Last year I heard a rumor that Arabella was going to get demolished and turned into a hotel and now there are renderings out showing what it’s going to look like. Based on the renderings it seems like they’re going to be demolishing the left side of Arabella (the side with Texas Roadhouse and Cheesecake Factory and build the hotel there.
The area isn’t that big so I’m very curious to see how they’re going to make it work especially the parking situation which is a total mess right now.
There is no mention yet on what hotel will be opening there or when but for more renderings including some interior ones, click here.
Thanks ChaoticTranquility
30 replies on “Arabella to turn into a hotel”
I always wonder who are the visitors to Kuwait that fill the ever growing number of hotels. Ive noticed some bloggers that have visited Kuwait, as it is popular now for youtubers to go too places that no one typically visits.
+1. And I dont even see the demand coming from business travelers. I really wonder if there are any market studies done prior to coming up with such plans/
our hotels tend to have high occupancy rates because we really have a limited number of good hotels (4 and 5 star – only around 3,500 rooms source: https://e.kdipa.gov.kw/main/10hotel.pdf
That’s why the average room cost is one of the most expensive in the region and why more hotels are popping up. Lots of business travelers and regional tourism (I’d guess mostly from Qatar and Saudi)
You didn’t hear about the Ministry of Interiors Foreign Dignitaries scandal ? Over 15 Million KD embezzlement scheme. They were billing the State for ghost dignitaries in order to steal the surplus from the budget allotted for foreign dignitaries that would visit Kuwait on official business. In league with Kuwaitis that owned hotels here they proceeded to siphon so much funds it would shock you.
They would hide the names of said visitors by using a very smart ploy, that they needed to remain anonymous because they were assisting in anti-terror operations. Look at the new scandal wherein the former prime minister assisted in money laundering the money stolen by Jho Low from the Malaysian and Chinese governments. Apparently it was the largest heist in HISTORY. I dont know if Mark allows this content but I feel someone had to say it.
Care to cite any references Enizah?
I’ve worked in a hotel before and there is demand from leisure around the gulf region (seeking luxury experiences) as well as for business. Not necessarily for international tourism.
The owners also run a chain of hotels called yotel specialized in luxury small footprint rooms and hotels, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a hotel work in that area
Well more than just Yotel
https://www.ifahotelsresorts.com/en
https://aqarat.com.kw/properties-europ-us.html
Yes, that’s correct, but I just meant to highlight that they’re good at utilizing small spaces for hotels.
That makes perfect sense then. I have seen their hotel in Changi’s airport, pretty modern and minimal. but I wonder if Kuwait’s will be getting any traction in the coming 1-2 years unless drastic changes happen to steer the direction of the economy from Oil dependent to other more sustainable economy forms.
Yotel has a very specific brand aesthetic and formulaic design, so based on these renderings I wouldn’t expect this hotel to be Yotel-branded. Aqarat owns a less-than-ten-percent stake in IFA, who developed Yotel but is also partnered with Accor on some of their developments, so maybe we’ll see a Novotel, Swissôtel or Pullman on this site.
Developers in Kuwait like to have exclusivity agreements in place with hotel operators, and unless X developer builds a hotel then the market misses out on a particular brand and others can’t engage with those operators. Salhia, for example, is partnered with Marriott who operates Salhia’s JW Marriott, Courtyard and Residence Inn properties [plus the upcoming Marriott Executive Apartments at Assima], Tamdeen is partnered with Hyatt who operates Tamdeen’s Hyatt Regency Al Kout and the upcoming Grand Hyatt at 360, and Bukhamseen has an exclusivity agreement with IHG until 2027 for the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels in Salmiya and Farwaniya, and will be opening Staybridge Suites and InterContinental hotels in the next year or two in Salmiya and Farwaniya respectively. You’ve also got Action Hotels with Accor [Ibis Salmiya and Sharq], Marafie with Radisson [Radisson Blu and Symphony Style] and Alshaya with Hilton [Hilton Garden Inn, and the upcoming Waldorf Astoria, Canopy and Hampton].
Now that I think about it, Marriott runs the Sheraton and Four Points, both of which are owned by Alshaya who also operates Four Seasons and Hilton-branded hotels, while the Hilton in Mangaf isn’t owned by Alshaya but the Hilton Garden Inn and other upcoming Hilton properties are. This leads me to think that Marriott and Hilton are not necessarily bound to Salhia or Alshaya, so Aqarat could be able to tap them. Perhaps they could bring Le Méridien back to Kuwait or operate the hotel at Arabella as an independent property part of a collections brand like Marriott’s Autograph Collection or Tribute Portfolio, or Hilton’s Curio/Tapestry Collection.
We shall see, I suppose.
We need a mandarin oriental, it out does any other hotel chain in my opinion. The one in dubai made the best sushi and cocktails ever. If you ever go mark you need to get a mistress something cocktail, you have a geisha printed on the top of the drink and it tastes like heaven.
But tbh mark we have lot of 4 & 5 star hotels considering the population and visitor numbers. Just outside my house (ta’wen street) there are 6 now a seventh. Avenues has 2, resorts, some in Salmiya and the capital. Kuwait only has a population of 200k (locals and foreigners) that would be willing and able to afford these prices or have family that can afford these prices. Hala February must really drag people in droves, if kuwait uses the jacc properly with more international shows like sting then i can see hotels filling up, especially considering kuwait’s bourse reclassification investors may come more often?
All i know is we need a large damn mandarin with sushi and a sake cocktails or im gonna loose it.
I’m basing it off the document I linked to which says we have 20 in total.
We have atleast 30 good 4/5 star hotels, keep in mind some hotels give themselves stars for free like the hellhole grand majestic hotel where i spent my 2 week quarantine.
But that my issue is of quality not quantity, the fourseasons is the only place that is world class, idk about the walrus hotel but I’m expecting it to be top of the line too. But many of other hotels need to realise that they just aren’t good especially the rooms, a hotel isnt just nice lobby (regency) it’s the full package and i only experienced that at the fourseasons.
Yeah I think thats why KDIPA’s document only lists 10 five star and 10 four star hotels. Their data is from 2013 though so we know a few more have opened up since.
Your wish might come true – a Mandarin Oriental is planned to form part of the Bukhamseen Square development on Ahmad Al Jaber Street downtown. The site is currently boarded up by a huge, blank grey fence and initially began construction in the mid-2000s for a 60-floor tower with an InterContinental on the first 20 floors and offices on the upper 40, but they stopped construction after partially building the basement core. No idea what the new development will look like other than the name change to Bukhamseen Square, but I do know that MO is part of that plan.
Those sake cocktails might not make it here though because, you know, Kuwait.
they stopped because they decided they wanted to do something bigger
https://248am.com//images/2020/05/city.jpg
They wanted to expand to their plot next door (building that has Burger & Lobster). They got permission to close that street between them on the condition they open another street at the end of their building where Arabica was. So then they went to court to get Arabica out and then won the case last year. Arabica left, they demolished building and I guess next step is turning it into a street.
Im an economics student in a decent uni in the u.k but my real dream is city planning and architecture which my cousin’s university (leeds) is world renowned for, so I regularly visit to talk to staff there. I made a mini plan for kuwait city which would be car free, have trams and a new shading system with automated vine shades would open and close as templates rise would make the wide streets a place of life. We also planned “food towers” sky scrapers dedicated to food production through modern irrigation methods cutting water use by 99.99% and using solar panels for led lights. We planned a arts, economics and law schools as well as a european food market connected. Kuwait city is a perfect carless location due to how little streets are available. We planned the shaheed park to stretch from dasman palace to the opera house and to replace the red mosque with the zaha hadid mosque designed for the avenues. Even though no one cares i still like to imagine people living better, safer and healthier lives in the capital with better land use.
Before you talk about car parks each motorway will be connected to an automated parking building, it’s position saved to your transportation card which you use on the tram.
“I made a mini plan for kuwait city which would be car free, have trams and a new shading system with automated vine shades would open and close as templates rise would make the wide streets a place of life.”
They came up with and proposed that plan back in the 60s
https://248am.com/mark/kuwait/where-are-our-monorails/
Parking lots on the city outskirts that transport people into the city where there would be wide streets and shade.
Oh wow, yeah.
I was planning this thing like in old Lebanese markets where you have wooden shades made of small squares of wood, vines and foliage go through the squares and make a shaded area. We were hoping to do that with 2 layers, solar powered shades would open and close this foliage roof as temperatures change. This decreased temperatures like crazy and increased humidity causing breezes. The roads in Kuwait are crazy wide, you can easily have trams and mini stores in the capital. Also there aren’t that many roads in the capital just a handful of long roads stretching from one side of the capital to the other. You would only need 6-8 lines with 5-10 trams per line. The car garages were going to be a new exhibition centre with the failing marafi tower as a connected centre piece. The salhiya cemetery as a “remembrance” garden and building, turns out a group of kuwaiti designers were already well into the design of that concept. I just wish someone would listen.
is this owned by arabiya aqariya ?
Years ago, I looked at the business plan of Arabella and I thought: A restaurant mall? High density of restaurants? Limited parking? Who the hell would do this let alone want to invest. Boy, was I wrong.
Little did I know that restaurant strips would become a thing. Mainly since the govt allowed residential land to become commercial if it’s overlooking specific highways. Developers benefitted more than the restaurants on the whole, IMO.
I’m glad Arabella is big enough to transform into a hotel. In their case, they were lucky. Location, location, location. I hope we find good use for the rest of the strips bound to struggle post corona.
a lot of strips were struggling before corona. too many strips, more than the demand. some strips never opened because they couldn’t get enough tenants.
Yup… and Arabella was the hardest hit. Since it opened it never took off, was always a ghost town
It was actually extremely popular when it opened, SUPER PACKED, like always busy. But parking was the issue.
People were flocking to Arabella to sit and have coffee but not actually eat at the restaurants. The people who wanted to eat at the restaurants could never find parking.
So to solve that they decided to implement a parking fee.
People who used to go to chill and drink coffee stopped going because it didn’t make sense to pay 500fils for parking when they were there for a 1KD coffee. And it turned out it was also too little too late to get diners to come back to Arabella and give it another shot since the damage had already been done.
Arabella will forever be known as a place with horrible parking.
and don’t forget … a place with horrible restaurants LOL … Red Lobster / Olive Garden anyone?
Say whaaat?! Maybe when it opened and I wasn’t in Kuwait… but from late 2015 onwards it’s been dead (maybe from the parking story u mentioned but I have some doubts)
Oh yea, if anyone ever suggested that place to meet I would get instant car park anxiety. But let’s be honest, about 98% of car parks in Kuwait are poorly designed, like an after thought. I just love it when they space the car spots as if we all drive small euro cars, not the full sized American monsters on the road here.
Agreed – when it opened it was THE place to be for a while and was just killed by traffic queues and needing to get valet parking if you wanted to park quickly.
There were 4-5 decent restaurants there and some good choices but also a couple that went downhill very quickly – Red Lobster and Olive Garden.
As happens with a lot of the franchises coming into Kuwait, they are good while they are new and staff are under training from supervisors from the original parent group, but they quickly drop-off as the franchisee takes over running them 100%.
So techincally, this is another planning disaster in Kuwait, you know.. like the Al Kout Mall – first spend millions building a rubbish mall, then tear it down after 4 years and build another one – Miral followed the same faith – now Arabella.
Not ot mention the way the place was planned, no proper infrastructure to handle the masses that used to visit,peoples leaving their stupid cars in the middle of a busy road – and then thousands just gave up going there in the first place while countless other joints opened over a 30km stretch of Road down highway 30 and between Fintas and Fahaheel.
One opens, another one closes… well planned!