The Rocco Forte Collection has announced its first property in the Middle East, due to open in 2010.

The as yet un-named hotel will be managed by The Rocco Forte Collection on behalf of Abu-Dhabi based owners Al Farida Investments, and will feature 282 rooms across 12 floors, a 25m swimming pool, and a 500sqm spa and health club.

There will also be a choice of  restaurants and bars, the latter of which will be “suspended” on the fifth floor of a ten-floor atrium, and a total of nine function rooms, including an 800sqm space accommodating up to 700 delegates.

The hotel will form part of the Bridgeway development, located on Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum Road (the city’s main artery linking Maqtaa Bridge to Abu Dhabi’s business centre), and will also feature a second building housing 134 serviced apartments, also to be managed by Rocco. The two buildings will be separated by a 10,000sqm retail and entertainment complex.

The Rocco Forte Collection recently added The Charles Hotel in Munich and the refurbished Le Richemond in Geneva to its portfolio (see online news August 29, 2007), and further properties are due to open in Prague later this year, Sicily (2009) and Marrakech (2010).

For more information visit roccofortehotels.com.