.”
“In developing such a huge project as the AED 100 million Al Bait Hotel, we needed to take into consideration the legacy of the area, its heritage and its cultural significance. The resort comprises a group of traditional houses in the locality which have been exclusively renovated from the outside and redesigned from the inside in order to provide a premium level of services to guests,” he added.
Al Bait Hotel is unique in the sense that it preserves the essence of the selected dwellings by keeping the names of their original owners and the style of the rooms to highlight the environment of the early Emiratis, who were originally their inhabitants. This attention to detail provides guests with the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of the past through elements that celebrate the culture, society, history, civilisation and hospitality of the first generations of Emirati people.
Al Bait Hotel will be operated by GHM group, which will manage the resort and provide its guests with an array of premium services. Once open, the project will be a tourist landmark as well as a 5-star hotel.
Al Bait Hotel is home to 54 luxury rooms comprising suites of various sizes, a 24-hour restaurant, cafés, a traditional Arabic Tea and Coffee House, a business centre, a heritage museum, a library, retail outlets, a guest reception room, men’s and women’s spas and numerous other facilities.
(Press Release)