by Renad Ghanem
JEDDAH – DAMAC Hotels, the hospitality arm of DAMAC Properties, has officially launched the first fully certified Shariah-compliant serviced hotel apartments in Dubai during the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) exhibition held recently.
Under construction, Constella is considered as the first certified Shariah-compliant hotel apartments from DAMAC Properties, located in Jumeirah Village.
Ziad Al Chaar, Managing Director, DAMAC Properties, who was interviewed by Saudi Gazette, said “we are working in developing the tourism sector in Dubai. Constella is required from different categories and countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Indonesia – because there are some tourists who come to Dubai who want a hotel with specified facilities like Shariah-compliant, starting from the management of the hotel, hotel employees, and rooms style, including floors dedicated only to ladies,” he said.
Al Chaar added that many people welcome similar hotels especially people from the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. “Since people know about Constella, they started to book on our website, people are asking to build the hotel as quickly as possible,” he said.
He further said “all the food that will served in the hotel is halal. The restaurant will also have a single section for men and separate family section, it will have also separate swimming pools for men and women, separate gymnasiums and saunas.”
Al Chaar said all the employees are Muslims, with dedicated floors for ladies that will be served by female staff only. “In the female floors all the services are by females, like room services, and all the different facilities are by females stuff,” he said.
In addition, Constella will also fully comply to Islamic financing principles, with all funds for the project managed by an Islamic bank. The full management of the project will be carried out on Shariah principles.
However, “it’s not limited to Muslims, but the facilities that the hotel presents are different than the others in Dubai, so the non-Muslims will be limited by the rules of the hotel,” he said.
Prices for Constella luxury tower start at AED702,000. Each unit will be provided with complete fully-fitted kitchen and daily housekeeping services, with access to a restaurant, kids club and swimming pool.
