The luxury fairy tale is over

Dubai. It's official: even Dubai's Jumeirah Group will offer package deals this quarter, "but in the long term, we need to maintain quality," Executive Chairman Gerald Lawless says in an interview with hospitalityInside.com. That's true of everything, he continued, true for rates, for staff and for new hotels. After eleven years in which the group contented itself with its nine hotels in Dubai, London and New York, the plan is now to add 60 new hotels in the space of only three years. Astoundingly, the current financial crisis has left the ambitious project unscathed. "98% of investors and financially strong," the manager stressed. Jumeirah also profits from its position in Dubai Holding. The details.