Meliá  Hotels International has set plans to open two new hotels in the UAE in 2018. 

melia desert palmDubai

The first hotel—Dubai's Desert Palm Hotel—will be rebranded as a Meliá property through a partnership with Albwardy Investment Group, the hotel's owner. The official rebranding for the 38-guestroom Desert Palm Polo Club & Resort by Meliá is scheduled for July 1.

This will be Meliá's fourth partnership with Albwardy, following three others in Tanzania and Argentina: the Meliá Zanzibar and Meliá Serengeti Lodge in Tanzania and the Meliá Iguazu in Argentina. The Desert Palm Dubai originally operated under the Per Aquum brand by Minor Hotels before Meliá agreed to take over operations earlier this month. 

The group’s Me by Meliá Dubai—the first Me by Meliá in the UAE—is scheduled to open after its hotel with Albwardy begins operating. Architect Dame Zaha Hadid designed the 93-room hotel with 98 serviced apartments while developer Omniyat is developing it in the Opus building in Downtown Dubai’s Burj Khalifa district.