Meliá Hotels International has announced the signature of an agreement to operate the Desert Palm Dubai Hotel under its Meliá brand.

The announcement was made during the Arabian Travel Market, which is taking place in Dubai from April 22-25.

The hotel is an exclusive 160-acre urban oasis only 20 minutes from the centre of Dubai, providing 39 spacious rooms, suites and villas in an elegant retreat for the most discerning travellers, with an exclusive and authentic setting and a wide range of dining and wellness facilities as well as a variety of equestrian activities secluded amongst class polo fields.

The hotel will create a new benchmark for serene sophistication in the splendid and somewhat frenetic city of Dubai. Just a short distance from the most popular tourist attractions, the resort will seamlessly combine classic Spanish elegance - of which the Meliá brand is one of the finest ambassadors - with an oasis of uncompromising excellence and luxury. Meliá Hotels International, a global leading resort group, has a successful and long track record in managing luxury boutique hotels worldwide, such as the Meliá Colbert, Meliá Champs Elysées or Meliá Vendome in Paris, or the Meliá Campione and Meliá Villa Capri in Italy, among others.

The resort offers all-day dining at Epicure, a classic brasserie, complemented by a fresh and more informal pool service of superior quality local and international products. The Rare restaurant features a wood fired grill for meat and seafood dishes, tapas and cocktails to be enjoyed while watching the matches or training sessions on the main championship polo field, while other spaces such as RED bar and The Polo Bar, for enjoying relaxed afternoons and the memorable desert sunsets, or the Al Fresco Terrace, complete the resort's wide range of dining options.

The Desert Palm Polo Club is one of the most prestigious and well-equipped clubs in the world, with four polo fields helping reinforce the position of Dubai on the international polo circuit, and premium facilities fully prepared to host the finest horses in the world.

The addition of this new hotel allows Meliá to extend its presence in Dubai, where it will soon be opening brand new ME by Meliá and Innside by Meliá hotels, and throughout the Middle East region, with coming hotels also in Doha and Maldives. Gabriel Escarrer, executive vice president and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, said: "Taking over operations at this exclusive Dubai resort makes us very proud and also gives us a chance to demonstrate our proven excellence in the management of luxury urban resorts in a market to which the company is already firmly committed. Desert Palm Dubai will undoubtedly become a destination in itself to add to the growing portfolio of hotels which are ideal for people seeking perfect harmony between body and soul in a unique and authentic environment."

This agreement is the result of the excellent collaboration of Meliá Hotels International with the hotel’s owner, through which Meliá is already operating three successful hotels: Meliá Zanzibar and Meliá Serengeti Lodge (both in Tanzania), and Meliá Iguazu (Argentina). - TradeArabia News Service