No vacancy: Dubai hotel room rents surge 300% ahead of New Year 2014

As the city gets ready to welcome 2014 by setting new world records, hotel room rates in Dubai seem to be soaring at levels not seen in recent past.

Booking websites reveal that room rates in the city seem to have doubled for spending the New Year ’s Eve in Dubai.

Room rates at all Dubai hotels - luxury, mid-scale or budget - have been going up since mid-December, and prices on the last year of 2013 surge by up to 300 per cent or even more in some cases.

While this time of the year is usually extremely busy for Dubai hotels, this year there's the added attraction of the city set to register a world record in fireworks. This coupled with Dubai's growing allure for tourists and visitors from across the Gulf and around the world means that hotels in Dubai are making a killing on room rates. 

For example, a room in Mina A' Salam at Madinat Jumeirah is priced at Dh2,450 per night if you check in on the 29th of December and check out the next day. Come 31st and this rate doubles to Dh4,900.

On the 31st Armani hotel is fully booked out with the only option of Armani Dubai Suite which is priced at Dh40,000. The other two options are Armani Fountain Suite and Armani Executive Suite but can only be taken for a minimum stay of three nights.  If we check the rates in the first week of January it comes down to nearly half with the Armani Dubai Suite priced at Dh22,000.

Atlantis, where the big show will take place, seems to be fully booked out. A palm beach deluxe room is available for Dh3,960 today but all rooms are fully booked for the New Year.

Even the so called affordable hotels have become pricey and most of them are fully booked out. Popular hotels like Holiday Inn Downtown Dubai, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, Holiday Inn Bur Dubai and many more have no rooms available.

And the ones available have jacked up the rates just as others. In Lotus Hotel Dubai you can get a room for Dh1,799 whereas Metropolitan Palace Hotel will charge you Dh2,291 for the night. The hotel only charges Dh631 if you spend one night before the New Year.

And, these rates are not all inclusive. There may be more charges to make the deal even costlier.

The UAE’s hospitality industry is thriving now and this trend is expected to continue as Dubai and the country will become a sought-after destination for international visitors by 2020, the time when the city hosts the World Expo.

The UAE is already among the top five countries in the world for new hotel openings over the past five years. The hospitality industry in the UAE saw positive growth throughout the first 11 months of 2013.

Dubai, Middle East’s hospitality, tourism and shopping hub, is the world’s biggest growing market outside of China since 2008 as far as new hotel openings is concerned. The city has been named a top 10 global destination for business, leisure and shopping tourists, as per a research exercise by Genesis Consulting ME.

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