Starwood Hotels has announced the debut of its long-stay Element brand outside North America, a new-build property in Abu Dhabi due to open in 2011.
The hotel will feature 270 “extended-stay units”, and will be located in Capital Centre, a mixed-use development around 20 minutes from the city centre and 15 minutes from Abu Dhabi International airport.
A spin-off from the group’s Westin brand, Starwood has placed particular emphasis on green construction and design techniques for the new Element concept (see online news April 22). The brand recently opened its first property in Lexington, Massachusetts, with around 20 hotels under development across the US and Canada, including New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Toronto.
Capital Centre is
being dubbed as a “micro city” on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, and once complete
will feature six hotels (Starwood’s Aloft brand will also make an appearance in
2009), residential and serviced apartment blocks and a marina.
The complex also houses the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, the first phase of which has already been completed, and which will eventually feature over 55,000 sqm of meeting and conference space, as well as food courts, retail outlets and 2,000 sqm of serviced office space.
For more information visit starwoodhotels.com/element and capitalcentre.ae.
Report by Mark Caswell
