Millennium Airport Hotel ramps up its family offering as record number of GCC visitors head to Dubai this summer

DUBAI- Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai is gearing up for the city’s busiest summer season yet with packages, promotional rates and new rooms, suites and facilities designed to attract the flourishing GCC family market.

Package-savvy GCC resident leisure travellers can choose from the ‘Leisure for Longer’ package, which offers 15% discount on the Best Flexible Rate of the day for stays of three nights or more; the ‘Advance Purchase’ package with 15% discount off the Best Flexible Rate of the day for bookings made minimum seven days in advance; or the ‘Last Minute for Less’ offer with a 10% reduction on bookings made 24 hours prior to arrival.

Other options include a ‘Family Summer Breaks’ package with 50% discount on dining for children aged 12 years and under, and the ‘Triple B for Business’ discounted rate for corporate guests offering a ‘Bed, Breakfast & Broadband’ package, which rounds out the suite of offerings.

The family-friendly property recently added 21 new and refurbished suites and 150 new rooms, renovated 54 club rooms and extended its poolside ‘Terrace’ area in a bid to attract an even greater share of GCC visitors heading to the city over the next few months.

“The GCC is one of our fastest growing source markets,particularly during the summer months when big family groups travel to Dubai to experience the city’s vast leisure and entertainment offering,” said Simon Moore, General Manager, of the Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai.

“In terms of our top source markets, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are third and fifth respectively, proving that we already have a solid proposition to attract even more GCC guests.

“Our recent extension which more than doubles the hotel’s previous room inventory will be a big hit with GCC families. Our generously-sized interconnecting rooms and suites, family-friendly recreation facilities including a recently extended outdoor area and super-sized pool are ideal for families. Added to this, our location is another huge benefit – close to the airport, five minutes from ‘Old Dubai’ and just ten minutes away from great shopping malls such as Deira City Centre, Wafi City, Bur Juman and Dubai Festival City,” added Moore.

So it hardly comes as a surprise that room-nights generated by UAE guests staying at Millennium Airport Hotel Dubai have already increased more than six-fold in the year up to March 2014 (compared to same period up to March 2013).

Looking at the bigger picture, according to Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (DTCM) guests from Saudi Arabia – Dubai’s top source market outside of the UAE in 2013, almost trebled.

Dubai is an increasingly popular holiday choice with regional travellers who are attracted to the city’s ever-growing number of family-orientated leisure activities and events year-round, but especially during the hotter summer months.

“The number of GCC hotel guests at the city’s properties accounted for 80% of all Arab guests, DTCM figures reveal. The emirate received 4.2 million visitors from GCC countries last year, up 13.2% on 2012 numbers and an 11% upward swing in overall guest nights, during the same period. This is a growing market that clearly looks for value and responds to incentives,” said Moore.