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By Staff Reporter

PORT OF SOLLER
THE Jumeirah group, which runs the iconic sail-shaped Burj al Arab hotel off the Dubai coastline and will operate luxury hotel in the Port of Soller, is preparing to launch a new hotel brand.

According to Gerard Lawless, the executive chairman of the group, however, Jumeirah intends to remain at the luxury end of the market and any new brand would reflect this.

The Dubai-based group is pursuing a programme of rapid expansion.
It currently operates 11 hotels and resorts worldwide but plans to expand this to 60 by the year 2011. As well as Majorca, there are projects being developed in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Aqaba, Doha, Phuket, Shanghai, Bermuda and London.

In Majorca, Jumeirah are involved in the development of a five-star luxury resort on the cliffs above the Port of Soller with spectacular sea views.
There will be 120 rooms and suites, all with terraces or balconies and with sea or harbour views.
The resort is planned to open in 2010 and will feature state-of-the-art conference and banqueting facilities, as well as two swimming pools and a spa, fitness centre and treatment rooms measuring over 2'000 square metres. There will also be restaurants and bars with outside terraces. The project is being developed by Brussels-based WingField Corporation.

Lawless said that on average the Jumeirah is looking at launching a hotel a month between 2009 and 2010. The group also plans to expand in China where it is looking at taking over and managing 10 hotels under the Jumeirah brand.

At the launch of the Majorca project last year, the first European resort and spa, which the group is developing, Lawless said that Jumeirah was “delighted to be leasing and managing such a prominent new resort”. “The hotel is a very strategic and important addition to our growing portfolio of luxury hotels and resorts worldwide and we look forward to offering guests and visitors of the hotel our unique Jumeirah experience.” In the United Kingdom, the group operates the Carlton Tower and Lowndes Hotel in London's Belgravia.
The group has six hotels and resorts in Dubai and when the Majorca hotel opens it will be Spain's first “seven” star hotel and one of the most luxurious and exclusive in Europe if not the world.

It will also add a whole new quality dimension to Majorca's prestigious top end tourism catering for the world's rich and famous.