Master developer Nakheel has signed a joint venture agreement with RIU Hotels & Resorts, an international hotels group based in Spain, to open its first hotel at Dubai in 2019.

Ali Rashid Lootah, chairman of Nakheel, travelled to Mallorca, Spain, to sign the agreement with Luis Riu, CEO of RIU Hotels, a Nakheel statement said.

RIU becomes the first international hotel chain, and the only Spanish one, to sign an agreement with Nakheel. In its strategy of expansion into the hospitality business, Nakheel is planning 10 hotels across Dubai. The first opened earlier this month, and six more have been announced or signed.  

The planned RIU hotel, which has an investment value of $170 million, will be located at Nakheel’s  Deira Islands master development, and will be unique at the destination as, with 750 rooms, it will be the largest built there to date, as well as the first to offer 24-hour All-Inclusive service.

Deira Islands is one of Nakheel's large-scale coastal projects in Dubai and it will feature, in addition to hotels, the Deira Mall retail and entertainment complex, the Deira Islands Night Market with 5,300 shops, a marina and an amphitheatre seating 30,000 people.

“The formal signing of this partnership represents another step towards making the first RIU project in the Middle East a reality," said Riu. "We're proud to have a partner with the experience and prestige of Nakheel for undertaking this ambitious project. Dubai is one of the great new centres of international tourism as it represents a strategic enclave on the route between Europe and Asia”.

Lootah stated: “Under this new partnership, Nakheel will proudly introduce one of the world’s biggest, most respected names in hospitality and an entirely new concept in hotel accommodation to Dubai. This is a major milestone for our growing hospitality business and a significant step towards creating a new range of affordable, family resort-style hotel accommodation in the emirate, in line with the government of Dubai’s tourism vision for 2021.”

The international RIU chain was founded in Mallorca, Spain, by the Riu family in 1953 as a small holiday firm and is still owned by the family's third generation. The company specialises in holiday resorts and over 70 per cent of its establishments offer its acclaimed All-Inclusive by RIU service.