Ritz Carlton in Saudi Set To Be One of the Most Expensive Hotels

14.03.2024 - 18:59 / skift.com / Josh Corder

$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.

It is priced higher than any hotel in Dubai right now – long seen as the epicenter of Middle East luxury.

Called ‘Nujuma,’ the Ritz-Carlton Reserve property will have 63 villas set around a ring over the water as you might find in the Maldives. It will be operated by Marriott, and is its smallest brand but also its most luxurious.

Plans include a spa, swimming pools, various dining spots, a retail area, and leisure facilities like a conservation center. The property will host a diving center focused on underwater exploration, providing deep-sea diving trips and snorkeling around the island’s outer reef.

Nujuma is located within one of Saudi Arabia’s fast-developing projects called The Red Sea. The coastal tourism project will eventually house 50 hotels. The plan is to open 16 hotels by 2025, and another 34 before 2030, with most being operated by international brands.

Being built as a storefront window to the future of Saudi tourism, The Red Sea has spared no expense in creating a luxury destination that can rival the likes of Dubai and the Maldives. The exact budget of The Red Sea isn’t known, but the developers spent $5 billion in total by 2023, and said they’d spend another $15 billion in 2024.

The Red Sea likes to open its hotels at record rates – with those records broken by the next launch. So far, two hotels have opened.

In November 2023, IHG’s Six Senses Southern Dunes resort opened, where a one-night stay cost $1,727. The villa-only St. Regis Red Sea (also run by Marriott) opened in January this year, priced slightly higher at $1,866 a night.

Looking at stays on May 26, a room at the Six Senses starts at $1,058, while a villa at St. Regis starts at $2,678.

Right now, the only hotels that could be priced higher than the Reserve are still being built and haven’t opened for bookings. Of the 16 hotels announced for The Red Sea, a handful stand a chance of being more costly.

Confirmed hotels:

With Reserve being Marriott’s flagship brand, it’s unlikely its other hotels will cost more. Grand Hyatt has already been announced as the project’s “entry” luxury hotel.

Of the remaining, the Four Seasons and the Shebara have the most potential. The Shebara brand will be deployed for the upcoming Sheybarah Island resort – seen as the most exclusive of the current 16-property lineup in the archipelago development.

Opening in the summer, the resort contains 73 keys, including overwater and beach villas and guests arrive either by a 45-minute boat ride from the