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IHG will administer the CTE d’Azur Monaco Hotel in Dubai, the only operational property allocation in the heart of the allocation of Europe, using its Voco logo so that a comfortable relief is finished until the end of the room. The center of Europe is the component of the world of the world. , an archipelago off the coast of Dubai, with the aim of recreating countries in the synthetic islands. Despite the challenges, IHG is the only hotel operator that supports development, which has faced delays and controversies, but remains committed to its final tactile objective of 2026.
IHG will take control of the Côte d’Azur Monaco Hotel in Dubai, the only operating assets in the Heart of Europe Project. The Europe Centre dates back to 2008 and remains in our minds to open all of its 20 planned hotels, even 16 years later.
The Monaco hotel will run IHG’s voco brand, its conversion brand used for soft rebrandings. This means the hotel will plug into IHG’s loyalty and operations systems.
The rebranding will be completed before the end of the quarter and be known as voco Monaco Dubai.
To date, IHG is the only hotel operator to back The Heart of Europe development, which plans one day to have a wide range of known hospitality players running its hotels. In November 2023, IHG signed to manage the Marbella Hotel, opening in 2026, under its more up-market conversion brand — Vignette Collection.
The Heart of Europe is a component of a larger development named The World — an archipelago project situated off the Dubai coast. The overarching goal is to replicate the world map through the creation of individual man-made islands, each representing a specific country. The entire project encompasses 300 islands, with six dedicated to The Heart of Europe.
In a land that calls the world’s tallest building and the world’s largest mall home, visitors are overwhelmed by choice and stuffed with superlatives. The Heart of Europe looks to recreate the continent in miniature form with each hotel transporting guests to a particular country.
At the proposed Marbella Hotel, for example, staff will speak Spanish and clocks will be set to Spanish time.
“We are building something that is not here yet. We need 1,000 ideas of things not currently available to tourists in Dubai,” said the Kleindienst Group chairman Josef Kleindienst in an interview with Skift.
For the Monaco hotel, which opened in 2022, Kleindienst urges that the hotel has been in soft-opening all this time, intending to eventually hand it over to a hospitality operator.
“We are not a hospitality company,” explained Kleindienst. “We always decided to manage [ourselves] during soft-opening periods. We want to open as early as possible, but after the soft opening is done, we will hand hotels over to operators.”
The chairman told Skift that the Monaco hotel has been a challenge to run, and perhaps opened too soon, but that the company had to start welcoming guests so it could build its logistics teams.
“Monaco has tourist tricks, it is our first hotel and only 10 others under structure. Few brands would like, so it is complicated. But it is manageable. The sound of the structure cannot be as noisy as a beach, but it is difficult to stay away from the hotel, “Kleiniet said.
“Is it perfect? No. We would have opened later? Yes and no. We seek to expand our logistics as soon as possible,” he said.
Kleindienst and The Heart of Europe has had its fair share of troubles since its inception 16 years ago. Back in 2013, Kleindienst was sued by World Islands master developer Nakheel for not paying for its islands on time. The case was settled out of court.
In 2019, developers were criticized for promising Moldavos passports to investors in central Europe, a citizenship scheme for investment.
“Beyond the obvious ethical concerns, this poses a serious security risk to both Moldova and the entire Schengen area to which it has visa-free access,” Naomi Hirst, a researcher at anti-corruption group Global Witness, was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. “We look forward to an end to the super-rich buying citizenship and access to Europe.”
In addition, a spokesperson for the European Commission told the UK magazine that “the Commission largely monitored the effect on the programme introduced in November [Moldova] because it may provide migration and security risks. “
The program has been discussed through central Europe since then.
Apart from that, the task has been plagued through delays, unusual in Dubai, but few last as much as central Europe.
“Most projects have delays, go dead for a while and get resurrected,” Haitham Mattar, Managing Director – India, Middle East and Africa, IHG Hotels & Resorts told Skift in November. “Now is the time to reinvest [in Heart of Europe] because the Dubai economy is so strong, IHG has had one of its best summers in many years with 80% occupancies [in 2023]. The time is now to develop products and experiences.”
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