9-day Eid Al Fitr holidays in UAE: Hotels near landmarks, beachfront almost at full capacity

Hotel occupancy level is running at a very high level of 80 to 90 per cent ahead of the Eid Al Fitr break and it’s expected that waterfront properties and hotels located near landmarks will witness full occupancy during the nine-day holidays.

Industry executives said most of the new guests are likely to come from residents as well as neighbouring Gulf countries, which will also have a long Eid break.

The UAE's Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation on Thursday announced the Eid Al Fitr holidays from Ramadan 29 until Shawwal 3.

Based on the astronomical calculations, the holy month of Ramadan is expected to last 30 days, and the residents will mark the first day of Eid Al Fitr on May 2, which means they will enjoy a nine-day break.

Angelo De Guzman, hotel and F&B marketing consultant and brand strategist at AngeloDG, said across Dubai, hotels are already recording figures in the mid-80s to the high of 90s with an optimistic outlook of closing near full occupancies as the dates inch closer to the Eid holidays.

“Beachfront resorts and city hotels connected to Dubai's popular landmarks like the Museum of the Future and Burj Khalifa are optimistic that they will hit full occupancy. Last-minute bookings are expected to drive an extra push from local, GCC, and international holidaymakers,” he said.

Mamoun Hmedan, chief commercial officer and managing director, Middle East, North Africa (Mena) and India of Wego, said with Eid approaching, there is an increase in the number of searches for hotels and flights in the UAE.

“We saw that the average trip duration ranges between 3 and 4 days for hotels in the UAE during Eid holidays.”

Higher demand than last year

De Guzman added that with travel restrictions eased in the UAE and most other countries, there's been a considerable shift in the average length of stay as hotels are recording 3-6 night bookings versus last year's 1-2 nights. “While UAE residents have shown interest in domestic staycations, a sizable influx of guests is forecasted to come from international travellers.”

Abdulla Alabdulla, group general manager, Central Hotels, said compared to last year, there is higher demand during Eid with the easing of travel restrictions.

The current average length of stay during Eid, according to Alabdulla, will be around four nights and most of the visitors come in from the GCC market during the first few days of the Eid Al Fitr holiday break with great interest in 4-star and 5-star hotels.

He expects occupancies level of up to 90 per cent during Eid.

Outbound travel

Raheesh Babu, COO of Musafir.com, said most hotels are recording high occupancy rates for Eid holidays of between 70 to 80 per cent.

“We are also seeing more demand on outbound travel as travellers sentiments due to the pandemic have changed and they prefer taking the long Eid break to travel/ explore outside to different destinations. The searches for hotels are increasing as we approach the Eid dates, so far we have around 131,000 searches for hotels in March and April.”

Mamoun Hmedan added that the minimum one night 3-star hotel stay on their platform is around Dh250 and the maximum 5-star hotel stay can range between Dh1,000 to Dh2,300 and above.