Dubai Marriott Harbour Hotel & Suites

Dubai Marriott Harbour Hotel & Suites is a 59-floor 256 meter (840 ft) tall skyscraper completed in 2007. This residential and hotel tower is located in Dubai Marina in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and features 261 suites offering choices of 24 spacious studio rooms, six one-bedroom, 170 two-bedroom and 55 three-bedroom suites, as well as six penthouses. The Hotel is the property of The Emirates Group, which also owns other hotels like Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa.

When opened on 1 November 2007, it was known as Emirates Marina Hotel & Residence. The name was changed to The Harbour Hotel & Residence in January 2008. The reason for the change was due to the large quantity of buildings in Dubai Marina that had the word "Marina" in them. To prevent confusion from their customers, and to keep the nautical theme, the words "Emirates Marina" were changed to "The Harbour." The hotel was finally rebranded and renamed Dubai Marriott Harbour Hotel & Suites, when it was put under the management of Marriott International on 15 September 2009.

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The Emirates Group

The Emirates Group is a public international travel and tourism conglomerate holding company headquartered in Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, by Dubai International Airport.The Emirates Group comprises Dnata, an aviation services company providing ground handling services at 17 airports and Emirates Airline, the largest airline in the Middle East. Emirates Airlines flies to over 100 destinations across 6 continents, operating a fleet of over 130 wide-bodied aircraft. The airline has 170 aircraft on order worth US$ 58 billion. The Emirates Group has a turnover of approximately US$12 billion and employs over 50,000 employees across all its 50 business units and associated firms, making it one of the biggest employers in the Middle East. The company is wholly-owned by the Government of Dubai directly under the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

Head office

The airline's head office is in the Emirates Group building in Al-Garhoud, Dubai.[3][6] The building is located on Airport Road, across from the site of the Emirates Engineering Centre in 2004. A tunnel connects the building to Dubai International Airport. Construction on the building, worth 275 million New Zealand dollars, began in 2004. Construction was scheduled to end in mid-2006, with staff progressively moving in over the following year. Emirates self-financed the construction. Over 6,000 employees work in the building. Previously the airline's head office was the Airline Centre along the Flame Roundabout in Dubai.

History

Origins

As the British pulled out of Dubai in the late 1950s, Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum al Maktoum decreed an open seas, open skies, and open trade policy, to develop the country. He also required all government agencies to make a profit. The country was aiming to eliminate its dependence on its finite oil reserves within 50 years.

The Dubai National Air Transport Association (DNATA) was formed in 1959, and by the mid-1980s, it was employing 2,500 employees. It consisted of three business segments - Dnata Airport Operations, Dnata Cargo and Dnata Agencies. In addition to providing support services at Dubai International Airport, the company served as sales agent for 26 airlines. Dubai had been used as a stopover on routes between Europe and the Far East since the days of Imperial Airways, which landed its flying boats there en route to Australia. The open skies policies kept its airport among the busiest in the Middle East.

During the mid-1980s, Gulf Air began to cut back it services to Dubai. As a result, Emirates was conceived in March 1985 with backing from Dubai's royal family, whose Dubai Royal Air Wing provided two of the airline's first aircraft, used Boeing 727-200/Advs. It was required to operate independent of government subsidies, apart from $10 million in start-up capital. It also leased a new Boeing 737-300 from Pakistan International Airlines which was returned back in 1987. Maurice Flanagan was named managing director of the new airline. Formerly of the Royal Air Force, British Airways, and Gulf Air, Flanagan had been seconded to DNATA in 1978 on a two-year assignment as assistant general sales manager. Chairman was Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, nephew of the ruler of Dubai became chairman of Department of Civil Aviation and DNATA itself. Tim Clark join the management team.

Boeing 777-300ER The first flight of the airline was, Dubai-Karachi on 25 October 1985. The airline leased an Airbus 300B4-200, from Pakistan International Airlines. Bombay and Delhi were the next destinations for the airline. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum later gifted two Boeing 727-200s to the airline.

The Emirates Group became profitable within its first nine months. During its first year, the airline carried about 260,000 passengers and 10,000 tons of freight. By 1986, the airline was adding new destinations such as Colombo, Dhaka, Amman, and Cairo to its route network.

In its second year the group posted a loss, but growth continued even as the region was experiencing a downturn a year later. The Gulf War and the laying off of expatriate workers as the main factors. In its second year, competitors had accused Emirates of starting a price war, something the airline's competitors still accuse Emirates of doing. On 3 July 1987, Emirates received its first bought Airbus A310-304, from Tolouse. Within the first 38 months of operating, Emirates was serving 12 destinations.

Emirates Sky Cargo, which operated as a separate entity, carried 25,000 tons of freight in fiscal 1989. Emirates expanded its route network into the Far East in 1990, and expanded its European operations in the summer of 1992. In 1990, the airline purchased three additional Airbus A310-300s from Airbus. The Group also launched Marhaba in December 1991 as a premium meet and greet service for passengers travelling through Dubai International Airport.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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History of Dubai

Although stone tools have been found at many sites, little is known about UAE's early inhabitants as only a few settlements have been found. Many ancient towns in the area were trading centres between the Eastern and Western worlds. The remnants of an ancient mangrove swamp, dated at 7,000 BC, were discovered during the construction of sewer lines near Dubai Internet City. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, becoming a part of the city's present coastline. Early Islamic ceramics have been found from the 3rd and 4th century. Prior to Islam, the people in this region worshiped Bajir (or Bajar). The Byzantine and Sassanian (Persian) empires constituted the great powers of the period, with the Sassanians controlling much of the region. After the spread of Islam in the area, the Umayyad Caliph, of the eastern Islamic world, invaded south-east Arabia and drove out the Sassanians. Excavations by the Dubai Museum in the region of Al-Jumayra (Jumeirah) found several artefacts from the Umayyad period.
Al Fahidi Fort, built in 1799, is the oldest existing building in Dubai – now part of the Dubai Museum

The earliest recorded mention of Dubai is in 1095, in the "Book of Geography" by the Andalusian-Arab geographer Abu Abdullah al-Bakri. The Venetian pearl merchant Gaspero Balbi visited the area in 1580 and mentioned Dubai (Dibei) for its pearling industry. Since 1799, there has been a settlement known as Dubai town. In the early 19th century, the Al Abu Falasa clan (House of Al-Falasi) of Bani Yas clan established Dubai, which remained a dependent of Abu Dhabi until 1833. On 8 January 1820, the sheikh of Dubai and other sheikhs in the region signed the "General Maritime Peace Treaty" with the British government. In 1833, following tribal feuding, the Al Maktoum dynasty (also descendants of the House of Al-Falasi) of the Bani Yas tribe left their ancestral home of the Liwa Oasis, South-west of the settlement of Abu Dhabi and quickly took over Dubai from the Abu Fasala clan without resistance.
The Al Ras district in Deira, Dubai in the 1960s
Wind Towers in Dubai

Dubai came under the protection of the United Kingdom by the "Exclusive Agreement" of 1892, in which the UK agreed to protect Dubai against the Ottoman Empire. Two catastrophes struck the town during the 1800s. First, in 1841, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the Bur Dubai locality, forcing residents to relocate east to Deira. Then, in 1894, fire swept through Deira, burning down most homes. However, the town's geographical location continued to attract traders and merchants from around the region. The emir of Dubai was keen to attract foreign traders and lowered trade tax brackets, which lured traders away from Sharjah and Bandar Lengeh, which were the region's main trade hubs at the time.

Dubai's geographical proximity to Iran made it an important trade location. The town of Dubai was an important port of call for foreign tradesmen, chiefly those from Iran, many of whom eventually settled in the town. By the beginning of the 20th century, it was an important port.[18] Dubai was known for its pearl exports until the 1930s; the pearl trade was damaged irreparably by World War I, and later on by the Great Depression in the 1930s. With the collapse of the pearling industry, Dubai fell into a deep depression and many residents starved or migrated to other parts of the Persian Gulf.

In the early days since its inception, Dubai was constantly at odds with Abu Dhabi. In 1947, a border dispute between Dubai and Abu Dhabi on the northern sector of their mutual border, escalated into war. Arbitration by the British and the creation of a buffer frontier running south eastwards from the coast at Ras Hasian resulted in a temporary cessation of hostilities. Electricity, telephone services, and an airport were established in Dubai in the 1950s, when the British moved their local administrative offices there from Sharjah. After years of exploration following large finds in neighbouring Abu Dhabi, oil was eventually discovered in Dubai in 1971, albeit in far smaller quantities, after which the town granted concessions to international oil companies. The discovery of oil led to a massive influx of foreign workers, mainly Indians and Pakistanis. Between 1968 and 1975 the city's population grew by over 300%.

On 2 December 1971 Dubai, together with Abu Dhabi and five other emirates, formed the United Arab Emirates after the former protector, Britain, left the Persian Gulf in 1971. In 1973, Dubai joined the other emirates to adopt a uniform currency: the UAE dirham. In the 1970s, Dubai continued to grow from revenues generated from oil and trade, even as the city saw an influx of immigrants fleeing the Lebanese civil war. Border disputes between the emirates continued even after the formation of the UAE; it was only in 1979 that a formal compromise was reached that ended hostilities. The Jebel Ali port was established in 1979. Jafza (Jebel Ali Free Zone) was built around the port in 1985 to provide foreign companies unrestricted import of labour and export capital.

The Gulf War of 1990 had a huge effect on the city. Depositors withdrew massive amounts of money from Dubai banks due to uncertain political conditions in the region. Later in the 1990s many foreign trading communities—first from Kuwait, during the Gulf War, and later from Bahrain, during the Shia unrest—moved their businesses to Dubai. Dubai provided refuelling bases to allied forces at the Jebel Ali free zone during the Gulf War, and again during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Large increases in oil prices after the Gulf War encouraged Dubai to continue to focus on free trade and tourism.

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