In an apparent infringement of a law passed in 2006 that bans unfair price increases, the hotels and restaurants continued to over-charge customers by imposing service charges on food bills.

Sultan al Mansoori, the Minister of the Economy and Chairman of Supreme committee for consumer protection said that this service charge has already been declared illegal by the Ministry of Economy but the owners continued to defy the ruling. However, it is yet to decide how the government enforces its decision.

The present year has been a challenging year for the industry and Dubai's hotel sector remained pretty low last month.

A 35.3 per cent drop in revenue per available room was suffered by hotels in Emirates, which came as the largest decline in the Middle East and Africa region. Last month witnessed a revenue fall to US$198.22 (Dh728.06) per available room from $306.27 in October, displayed the data from STR Global.

Arabian Construction Company (ACC) has announced that it has bagged an order to construct the Regent Emirates Pearl Hotel in Abu Dhabi from The Atlas Group, in a joint venture with Tourism Development and Investment Company.
 
The hotel will entail an investment of Dh870 million.

The sources informed that the inauguration of the hotel will be done in fiscal 2012.
 

The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Directorate General of Dubai Civil Defence (DCD) in order to perk up security facilities of hotels.

Mr. Khalid A bin Sulayem, DTCM Director General, and Major General Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi, DCD Director General signed the MoU at the DCD Headquarters in Dubai in the company of senior functionaries from both the groups.

Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, the Marriott group's lifestyle brand, has decided to set up five properties in the Middle East over the coming three fiscals.

The sources informed that the division is having global development pipeline of 24 hotels due to appear between now and 2012.

The sources further informed that 257-room Renaissance Doha will be established later this fiscal and will be followed in 2010 by three more properties out of which two in Dubai and one in Bahrain.

On Tuesday, Abu Dhabi's new hotel rating system was unveiled with Emirates Palace. With this launch, it has become the first hotel to put up its new 'five star' plaque.

A star rating, ranging from one to five, was allotted to all the hotels. The rating vastly depended on the facilities and service provided by the hotels and a rating of five means the best. The hotel apartments were graded as standard, superior or deluxe.

Millennium and Copthorne Hotels, leading hospitality major, has announced that it is searching options to establish five new properties in the UAE by fiscal 2012.

The sources informed that the move would enhance company's presence in the country to 11 hotels.

The sources further informed that in the first half of coming year, three hotels out of the five new hotels will be established in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, while the other two hotels would be set up in Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah, and will be kicked off within two fiscals.