Dubai hotel brand targets UK trade with incentive

A new hotel brand in Dubai – The First Collection – is targeting the UK travel trade with a booking incentive as it launches its second property.

Called The First Collection Business Bay, the hotel offers 437 rooms and suites, plus leisure facilities such as a gym, spa and 25-metre open-air swimming pool (main picture).

Travel agents can earn free hotel stays, shopping vouchers to spend at Dubai malls and more when they sign up to The First Group Hotel Rewards, an initiative open to all UK bookers.

The booking incentive to The First Collection Business Bay and the brand’s debut Dubai property, The First Collection Jumeirah Village Circle.

Agents receive points for every booking, with more points earned for higher-value rooms categories.

Thirty points – between 10 and 30 room nights depending on the room category booked – will earn a mall gift voucher worth AED100 (about £23), for example.

Karim Abdelhamid, hotel operations vice-president at The First Group Hospitality, which operates The First Collection, said: “As Dubai’s popularity with British leisure and business travellers continues to grow, driven by an incredibly supportive travel industry committed to selling the destination, the time is right for us to strengthen ties with UK travel bookers, and raising awareness of The First Group Hotels Rewards programme is a great place to start.

“Travel agents are a vital distribution channel for The First Collection and its sister properties in The First Group portfolio, and with our hotel offering expanding…most recently in the city’s high-profile Business Bay district, bookers can capitalise on demand for Dubai stays in top locations by signing up to our trade-focused incentive.”

He added: “Our Business Bay property ticks all the right boxes for the Brits, whether they are visiting for business, a holiday, or a mixture of both, such is today’s ‘bleisure’ trend.”

The UK was Dubai’s fourth largest visitor source market in the first five months of 2022.

UK bookers can register with The First Group Hotel Rewards by emailing su.myat@thefirstcollection.ae