First hotel entirely run by Emiratis in Dubai provides feel of an Emirati home

Gulf News

Mohammed Hanif, founder of The Manor by JA, says the hotel is run entirely by Emiratis and offers local hospitality with an eco-friendly twist  Read the full story:  https://bit.ly/2DqQ8Ns  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  #Dubai #hotel #Emirati

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00:00Since the beginning of the project, it is a mandate from, or it has been a vision of

00:11Sheikh Mohammed Barashid to have an increased importance of sustainability and sustainable

00:15buildings.

00:16So as soon as we started, we knew that the regulations are changing and builders or contractors

00:23must adapt to, in this area at least, to 23% reduction of energy.

00:31We started with that mandate, which was by the regulator, and with time, we noticed that

00:37the more we invest in sustainability, the better it is for the business.

00:41So even though the threshold is 23%, we invested almost $500,000 to get it to around 40% energy

00:49saving.

00:51The process started in 2017, starting from the cooling system, the ACs, the type of windows,

00:57the lighting, the LED lighting, if you notice now, most of the lights here are LED, which

01:01are very, very efficient.

01:03The biggest factor, of course, is the windows, so they are tinted windows.

01:08The aluminum is the kind that would not allow heat to enter the building, which makes the

01:15AC efficiency higher.

01:18The biggest challenge is, of course, with the ACs in this part of the world, so making

01:24sure that the AC works and is efficient is the main factor.

01:37It has been one of the wisest decisions, we can see that reflected in our bills, and during

01:42these challenging times, it has been making a difference for us.

01:45With the challenges of the current year of COVID-19, maintaining the cost has been very

01:52important, and without that investment, we would have seen ourselves spending more, not

01:57being able to sustain the cost in a better way.

02:05This is our biggest project yet, so the learning curve was quite steep, we had to learn on

02:10the job, but as soon as we saw that investing in sustainability would benefit the business,

02:17we did not hesitate, and we went beyond the regulation.

02:29The true Emirati experience sadly hasn't been showcased in Dubai, most of the hotels are

02:35international, that's a good thing.

02:37Whenever we are focusing on the Arabian hospitality, we make sure that the hotel is an extension

02:43of the Emirati home.

02:44If you can see, the coffee shop is an Emirati-branded coffee shop, the suites are Emirati suites.

02:49It's the Arabian hospitality, it goes over and beyond.

02:51It comes naturally when it's an Emirati-owned business, and an Emirati GM, and an Emirati

02:56operator.

02:57It's something that comes with that mix of partners working together.

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