How some Dubai residents plan to watch New Year fireworks
As the year is drawing to a close in 2025, most UAE nationals are paying top dollar for hotel rooms in the right areas for the best view of the city’s New Year fireworks.
Prices hitting Dh11,000 a night for three nights, residents are taking their rooms in upscale hotels and serviced apartments in Downtown Dubai and Palm Jumeirah, and waiting to witness the Atlantis and Burj Khalifa fireworks.
One of the executives of premium hotels and serviced apartments in Downtown Dubai revealed that reservations must be at least three nights from December 29 to January 1.
A 1 bedroom room in a superior Downtown hotel, for example, costs Dh10,434 (no breakfast) and Dh11,304 (no breakfast).
And, the prices are no better on Booking.com for JW Marriott Marquis Hotel. The hotel has a premium twin room with a sea view for Dh2,558, plus tax of Dh615 for two adults for two nights. Both hotels are near the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall, so they are the best choices for those planning to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks.
Creating new memories
Some of them do enjoy watching the fireworks from the top floor of a luxurious hotel, and it has never been more sought-after than it is now, when the city’s festival season continues to attract both domestic and foreigners. Aiham Joratli of Al Ain is one such member of the craze. He’ll be driving down to Dubai to see the Burj Khalifa fireworks this year.
The Syrian tourist said: "We’re choosing between JW Marriott and Movenpick Downtown Dubai for the New Year. We want a good view of the Burj Khalifa firework show and it’ll just be my wife and me this year. The kids will stay the day with my mother in law. ‘It will be a fun-filled party, and then there will be buffet.
"We would like to shake the habit of New Year routine and have some new experiences," he said.
For Aiham, New Year’s Eve in Dubai is a habit. He said: "We have had this tradition for three years. We used to celebrate with the whole family, but now that our kids are older I leave them with their grandma. We’ll arrive on 31st December night.
"I’m hoping that in the new year there will be new experiences and that we can just hang out and make new memories," he said.
Premium hotels, fireworks views
Others, the temptation to watch the show from a towering hotel over the fireworks is too tempting. The Kazakh expat Madina Mergenova is at the Radisson Beach Resort on Palm Jumeirah this year. She had been to the Atlantis gala dinner but not the hotel before.
The Kazakh visitor said: "This time we decided to make it an actual full-day trip and stay in the hotel. We’ll have Atlantis fireworks too. Next time I might be staying at a hotel near the Burj Khalifa and seeing their fireworks — which is something I always wanted to do. The spectacle there is a wonder.
"A lot of hotels have a minimum of three to five nights," she said. But Radisson had no such constraint, and so we stayed for one night only. Their gala dinner is held on the terrace, and there’s no better place to watch the fireworks. "So my family and I can’t wait."
‘A bit of a splurge’
If your family is like mine, premium accommodations are the way to stay out of the heat of crowds and logistics of walking around town during one of the most hectic nights of the year.
An Indian expat Bhavya Rao shared that her family this year finally booked an Airbnb in Downtown, as per their long-term dream to see the fireworks up close.
‘When you live in Springs, you just can’t go to the fireworks on New Year’s Eve with two little kids, the Downtown area is sealed off by 4pm and the people are so big,’ she said.
She wanted to save herself the trouble and her husband rented a serviced apartment in Business Bay for a few days. "We will check in on December 30. ‘Our 1-bedroom flat is Dh6,000 for three nights and it is fully furnished which makes it convenient,’ she said.
Rao said it’s a "little bit of a spender" even at the price cut. "But we’re really excited because we haven’t been on much travel this year and it will be a nice change of pace. Also, people all over the world come here to see these fireworks and because we are locals we often take it for granted. So, we said, hey, this year we have to try it".
The site will let them see the fun Downtown before witnessing the burj Khalifa fireworks in person at midnight. ‘My six-year-old daughter is very excited, as this is the first time she has stayed in the heart of town for New Year’s Eve.
New Year price double summer price
The slew of hotel reservations is not the only place where they are demanded to stay at the highest quality. Bookings are also on the rise for Dubai holiday house owners, with some tourists being willing to pay as much as double their typical summer prices for an admission to watch the Burj Khalifa’s spectacular fireworks show.
"Our daily ADR on New Year can be as much as 2, 2.5 times the summer ADR," said Vinayak Mahtani, CEO of bnbme holiday homes. We always get great response from our guests asking for superior rooms with the views of the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain, and this season is no exception.
"It’s still early to tell what the trends will be for this year, but we’ve seen this before, the booking activity really comes on at the end of the season. We have 99 per cent occupancy rate for the New Year’s period on average every year for the last four years," he continued.
Other rental vacation homes companies further pointed out that now the winter season is here, the holiday season is here and the city is ready for tourists of different styles.
Anthony Joseph Abou Jaoude, Founder and CEO of Primestay: "Duba is now a high-end tourist destination, and people are prepared to pay more for the luxurious accommodations over the years. A trend is that groups and families are preferring bigger vacation homes to multiple hotels, so vacation villas and big apartments are more in demand for short-term rental".
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