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Premier Inn plans 242-room hotel near ADNEC

ABU DHABI — Premier Inn, the UK-based hotel brand, has begun building its first hotel in Abu Dhabi and the fourth in the UAE, at a prime location within the Capital Centre being developed by Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company, or ADNEC.

The new hotel to be ready by September 2011 will have 242 rooms, with the cost of development reaching Dh120 million, according to a release received here.

Premier Inn is UK’s biggest and fastest growing hotel brand with over 580 hotels and in excess of 42,000 rooms across the UK and in Ireland. The three existing hotels in the UAEof the brand are located at Dubai Investments Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis and Dubai International Airport.

Premier Inn is part of the Whitbread group in the UK and accounts for 70 per cent of the group’s profits. However, the brand operates in the GCC under a joint venture with the Emirates Group. The group is also planning to start Premier Inn brand hotels int Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Qawain, Muscat, Doha, Riyadh and Jeddah, in addition to the proposed one in Abu Dhabi, the release said.

Capital Centre, master-planned by ADNEC, is a micro-city of 23 mixed-use towers, including seven hotels. The development is adjacent to the gravity-defying Capital Gate tower, and the Gulf’s largest exhibition centre, the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, which staged over one hundred events last year.

The thriving meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions or MICE sector is slated to make an important contribution to ambitious tourism development plans of the emirate, ADNEC is expected to be major engine of growth envisaged in the MICE sector in Abu Dhabi.As the number and range of events that ADNEC continues to expand, the need for a balanced portfolio of on-site accommodation requirements will increase, according to experts. Premier Inn, with its class facilities is expected to meet a significant portion of this growing accommodation demand near the exhibition centre. “We are delighted to have secured this prime plot in Capital Centre. Capital Centre’s excellent infrastructure and proximity to Abu Dhabi’s superb new events facility makes it an ideal location for Premier Inn”, the release said quoting Darroch Crawford, Managing Director of Premier Inn Middle East. All rooms come with en-suite bathrooms and are capable of comfortably accommodating a family of up to four. The hotel will also offer a contemporary restaurant, a bar and a Costa Coffee outlet. A podium sundeck will feature a swimming pool and whirlpool spa.

· ramavarman@khaleejtimes.com