Anantara World Islands Dubai Resort is currently in its final stages of development, and if there’s one thing senior management can’t stop raving about, it’s just how different and exclusive this property is from anything else in Dubai. Situated approximately ten minutes from Palm Jumeirah by boat, guests will check-in at Anantara Dubai The Palm before heading out to the hotel jetty. A short boat ride later and they arrive at Dubai’s first-ever island resort.
As the pandemic globally lingers on, upscale leisure travel has made a comeback in the UAE. With this resurgence, comes a demand for stays and experiences that are a notch or two above the ordinary. Providing those extra-ordinary experiences is Anantara, especially as it prepares to launch its latest luxury property.
As we make the journey to the island, Giacomo Puntel, the resort manager, told us: “This is the first of its kind. An island-life hotel. It is away from the noise, the traffic and the light pollution. Most importantly we offer a level of exclusivity that can be found nowhere else in the city.”
When it opens, the resort will not cater to walk-in guests. “That way, we are more able to control the experience by limiting the guests on the island,” he added.
The property will feature 70 keys comprising of beach villas, pool villas and suites. With such a small number of rooms available, even at full occupancy, the island will be home to no more than 160 guests.
James Hewitson, general manager of Anantara The Palm and the new resort said: “We want people to walk around the island and feel like they are by themselves.”
Flora and fauna are abundant on the property, which also has views towards Dubai’s shoreline and out into the great blue yonder. All rooms will have direct beach access, while most will have a private pool.
“To enjoy a sea of nothingness, the west-facing rooms are the way to go. While, those who prefer a skyline should opt for an east-facing room,” were Hewitson’s tips for us.
Paradise close to the city
“The concept of private pool villas has been developed successfully in the Maldives,” said Hewitson. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have the same kind of hotels in Dubai.”
Normally, getting to an island resort requires significant travel. However, the prospect of staying on a secluded island, while being a ten-minute boat ride away from the bustling city centre, is no doubt enticing. “This resort offers the best of both worlds,” added Puntel. “You get to enjoy a quiet island and are only 15 minutes away from the worlds’ largest shopping mall, unlike in the Maldives, where you are hundreds of miles away from the mainland.”
The team, however, will ensure that the resort is alluring enough for guests not to want to leave. “There will be so much to do on the island,” said Hewitson. “All the signature dining options, watersports and a full spa menu.” Their six-treatment room spa will offer a full service list, as well as in-villa treatments.
“We even have a greenhouse, which during the cooler months will be the setting for a plant-based afternoon tea experience,” added Puntel. “Guests will be sitting in the middle of the greenhouse surrounded by all the fruit and vegetable plants and trees we are growing there.”
Other unique selling points include experiential dining locations, such as a ‘private floating sea lounge’ where guests can enjoy a meal while at sea. to make it work, the hotel is working with a company called HamacLand, which custom builds high-end solar-powered floating lounges.
“We will also offer floating breakfast trays and cocktail trays for guests to enjoy in their private pools,”Hewitson added. “As well as giant air-conditioned dining bubbles for the summer months.
“We have nine other surrounding islands that we have access to, so we can use these islands for activities or more exclusive dining experiences.”
Dining options will include a Mediterranean al fresco restaurant and Arabic-Indian speciality dining, perfect for romantic dinners and offering barbecues on the beach. In addition, freshly caught seafood will be prepared by a talented in-house team of chefs who will bring the finest fare to the island. A stylish bar lounge will offer magnificent panoramic views of the Dubai skyline, including the famous landmarks Burj Khalifa and Burj al Arab, even more special at sunset.
Approaching things Differently
The hotel is set to soft launch to guests in the first week of December. Puntel said: “We are greatly supported by our owning company Seven Tides Hewitson added: “There is definitely a different approach to this hotel than its sister property Anantara The Palm.” With one having more than 500 rooms and the new resort having less than one-fifth of that, who could disagree?
The GM added: “We spent a lot of time looking at similar resorts. We looked at Banana Island Resort Doha by Anantara as well as our properties in the Maldives. Having worked in both resorts there is a lot of learnings that we can take from them to position things correctly here.”
Hewitson himself is no stranger to Anantara, having spent more than ten years of his career with the luxury resort brand. And before taking over as resort manager, Puntel was director of food and beverage at Anantara The Palm Resort Dubai for six years.To gain experience of island resort life he spent two weeks in sister properties in the Maldives.
He said: “We are going to look at the arrival experience and the departure experience to make it really special.
“That’s the benefit of having an island resort, you can greet every guest. In bigger hotels it can be more difficult to interact with individuals. Here we will have a much more personalised and bespoke treatment.”
An international team
As a global brand, Anantara took full advantage of its talent pool from all corners of the earth.
“We wanted to have the right balance of people who have experience in different destinations,” said Hewitson. “That’s how you get a really good viewpoint. If we had just taken everyone from Anantara The Palm and just set up over on the island it would just be one way of looking at things. But having people from all over the world means they all bring something new.”
All the staff, who are based full time on the island, were hired internally within the company. “Giacomo was at Anantara Dubai, our F&B manager was previously in our property in Phuket, our engineer was based in our property in Oman and then the middle management team came from our Palm property.”
Developing and motivating talent from within Anantara is a priority. The GM explained: “It’s easy to look outside and find talent but if you really take the time to look within the company first, you can find fantastic talent that already immersed in the Anantara culture and who have the skill set trained already. “It’s very pleasing to me that every senior position has been filled internally. Where we’ve needed to cluster a role here, we’ve done so. Our commercial team, for example, are used to looking at a 500 key business are now also having to work with a 70 key villa hotel. It’s a different approach and it will help them develop their skills.”
Bringing sustainability
People may hear the words ‘sustainable hotel’ and think of solar panels or signs asking guests to reuse towels, but there’s more to it, and sustainability isn’t being used as a marketing tool at Anantara World Islands Resort but as an integral part of resort life.
”At properties in the Maldives, they can spend millions of dollars a year transporting things on and off the island,” said Hewitson. “We didn’t want that. So, we have our own water bottling plant on the island, eliminating the number of times our boats have to go back and forth to the mainland for water. We are also looking for a solution that lets us turn organic waste into energy that we can use to power the island.
“Currently, the island is powered by generators, but we want to be more efficient and reduce that diesel consumption.” Puntel added. “We are here to prove that island resorts can be feasible in a sustainable way. All over the world, people need to see that it’s very much a feasible project.”
Looking ahead
Before any of that, the team has to get the resort up and running. “At the moment that’s what we are thinking about,” Hewitson said: “Getting the positioning right, building our reputation and really establishing ourselves in the market.”
Phase two for the property is to continue improving on the sustainability side of things, eventually becoming self-sustaining. There’s already a boat-load of firsts for the property, which is already creating an incredible buzz in the market. With Hewitson and Puntel at the helm, we’re sure the resort will continue to push boundaries and show the way for others to follow.