S5, E53: Dubai Hospitality and the Making of a World-Class Hotel Scene

In this episode of Unpacked, guest host Nicola Chilton explores Dubai’s love affair with hotels. She talks with Philippe Zuber, CEO of Kerzner International, about the desert resort Bab Al Shams, the city’s beaches, and Kerzner’s newest Dubai properties, One&Only One Za’abeel and SIRO. Then cultural entrepreneur Mohammed Kazim, co-founder of the Arabian footwear brand Tamashee, traces Emirati hospitality back to the three-day hospitality code, Arabic coffee and dates, and the trade routes that made Dubai a meeting point long before the skyscrapers.

Topics discussed in this episode

• Why Dubai’s hotels, from the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab to the twin Atlantis resorts, tell a story about nation building and ambition
• A quieter side of Dubai: staying at Bab Al Shams in the desert, 1 hour from the city, instead of dune bashing
• Philippe Zuber on One&Only One Za’abeel, SIRO, and working with 200 nationalities
• How the Emirati tradition of hospitality grew out of scarce resources, the 3-day hospitality code, and trade routes
• Why Arabic coffee and dates are still the first thing offered to guests, and what the dallah symbolizes
• How Dubai Creek and Dubai’s port, business, and hub culture shaped the city, and where Mohammed Kazim sends first-time visitors

Frequently asked questions

What is Bab Al Shams?

Bab Al Shams is a heritage desert resort about 1 hour from Dubai, now part of Kerzner’s Rare Finds collection. Philippe Zuber recommends it as a comfortable base for experiencing the desert’s calm, with camel rides, horseback riding at the neighboring equestrian club, and dining in the dunes.

What are One&Only One Za’abeel and SIRO?

One&Only One Za’abeel is Kerzner’s first One&Only urban resort, with views of the city and the Burj Khalifa. SIRO, Kerzner’s new wellness-focused brand for business travelers, shares the building.

Why is hospitality so important in Emirati culture?

According to Mohammed Kazim, Emirati hospitality grew out of the Arabian Peninsula’s scarce resources and travelers’ need for care, including an unwritten 3-day hospitality code for guests. Dubai’s long history as a meeting point of trade routes also made it a naturally diverse and welcoming place.

Why are Arabic coffee and dates offered to guests?

Coffee and dates are the first things offered to a guest, a tradition that goes back centuries. The dallah, the long-spouted coffee pot, became a symbol of Emirati identity and appears on the 1 dirham coin.

What is Tamashee?

Tamashee is a Dubai-born brand co-founded by Mohammed Kazim that revives traditional Arabian sandals through contemporary design. Its sister business, Tamashee Experience, takes travelers to tribal communities around the Arabian Peninsula.

People, places, and resources in this episode

• “I’ve Called Dubai Home for a Decade. These Are the 13 Hotels That Actually Capture It.”—Nicola Chilton on Afar
• Beyond the Skyscrapers and Supercars: How to Spend 4 Days in the Dubai Locals Love—Nicola Chilton on Afar
• Nicola Chilton’s author page on Afar
• Jumeirah Burj Al Arab—Afar review
• Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa—Afar review
• One&Only One Za’abeel—Afar review
• Kerzner International
• SIRO, Kerzner’s first hotel for performance and recovery
• Tamashee
• Burj Khalifa
• Madinat Jumeirah
• Dubai Travel Guide on Afar

Full transcript

Nicola Chilton: This is Unpacked by Afar, and I’m your guest host, Nicola Chilton. I’m here for episode 2 of our 4 episode series on Dubai, a place I’ve called home for more than a decade. If you missed our first episode where we dove into Dubai’s history and mine, check out our link in the show notes. Dubai is a city that has something of a love affair with hotels. There are more than 800 here with over 150,000 rooms. Some of them, like the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab and the twin Atlantis hotels on the Palm Jumeirah, are practically synonymous with the city. Hospitality has always been a key part of Emirati culture, and hotels are some of the best places in the city to experience just what makes the welcome here so special. But hotels also play a particularly distinct role here, often telling a unique story about nation, building and architecture as symbols of growth, ambition and hospitality. Combined, these two elements of traditional hospitality and ultra modern architecture make Dubai’s hotel scene especially fascinating.

In this episode, we find out exactly why. Today, I’m thrilled to be welcoming Philippe Zuber to the episode. Philippe is the CEO of Kerzner International, and he oversees 8 incredible hotels here in Dubai, including 2 Atlantis resorts, 3 very elegant One&Only resorts. And he’s also going to tell us more about their OG property out in the desert. There’s also 23 hotels around the world that he looks after, and 12 more are in development. So it’s incredible that he’s managed to find the time to speak with us today.

Thank you so much, Philippe.

Philippe Zuber: It’s a pleasure, Nicola.

Nicola: I’m very excited to have you here. Now, I know that you are a fan of the desert, and this is one of the must do’s for someone coming to Dubai for the first time. There are a few things that have to be done. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about what? What you think are the things that first time visitors should do here?

Philippe: So that’s my secret spot that I’m sharing now. Okay. Anyone that goes to Dubai, they have the city by itself. And here there’s so many things to do. But here at the backdrop, you have as well the nature and the nature is the desert. And the desert is what makes this place so unique. And in fact, so many places around the world, you don’t have this opportunity to enjoy that.

Nicola: So when your guests go out to the desert, what are they actually doing there? They’re not just sitting looking at sand.

Philippe: So we just took over a beautiful, beautiful resort in the middle of the desert. It’s called Bab Al Shams. It’s a historical building, and we are now glad that it’s part of our portfolio under the brand Rare Finds. What’s the beauty about that? Is 1 hour drive? The drive itself, it’s a beautiful drive and it’s just like taking you out of this vibrant city and bringing you up to a place which is very unique, very grounded. Whoever comes to Dubai and take the time to understand the desert, and if you want to go into a comfortable setting, Bab Al Shams is the best place. You can go the hard way, you can go camping. If you want the luxury approach, Bab Al Shams is the door, and then you can walk into the desert. You can understand what it means. It’s extremely safe, it’s extremely beautiful, and then you can have so many experiences. Next door you have one of the Royal Equestrian Club. You can go and do horse riding. This is really a unique experiences. You can do camel rides, you can really watch the sunset. You can have dining in the middle of the desert.

Nicola: So for you, the desert is more about the calm and the serenity than the dune bashing and the, uh, aggressive way of experiencing it?

Philippe: 100 percent. There’s a misinterpretation about the desert. You know, I don’t like this dune bashing anything like this. This is not what the desert is all about. It is about really understand the sand, the beauty, the nature. And wait a little bit. You see, it’s very alive place. It’s making you appreciating the city even more.

Nicola: A lot of places say that their cities of contrast and it can be a real cliche, but in Dubai, it really is true. When you have those 3 very dramatic distinctions between the desert, the skyscrapers of the modern urban center, and then the long stretch of beach and sea. It’s those 3 things combined really make Dubai the place that it is today.

Philippe: Absolutely.

Nicola: It always reminds me, you know, the old Wizard of Oz. You’ve seen the old movie where the Emerald City. Every time I come back to Dubai from the desert and you see the skyline getting closer. With the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building in the middle. It makes me think that I’m approaching the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. There’s something that looks unreal about it. So you’re going to find that serenity and calm in the desert, and then in the evening, come back to this vibrant city that’s home to all the great food, all the great nightlife.

Philippe: 100 percent. You come to Dubai for that.

Nicola: Okay, so we’re going to the desert. We’re going to go see the world’s tallest building. What about the beach? When I first moved to Dubai, I don’t think I’d realized just how fundamental a part of weekend life the beach was. We have great public beaches here. We have great beaches connected to resorts. Do you go to the beach here?

Philippe: I love the beach. And let’s not forget Dubai is a destination that has wonderful weather. They have decided the government of Dubai. They’ve done an incredible work for doing cycling track walkway, path cafe, everything along the beach then. Now the beach is not only becoming the place that you can enjoy to spend an afternoon, but it’s becoming a social space. It’s becoming a place where the people which are living in Dubai, the 200 nationalities that compose this unique ecosystem of Dubai, are hanging up together and they go to the beach.

Nicola: It’s a real Dubai experience, and hotels are quite a fundamental part of our social life here in Dubai, maybe more than in many other cities around the world. Let’s talk a little bit about some of your hotels. So your newest hotels in Dubai are One&Only One Za’abeel and SIRO. So what can you tell us about these hotels and why visitors might want to stay there, or even drop in for a meal there?

Philippe: One&Only One Za’abeel is first, like many of these kinds in Dubai, an architectural icon, but let’s not stop there. If you just pass the doors, you have 2 experiences there. You have the One&Only, which is our first One&Only urban resort, and absolutely an outstanding experiences that you have alongside to the journey. Extremely beautiful scenic view to the city of Dubai, to Burj Khalifa and then SIRO.

SIRO is our latest concept. And in fact, it’s the future business travelers are looking for. And you know, Nicola, travel is really exciting. It’s probably the best things out of the world, but it’s really taking a lot on your body, on your mind. And then you need to look after your body and you need to look after your mind. SIRO is the place. It is not a recovery place. It is a place that has the whole guaranteed amenities that can keep you up to be the best version of yourself. And I just love the people at the front office, the people at housekeeping, the chef 200 nationalities is making all of us extremely humble to have to live with so many nationalities, so many cultures. And this is the beauty of Dubai. Many people don’t really realize what it means to work with 200 nationalities. I know I have the pleasure for doing this.

Nicola: Philippe. What for you is the best thing about living in Dubai?

Philippe: Nothing is impossible. The fact that you wake up in the morning and you say, if you have a great idea, if you have something that you really want to do, you can really make it happen. The freedom to be absolutely free to dream and to have the possibility to deliver that. I think, wow, this is really special. This is really special. So I’ve been able to deliver so many of those dreams and I’m dreaming every night.

Nicola: After the break, I’m going to be joined by our next guest, Mohammed Kazim. Mohammed is a cultural entrepreneur, co-founder of Tamashee, which is a Dubai born brand that focuses on contemporary Arabian footwear and travel around the Arabian Peninsula. See you after the break.

Welcome back to Unpacked. My next guest is Mohammed Kazim. He is a cultural enthusiast and entrepreneur. He is an absolute fountain of knowledge, wonderful human being. And I am delighted to have you here with us today.

Mohammed Kazim: Thank you for having me.

Nicola: Thank you so much for joining us. I always come to you with questions. I’m constantly asking you things. And hospitality has always been very important in this city. There are 800 hotels, 150,000 hotel rooms here, but it’s not really a new concept. Hospitality has always been deeply rooted in Emirati culture. So I would love for you to tell us a little bit more about why staying here and visiting is such a special experience.

Mohammed: Of course, first of all, I hope I’m half of the things you said in the intro, so I, I you set the bar too high. I’m hoping that I could reach. Secondly, an honor to be explaining about Dubai before it was called Dubai, was called Al Wasl. And Al Wasl literally means the connecting point or the linking point. And that is not a random name that was given to it. It was actually the meeting of trade routes that was coming from the mountains, those coming from the deserts, those coming from the oases and those coming from the coast.

So everyone met in this point and kind of mingled. That mingling allowed for the accommodation of diversity in thought, the diversity in belief systems, the diversity in value systems, the diversity in food, the diversity in design, the diversity in religion, you name it. So that kind of environment is naturally conducive to hospitality. Now, that said, there are other elements to it, and I’m sure you’ll touch upon them in your other questions. But for me, the diversity element is very important for hospitality.

Nicola: So when you say the diversity is important in hospitality, this is an incredibly multicultural city. And it may seem that that’s a new thing as as the city has modernized and the tourism industry has grown, but it’s not actually a new thing at all because Dubai has always been this center of exchange.

Mohammed: Yeah. What’s very interesting about it is that it’s ingrained in our DNA. And one of the things you’ll constantly hear people say is that, you know what? I never feel like I’m a foreigner in Dubai. I feel like I’m home. And that’s, again, not a coincidence. It’s part of who we are. It’s part of who we became, and it’s been so for a very long time. My grandfather, who passed away in the ‘50s, still lived in a diverse environment. Maybe the nature of diversity changed, but he was still in a diverse environment before him. It was diverse internally. We came from different landscapes, so we came with different cultures, different tribes, different professions. Some were farmers, some were fishermen, some were traders, and they all lived together in the same environment. So that diversity was rooted. It’s part of it’s part of who we are. Now, keeping in mind that hospitality also goes back one layer in the Arabian Peninsula. So it’s not just hospitality because we accommodate diversity, but there was a hospitality because of need.

Nicola: I think it’s really fundamental to understanding the broader Arabian Peninsula, but to really understanding what makes Dubai so accommodating.

Mohammed: So you may know that Dubai’s modern history goes back to maybe the late 1700s. At that point in time, our resources were very scarce as coastal Dubai. So we had a little bit of water, but there was fortification. It kind of gives you an indication that fortification existed to protect the little water that you have. Now, why am I saying this? Because that gives you context on how resources were protected, but also resources were shared. And why is that important in the context of hospitality is because we had to create code to share these resources. It wasn’t easy to travel from point A to point B, and when you did, you’d expect some kind of I don’t want to say welcome, but some kind of care while you transit to the next destination. And so the hospitality concept was born in the Arabian Peninsula out of need because your resources were scarce and you had to make sure that you cater to this need. Now, you could be in a feudal tribe member and you’re fighting these people, but if you’re passing through, the people of the region have the duty to show them hospitality for 3 days. So the 3-day hospitality code was created out of need. And it was something that people practiced. They wouldn’t ask you why you’re even there. They would give you your room that give you food for 3 days without questioning.

Nicola: So when you say people passing through these would be people traveling from the desert to the sea or from the south to the north and Encountering nomadic peoples on the way. How would they be coming into contact and requiring the hospitality?

Mohammed: Yes, either nomadic peoples on the way, or settlements or coastal settlements. I mean, had little villages. There were no hotels back then, so you would expect to get some care, even if it means just giving you a place to sleep and some food that became part of who we are. And it became so much part of who we are that we started boasting about it in what we know best to boast in, which is poetry. The Arabic language is our prize. We had a very minimal environment, very minimal resources, but we went really, really intricate in our language, and that’s where we took out all the expression. And so in poetry, we boasted about our hospitality, about how hospitable we are and how great we are. And this was from pre-Islamic times. It’s not just an Islamic concept.

Nicola: So many visitors to Dubai. One of the things that they may experience is being offered Arabic coffee and dates. Where does this come from and why is that something that’s still offered to visitors?

Mohammed: So it’s interesting you say that because of course coastal areas don’t have dates, right? So where did Dubai get its dates from? So every emirate has an oasis or a form of mountain territory where farming is prominent. So that already gives you an idea of diversity. Like immediately. Right. You’re telling me that you’re in coastal Dubai, but you’re getting dates. That means you had a link with another territory. So that’s number one. Number two, there are different theories about this, but coffee was introduced to the peninsula and it was introduced to some people say through Yemen or some people say through Ethiopia.

But in any case, it came from that area, the Horn, Horn of Africa, Yemen. So we had access to coffee, which then became part of our culture. Now it became so much part of our culture that it’s the first thing you are given in hospitality. Some people say that before you were required by code, by this hospitality code, to actually slaughter an animal as a sign of generosity to the guest. And it became a little expensive. So when coffee got introduced, people say it was actually a blessing. It was like, okay, fine. We we have to first give them coffee and see. Maybe we don’t slaughter for him. Of course, I’m saying it as a joke, but I’m sure there’s some truth to this. So again, coffee became part of our culture of greeting. It’s part of that desire and need to be hospitable. Like, how can you come to my place and I don’t offer you something?

Nicola: The offering of dates and coffee, whether it’s Emirates first class or whether it’s one of the luxury hotels in the city, it goes all the way back to antiquity, basically.

Mohammed: Yes. Of course. Yes. I mean, until when coffee was introduced to the peninsula. On top of that, you’ll see pictures. You’ll see black and white pictures of since cameras were around and, uh, Orientalists visited the region and you’d see coffee as a big part of this. In fact, it became part of the setup, right, of where you receive the guest. You have that place where you light the fire and you the firewood, and you have the the dallah, which became a symbol of our identity. It was actually on our 1 dirham coin.

Nicola: Can we explain the dallah to our listeners who may not be familiar with it?

Mohammed: Yes of course. So the dallah is a pot in which coffee is prepared and also poured out of it has a long neck and a nozzle. If that’s the word.

Nicola: Spout.

Mohammed: Spout. Yes, it’s a spout.

Nicola: So let’s chat a bit about hotels, because I always feel that hotels in Dubai have a real significance. Maybe not every country puts so much focus on its hotels, but in Dubai they’re a really, really important part of the city. Some of them are absolutely synonymous with the city. You can’t think of Dubai without the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab. And I think without the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, tourism in Dubai would never have developed the way that it did. It was the first landmark that gave the perception of this as being a luxury destination. You were born here. You grew up here. How have you seen the evolution of the city in terms of hotels and the role that they play?

Mohammed: I think it’s a very cool question. I’ve never given it a lot of thought, but as you were asking me the question, the ideas were coming to my mind. And honestly, I think first of all, the first phase of hotel development was always iconic. So it put Dubai on the map. If you notice, most of the stuff we had, whether it’s Burj Al Arab or Jumeirah Beach Hotel or Madinat Jumeirah or whatever it was, Emirates Towers, they were things to put Dubai on the map and they did.

Nicola: Architecturally.

Mohammed: Architecturally, buzz wise, you know, to create things. And then we created the Palm Jumeirah and that was like, whoa, you know what’s happening? And then the Atlantis and the palm. So it was always iconic in the initial phase. But I go back to our hospitality culture, hospitality allowed for exposure and exposure, allowed for the development of standards. And if one thing you’ll hear constantly wherever you go is that a 3-star hotel in Dubai is like a 6-star hotel in our country, if that even exists, right? Because we wouldn’t accept subpar standards. If I were to summarize, I’d say it started off with being something iconic and then into being something that actually provides excellence and standards and sets the scene for hospitality worldwide.

Nicola: So let’s chat a little bit more about your design and travel work, because what you do is so deeply rooted in the culture, not just of Dubai, but of the Arabian Peninsula as as a whole. So one of your companies businesses is contemporizing traditional Arabian footwear. The beautiful footwear that you’re wearing today. Tamashee. So tell us a little bit about Tamashee, what it is and how it’s so rooted in the culture of this place.

Mohammed: So Tamashee started in 2014 officially, but we started working on it in 2012. It was right after the Arab Spring, and most of the media towards the region was very negative, very gloomy. And we made it our personal challenge to show the world that there’s actual beauty in our region. We started with reviving a footwear that was worn in the region and stopped being as popular, and we decided to shed light on beautiful concepts from the peninsula through design. So we’ll study landscapes and we’ll make visual designs out of it. We’ll study some concept or tribal community, and we’ll make a visual design out of it. We had one on pearls and pearl diving that was very close to my heart, because my great grandfather and my grandfather worked with pearls. My great grandfather from my mom’s side was actually a diver for pearls. That’s how he started his career. And so that collection was very close to my heart.

Nicola: And these are contemporary versions of traditional sandals.

Mohammed: Correct? Yes. And these sandals were worn across the peninsula. So I can’t claim it to be very unique to Dubai. But we have beautiful pictures of Dubai, of people standing by the by the creek wearing the exact same sandals.

Nicola: Amazing. And then by extension, you created Tamashee Experience, which is your travel business.

Mohammed: So Tamashee Experience takes people to tribal communities and immerses them into these communities and everything that they do. So from their food to their folklore to their landscapes, uh, to, uh, you know, their crafts exposes them in its entirety. And it’s, it’s hospitality at its finest.

Nicola: I can vouch for that. Having been on one of your trips. It absolutely is. And it’s, it’s a way of seeing the depth of culture that exists in the peninsula that is very hard to access on your own.

Mohammed: And, you know, going back to that point, Dubai is such a hub because we have direct flights to places where there are tribal communities, and nowhere else in the region would give you this connection.

Nicola: So when little Mohammed Kazim was growing up in Dubai, seeing buildings like the Burj Al Arab growing out of the sand in basically what was the middle of nowhere at the time. What did you think? What. Don’t know how old you were at the time?

Mohammed: I was a senior in high school when that happened. I was a senior in high school. It was my last year in high school.

Nicola: How did you feel seeing this appear?

Mohammed: Yeah, it was all fascinating. We saw it being built so we’d see. And we didn’t know what it was. And when the launch events would happen, our families would take us to these to the restaurants there, etc. and we’d sit with the people there. And it was fascinating. It was definitely something that was out of a movie. Wow. Like a spaceship landed. Like initially, we didn’t even know it was a sail or what it was. So it looked like a, you know, something like a spaceship just landed. So it was fun. But again, keep in mind that at that young age, we were starting to get accustomed to service standards. Because when the 7-star hotel opens in your city, it’s not a joke. You suddenly are exposed to a level of standard that you wouldn’t have been prior.

Nicola: What is one thing that you would recommend a first time visitor to Dubai does to feel a little bit more of a depth of culture here?

Mohammed: So Dubai started off with the creek and the income I was making out of the customs, and eventually it grew beyond that. And then we dredged the creek to get bigger ships and more goods. Then we went into port culture when oil was found. We were able to pay back the loans we took to dredge the creek from Kuwait, I think it was at the time. And then we started building our own port. So we built Sheikh Rashid port, the dry docks. Then the Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai Airport. So the transit culture was there for a long time. Eventually we went into Dubai 2.0, which is how do we keep these people here now and continuously create a stream of people coming in? So business became the focus and when business became the focus, of course, then you had to create hubs for business. Okay.

Why is this important? When you create hubs for business, now you have people staying longer time, they’re transiting more and people are coming in, whether for conferences, events, business deals, etc. they’re using you as a hub. They want to stop here and they want a part of their company to be here. Why am I saying all of this then? You need to think about security, banking, all of that. So all that came into place. So eventually we shifted into marketing that because we needed the scale and that brought in the scale. That’s why it’s not obvious to somebody coming to Dubai to say, oh, Dubai has a cultural thing. It actually has a historic scene. And so going back to that, now, we’re at the phase where we can position Dubai as a cultural scene. And I know that the authorities in Dubai are doing a lot to actually push that narrative. And I think over the coming years, we’re going to see a lot more cultural involvement, a lot more cultural events, and also programming both for residents and for guests. And where I would recommend people to go is, of course, Dubai Creek. And I’m sure other guests on the show have spoken about it, but it’s where it all started. And if you understand the Dubai Creek and the communities that grew around it and how it naturally expanded, you will understand new Dubai, new Dubai is not a coincidence. It’s active management from our leadership, but it also is rooted in soul, which is which was based on the creek.

Nicola: It all really comes down to this amazing diversity, the sense of hospitality and the welcome that these 200 nationalities of people, including myself, have experienced being able to live here and to be part of this community.

Mohammed: Yeah, definitely. And, you know, I’m curious to see how it will look like in another 50 years. I’m really curious because I think we’re light years ahead of everyone else in terms of this embrace, and I’m hoping the next generations continue to feel this. A lot of my work is in hopes to push this narrative to the younger generations in a relevant way, because for us, it came naturally. I don’t know if it’ll come naturally to the next generations. Most likely it will, because again, like I said, we’re surrounded by these standards. So hopefully.

Nicola: What is one memory that you would like a visitor to take home with them from Dubai?

Mohammed: I think for me it would be the interaction with the people. I encourage visitors to interact with locals especially, and they will find them to be extremely warm. They will find them to be extremely helpful, and they’ll go out of their way to make sure they feel welcomed. And I can say it with full confidence that you can stop any person, any Emirati in the street, and you’ll feel it.

Nicola: Thank you so much, Mohammed. It is always a pleasure speaking with you. Every time we chat, I learn something new and I really appreciate you joining us here on Unpacked. Thank you so.

Mohammed: Much and thank you for having me. Such an honor.

Nicola: And that’s the real story behind Dubai’s hospitality and hotel scene. You’ll find links to all the places we mentioned in the show notes, as well as my latest Afar story on 12 of the best hotels in Dubai. Next week, we’ll be whetting your appetite with conversations about food. And I promise we’ll eat well.