The Polynesian-themed Lapita Hotel was launched in January this year. Courtesy Lapita
The Polynesian-themed Lapita Hotel was launched in January this year. Courtesy Lapita

Travel and Tourism

Lapita looks to be an entertainment hotels leader

DXB Entertainments intends to make its home-grown hotel brand, Lapita, the global leader in entertainment hotel chains.

Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott
Dubai

April 20, 2017

DXB Entertainments, the group behind Dubai Parks & Resorts, intends to make its home-grown hotel brand, Lapita, the global leader in entertainment hotel chains.

While average room rates have been dropping in the emirate as the supply of mid-market brands increases, Dubai attracted 14.9 million tourist arrivals in 2016, an increase of 4.9 per cent on a year earlier.

The emirate’s occupancy rate has also been rising at four and five-star hotels, improving from 78 per cent in 2015 to 79.3 per cent last year, according to figures from STR Global.

A Lapita Hotel, managed as part of Marriott’s Autograph Collection, was launched in January this year, set in the middle of the Dubai Parks & Resorts theme park complex. The hotel has 504 rooms, including 60 suites and three villas.

“Strategically we want to establish ourselves locally before expanding regionally and then globally,” said Raed Kajoor Al Nuaimi, the chief executive of DXB Entertainments. He said the company aimed to agree management contracts with partners to aid the expansion.

“This, of course, means starting here in Dubai, at the Dubai Parks & Resorts destination, while seeking further opportunities. In the last few weeks of March, the Lapita Hotel Dubai was close to full occupancy as the destination experienced some of its highest attendance numbers on the back of regional school holidays.”

Dubai’s increase of 4.9 per cent in visitor numbers is below the 7 to 8 per cent average growth targeted to reach 20 million visitors by 2020, but the emirate is still delivering attractions. Six Flags Dubai, the destination’s next theme park, is expected to open in late 2019. “The expansion of the Lapita Hotel brand highlights the opportunity for quality family resorts linked to theme parks and entertainment centres, many of which are being planned across the region,” said Rashid Aboobacker, a director at TRI Consulting.

“There is certainly an opportunity to leverage their development and operational experience from the Jebel Ali property, which can be applied in other upcoming destinations in the region which will benefit both the brand and the destination.”

ascott@thenational.ae

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Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.

The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.

Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.

However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.

Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”