• Home

Abu Dhabi's hotel reinventing itself to beat competition

Many of Abu Dhabi’s old favourites have gone quiet these days and among those fighting to keep up with the new competition is Millennium Hotel.

From Anantara Eastern Mangroves to Sofitel, St Regis Abu Dhabi and Ritz Carlton, lots of new five star hotels and resorts have opened in the Capital in the past few years, posing a challenge to the old ones.

An inside view of Millennium Hotel in Abu Dhabi. — KT photos by Shoaib Anwer

Many of Abu Dhabi’s old favourites have gone quiet these days and among those fighting to keep up with the new competition is Millennium Hotel.

A 12-year-old property, in a modern glass building, with no opulence or excessive luxuries, without a private beach or a private garden, Millennium doesn’t attract the immediate attention but, behind closed doors, a lot is happening.

“We are working on renovating our rooms, and not just paint and furniture; we are bringing in new technology as well,” said James Wilson, general manager of Millennium.

To start with, the hotel is about to introduce check-in and check-out services done on iPad.

“For example, you just arrive and while you enjoy refreshing drink in the lobby, a staff member comes along with an iPad and does the check in for you, so you don’t have to wait at the check-in desk; or just before leaving, you may request a check out in your room and someone will come and do it on the iPad for you,” explained Wilson.

Sometime next year, the hotel also plans to change its name to Millennium Corniche to distinguish itself from the existing Grand Millennium Al Wahda and the new Millennium Bab Al Qasr, planned to open next year.

The hotel currently has three restaurants and one of them, the Italian Sevilo’s, is also going through some change, starting with its name, which is going to be Biscotti.

“We will launch the new Italian cafe at the end of next week — for the time being we are still working on the menu. The concept is simple, but good quality Italian food. It will also serve about 20 different wines by the glass, starting from Dh18 per glass, so it is affordable for everyone,” explained Wilson. The concept extends to the open terrace right next to the cafe, which will be opened till late evenings, serving affordable wines, shisha and Italian snacks.

In the lobby cafe, the menu now includes a few rare gems such as the Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, one of the world’s most expensive and most sought-after coffees due to its mild flavour and lack of bitterness, and the Royal Lotus tea, made from the royal lotus flower, sourced from rare and indigenous harvests in Thailand.

“It is a very expensive tea; it costs about four of five US dollars per tea bag. Being such a good quality tea, about 90 per cent of it is exported to Japan. As far as I know, we are the only place in the UAE where you can get it,” said Wilson.

After a quiet summer, most of Millennium’s 305 rooms are now booked and the hotel is looking ahead to at least two very busy months.

“We have now reach 95 per cent occupancy and with Formula 1 coming in November, we’ll be fully booked,” he said.

news@khaleejtimes.com