Nakheel’s second hotel at Dragon City – a 304-room Premier Inn – is now open, marking another key milestone in the developer’s hospitality business strategy.

Premier Inn Dragon City, located just steps away from the world-famous Dragon Mart and its 5,000 shops, restaurants and attractions, was officially opened on Monday (16 December) by Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah and Alison Brittain, Chief Executive Officer of Whitbread, the UK’s largest hospitality company and owner of the Premier Inn brand.

The eight-storey hotel features a 320-seater restaurant, a Costa Coffee shop, a fully-equipped gym and meeting facilities. It is the fourth Nakheel hotel to be delivered, coming hot on the heels of the inauguration last week of its second hotel at Ibn Battuta Mall. Premier Inn also operates Nakheel’s first hotel at Ibn Battuta, opened in 2016.

Premier Inn Dragon City is part of Nakheel’s long-term vision for the mixed-use community, currently best-known for the Dragon Mart retail and trading hub, where a new shopping complex and 900-space multi-storey car park opened last month. Dragon City’s first hotel, a 251-room ibis Styles, opened in 2016, and its first residential component – a twin-tower apartment complex with 1,142 units – is under construction.

Nakheel Chairman, Ali Rashid Lootah, said: “Today marks another milestone for Nakheel, Dragon City and Dubai as we deliver the fourth hotel in our hospitality project portfolio, and the second at this globally-renowned destination. We are delighted to build on the success of our first hotel here, and to further cement our partnership with Whitbread by adding another Premier Inn to our collection of hospitality developments. We are confident that this new hotel will be a big hit with Dragon City’s 40 million annual visitors, who come from the UAE, GCC and beyond to shop and trade at this world-famous destination.”

Alison Brittain, Chief Executive Officer of Whitbread, said: “Having been part of the UAE hospitality landscape for more than a decade, it’s a true testament to the quality of Premier Inn that we are able to open our eighth hotel in the region. Our hotel at Dragon City marks the second in our strategic partnership with Nakheel, following the successful launch of Premier Inn Ibn Battuta Mall in 2016.”

Nakheel’s hospitality portfolio features a diverse range of accommodation, including iconic, luxury projects on Palm Jumeirah, all-inclusive beach resorts at Deira Islands and mid-range hotels attached to the developer’s major shopping malls.