Khalaf Al Habtoor. Khalaf Al Habtoor.

 Al Habtoor Group will appoint an international hotel management company to run its upcoming luxury hotel on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.

Khalaf Al Habtoor, chairman of Al Habtoor Group, told HotelierMiddleEast.com that negotiations were underway for an operator for its Palm Jumeirah Island Hotel project, which was re-launched yesterday.

Al Habtoor said the new Habtoor Island Resort & Spa hotel on the Palm — a 330-room luxury property opposite the Burj Al Arab — needed the operational expertise of an established global hotel chain.

“[This is important] because of the high competition and their central reservation system and their experience, which is more than us — you need somebody more professional than our management,” he said. “It’s better to admit the truth.”

Al Habtoor added that it would most likely be brand not yet seen in Dubai.

“I think you will see a new brand, a new attractive brand — sometime soon we will announce it,” he commented.

The move marks a new approach for the company, which operates its existing six hotels through the Habtoor Hotels and Resorts arm of the firm.

In addition to handing over the management of Palm Jumeriah Island Hotel, Al Habtoor said that management contracts for the Group’s two hotels in Beirut would be signed.

The management of four hotels in Dubai — the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort & Spa, Metropolitan Palace Hotel, Metropolitan Hotel and Metropolitan Hotel Deira — will remain the same, added Al Habtoor.

The company is investing AED 1 billion in the new hotel on the Palm, scheduled to be opened by the end of 2013.

Construction is currently about 10% complete but Al Habtoor said he was confident the opening target would be achieved.

“We will not allow them [to be delayed] — construction is my business and I am the owner of the hotel and I know the way to tackle things. Sometimes to tackle it you have to [push] them,” he said.

Al Habtoor added that this was the first of several new projects to be announced before the year end, all of which would be in the “safe haven” of Dubai.

“We are planning to announce a few projects in Dubai, also hospitality and mixed-use etc, but I don’t want to say it until our directors and myself agree on it 100%,” he said.