UAE: Damac Properties is launching a division called Naia, which will eventually manage more than 3,800 serviced apartments the company has developed.
Damac, which raised US$348 million in a share sale in London five months ago, said that Naia will operate alongside Damac’s existing serviced apartment operator Damac Maison Hotels and Hotel Apartments, which opened its first property at Damac Maison Dubai Mall Street on New Year’s Eve.
Naia, which is Hindi for “new” and Arabic for a “small deal”, will be targeted at “a younger, trendier clientele” than the company’s existing Damac Maison brand, Damac managing director Ziad El Chaar told The National newspaper.
El Chaar said: “We are launching Naia really out of necessity. The scale of this operation is very large with an ultimate total of 10,000 keys, 50 per cent of which are likely to be rented out by owners through our rental pools. We believe that we need a coefficient of two employees per hotel apartment. The two brands will be run by separate teams.”
Naia will manage a portfolio including the 17-storey Naia Downtown Jebel Ali (formerly known as Suburbia) and 800 homes at the Miracle Garden project in Dubailand.
It will also manage Damac’s two new projects at Dubai World Central, close to the Expo 2020 site; its 10-storey, 270-apartment Tenora block and its 900-key Celestia as well as Damac apartments at its Akoya golf course scheme, Jumeirah Villageand Business Bay.
www.damacproperties.com
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