Josh Corder travel tips

Nurai Island was the gem of Abu Dhabi hospitality, a favorite among the rich and a featured location on the Real Housewives of Dubai. Now it says it is shutting down temporarily – though it’s unclear when it will reopen.

Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of Agoda, is confident the online travel agency can rapidly expand across India but says it needs to work even harder on “localization” efforts to do so. For Morgenshtern, localization means everything from more varied payment options, language options, and better ground support for customers facing problems.

Keshav Suri, executive director, Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, is looking to serve India’s LGBTQ community.

Ennismore’s Delano brand will open in Dubai this year on Bluewaters Island, the location of the former Caesars Palace. Delano is the same upmarket flag already found in Las Vegas and Paris.

Dubai Tourism CEO Issam Kazim joked that Dubai is an Indian city.

Football icon and Al-Nassr player Cristiano Ronaldo is currently staying at – and promoting – The Red Sea. The coastal destination is a flagship project of Saudi Arabia’s tourism dream, expected to house 50 luxury hotels by the end of the decade.

Oberoi Group — known for its luxury hotel brands Oberoi and Trident — is quietly developing new hotels close to nature, the company’s top boss revealed on Wednesday.

India could well be the breeding ground for lifestyle hotels.

A bulging middle class, a mega-rich 1%, and a rapidly growing population are swirling to potentially make India a tourism superpower. But the country’s largest online travel agencies are not going to go to war; rather, they’re in a race for who can leverage the growth opportunities first and then on a long-term basis.

Two of Dubai’s most prominent real estate developers are being merged and rolled into the personal portfolio of the emirate’s ruler.

$3,431: That’s how much it will cost to stay at the new Ritz-Carlton Reserve hotel in Saudi Arabia for a night. The super-exclusive, small key-count resort opens for bookings on May 26, hitting the market with the highest rates in the region.

Guido De Wilde is out of retirement. De Wilde is one of the great city builders of Dubai, serving as the regional chief operating officer for Marriott International during the formative years of the modern emirate. De Wilde retired in June 2021, partly due to a cancer diagnosis.

During the unveiling of the Aman Dubai this week, chairman and CEO Vlad Doronin said it will “probably” be the most expensive hotel in the UAE.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Oman have signed a pact to promote cruises across all four destinations. The Cruise Arabia Alliance was forged at this week’s ITB Berlin travel trade show and is the latest development in trying to promote multi-country holidays in the Gulf.

Jumeirah Group has appointed a chief brand officer to “spearhead the evolution of the brand,” the luxury Dubai hotel chain said Thursday.

The Saudi government has released its plans for the “Qiddiya Speed Track,” a Formula One-ready course being created at the Qiddiya development. The 21-turn track will go past the Six Flags amusement park and water park, similar to how the Las Vegas course wraps around the mighty Sphere.

Partly-owned by one of the richest Saudi royals in the world, Four Seasons is on its way to becoming one of the most dominant luxury hotel chains in the country.

Hilton has signed deals for three new hotels in Saudi Arabia: There are two Curio Collections, one focused on “eco” and the other on adventure. And an LXR resort will be an “agritourism” property as part of a tie-in with Saudi’s new farming tourism organization, Dan Company.

Dubai’s booming restaurant sector has its own 50-minute episode in a Netflix show out Friday: The seventh season of ‘Somebody Feed Phil,’ a travel show where Philip Rosenthal (creator of the sitcom ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’) tours restaurants across major global cities.

Saudi Arabia has launched a global brand campaign for its cultural tourism site AlUla, home to ancient ruins and a growing list of luxury hotels. The “Forever Revitalising” campaign has been produced in six languages with events in Dubai, London, New York, Paris, Shanghai, and Mumbai.

Abu Dhabi hotel group Rotana has a casino project in the works, and investment in the resort is open to anyone, starting at US$89,400 for a hotel room.