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TRIED & TESTED REVIEWS

AN EXTRA DAY IN BARCELONA

September 2026 businesstraveller.com

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How Saudi Arabia built a global travel destination in less than a decade

GAMIFY YOUR HOLIDAY HOW TO USE PLAY DYNAMICS TO TRANSFORM YOUR TRIPS

MORE IS MORE MAXIMALISM IS MAKING A TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO HOTELS

SEOUL SEARCHING EXPLORING SOUTH KOREA’S GROWING HARD AND SOFT POWER

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CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2026

Updates

07 Hot Ticket: Crypto’s uses are taking flight across the aviation industry 08 Regional News: The latest airline, hotel, and travel news 10 Sustainable Traveller: The greener side of tourism and hospitality 12 Global News: An update on international travel

34 Explore

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Features

27 Extra Day in Barcelona 29 Soothe yourself with the wellness-oriented side of travel and tourism 30 Splash out on luxury experiences and products 32 Our pick of cultural events around the world and inflight entertainment

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61 Malaysia Airlines A330neo business class 63 Fairmont Tokyo 64 A ProtoArc keyboard + a Belkin wall charger

Saudi Arabia is on track to deliver on its Vision 2030, and now in its final phase, its travel ecosystem is hitting its stride

18 Spencer Wadama, GM of W Abu Dhabi - Yas Island, on the hotel that became a landmark for Abu Dhabi 20 Op-Ed: Your shortcut to premium perks 22 Elevator Pitch with Christian Gurtner, GM of Six Senses The Palm 24 We chat with the well-travelled Japanese sushi master and omakase chef Endo Kazutoshi

GROUNDED AMBITION

Insight 15 Laurent Gardinier, president of Relais & Châteaux, shares his philosophies on authentic, soul-led hospitality

Reviews

Gamify your holiday How to use play dynamics to transform your travel and add a little fun to your next work trip or holiday

More is more Inside maximalism’s triumphant return to the hotel industry

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Uncovering old Dubai Discover traditional trading waterways, restored windtower quarters, and bustling souks along the historic banks of Dubai Creek

Seoul searching From tech giants to K-Pop stars, we explore South Korea’s hard and soft power

Electric revolution The innovation reshaping how people are moving across Africa’s cities

Postcard

AlUla is poised to welcome a new era of Dark Sky travel, beginning in the deserts of Saudi Arabia BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 3

Editor’s Letter BUSINESS TRAVELLER MIDDLE EAST IS JOINTLY PUBLISHED BY MOTIVATE MEDIA GROUP AND BUSINESS TRAVELLER MEDIA LTD

MOTIVATE MEDIA GROUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OBAID HUMAID AL TAYER MANAGING PARTNER AND GROUP EDITOR IAN FAIRSERVICE CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER ANTHONY MILNE GROUP CONTENT DIRECTOR THOMAS WOODGATE EDITOR YI-HWA B. HANNA ART DIRECTOR CLARKWIN N. CRUZ CONTRIBUTORS CHRIS CHAMBERLIN, ANEESHA RAI, NIVEA SERRAO, RHYS JONES, KEITH MWANALUSHI, ALICE HENDERSON, HANNAH BRANDLER GENERAL MANAGER – PRODUCTION S SUNIL KUMAR PRODUCTION MANAGER BINU PURANDARAN ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MANAGER VENITA PINTO GROUP SALES MANAGER CHAITALI KHIMJI SENIOR PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER MURALI NARAYANAN

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Yi-Hwa B. Hanna Editor TOP PICKS GAMIFY YOUR HOLIDAY Creative ways to make your next trip more fun and rewarding. P38

MORE IS MORE Tired of all-beige and simplicity? These hotel interiors will fix it! P42

SEOUL SEARCHING K-everything has been all the rage recently. Explore the how and why. P54 SUBSCRIPTIONS: EMAIL: SUBSCRIPTIONS@MOTIVATE.AE; TEL: +971 4 427 3542

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AS THE SUMMER MONTHS WAVE THEIR GOODBYE and business picks up for a new season, in some ways, the month of September can be considered as a second “New Year” – a natural reset to clear the slate, refocus our priorities, and turn ambitious plans into forward momentum. And as any savvy executive knows, when we are trying to create genuine change, the shift from planning to execution is where the magic happens. For the past seven years, Saudi Arabia has been defying old conventions around its global reputation – and not just within its tourism industry. When the kingdom first opened its doors to international leisure travellers with the launch of its tourist e-visa on 27 September 2019, much of the global conversation was centred on blueprints, future promises, and the growing number of cranes dotting the horizon. Fast forward to today, and the narrative has fundamentally changed: the conversation across travel, aviation, and hospitality has firmly shifted from what will be to what is. In this month’s cover story (p.34), we take a look at how the kingdom is navigating Phase Three of its Vision 2030 roadmap – its final stage, focused on operational integration, service consistency, and commercial maturity. The scaffolding is coming down so to speak, to reveal a fully operational, interconnected travel ecosystem. From Red Sea Global’s luxury island and desert resorts to the opening of Sindalah in NEOM and the debut of Four Seasons Resort AMAALA at Triple Bay, tangible examples of its newlyinstalled world-class hospitality are now welcoming guests in real time. Backing this infrastructure is a major leap in connectivity: Riyadh Air has taken to the skies, the Dream of the Desert luxury train is gearing up for departure, and cultural hubs like AlUla Manara are actively blending tourism with cultural heritage and creative storytelling. What makes this momentum so compelling is that the transformation across the GCC is never solely about megaprojects – it is driven by an underlying drive to challenge the status quo and unlock more of the potential of human capability. We witnessed another powerful reminder of that spirit at the end of last month during Emirati Women’s Day on August 28th. Celebrating the female innovators, leaders, and trailblazers shaping the UAE’s commercial and public landscape, it served as another example of the progressive mindset pushing the region forward and setting new benchmarks on the world stage. Whether looking at nationwide economic diversification projects or the remarkable individuals driving change across our communities, the region continues to prove that it is not merely keeping pace with global standards, but actively defining them. So as we step into this second half of the year, we hope this issue inspires your next journey across a landscape that never stops evolving. Until next month!

RIYADH IS MOVING FORWARD. SO ARE WE.

Rove Hotels is one of the region’s fastest-growing hospitality brands and is now coming to Saudi Arabia with multiple locations across Riyadh, beginning on Olaya Street. As Riyadh transforms through the ambition of Vision 2030, Rove is set to bring its signature mix of contemporary design and warm hospitality to a vibrant, ambitious city for those here to do business, discover the city or stay a little longer. Our Saudi expansion is made possible through our collaboration with Rafal, a Saudi developer sharing our ambition for the future of hospitality. For more information, visit ROVEHOTELS.COM

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YOUR STAY IS ON US. Take a moment to unwind - enjoy your stay through great food and meaningful experiences. Book your stay in Radisson Hotels across UAE starting from AED 299. *Limited time offer *T&Cs apply

REGIONAL NEWS

SU STA I N A B I LIT Y

GLOBAL NEWS

New hotels, flight routes, and more

The greener side of tourism & hospitality

Happenings from around the world

HOT TICKET

Crypto’s uses take flight Emirates and Dubai Duty Free now let eligible UAE residents pay with cryptocurrency

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PLANNING YOUR next departure from DXB could now involve tapping a digital wallet instead of standard plastic. Through Crypto.com Pay, both Emirates and Dubai Duty Free are accepting crypto payments at checkout across their apps, websites, and airport terminals. However, neither aviation giant is holding volatile digital assets. The backend system processes transactions and settles them immediately in UAE Dirhams. Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ deputy president and CCO, noted the decision delivers on “expanding customer choice in how they pay for travel.” The controlled, UAE-only rollouts directly support the broader Dubai D33 cashless strategy.

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REGIONAL NEWS

Room Boom WYNDHAM HOTELS & RESORTS is ramping up its footprint across Europe, the Middle East, Eurasia, and Africa, aiming to close out the first half of 2026 with 13 new openings and 25 signings. This will push the group’s regional portfolio past 750 operating properties. In the Middle East, five new project signings across Saudi Arabia and the UAE headlined H1

momentum, including Ramada Residences by Wyndham at Dubai Islands. Türkiye served as the primary growth engine for new hotel debuts, while resort openings rolled out in Portugal and Spain alongside Central Asian debuts in Uzbekistan. The group’s EMEA president, Dimitris Manikis, said the region remains one of the most dynamic regions in global hospitality.

STEAMING AHEAD JAPANESE operator Hotel Okura is bringing its brand to Türkiye with the planned 2028 opening of Hotel Okura Thermal Resort & Spa Cappadocia. Located in the historic village of Mustafapaşa, the 102-room property is being developed with Turkish investment group KK Universal. The resort will blend Japanese

omotenashi hospitality with regional heritage, spread across four buildings that include preserved

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historic stone structures and a restored mansion. Onsite facilities will highlight Türkiye’s thermal culture

with a 3,500 sqm spa and wellness centre – the largest in the region – with licensed mineral spring baths, hammams, and

pools. Dining options will span three venues, headlined by teppanyaki restaurant Sazanka. Toshihiro Ogita, President of Hotel Okura, said: “Through Okura’s signature hospitality, rooted in the spirit of Japanese omotenashi, we aspire to serve as a bridge between Türkiye and Japan.”

Syria is making a direct push to rebuild its travel market with the inaugural Syria Travel Show, set to take place from 28–30 September at Damascus’s Dama Rose Hotel. The launch of this event comes as the country’s visitor arrivals reached 3.52 million in H1 2026 – numbers that have more than doubled yearon-year. Designed to connect international investors, hotel operators, and airlines, Tourism Minister H.E. Mazen Al-Salhani said the show will bring together key partners to “unlock the sector’s full potential”. S E PTEM B ER 2026

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ROUTE ROUND-UP

The Red Palace’s new royal look SAUDI ARABIA’S push to convert historic royal residences into luxury stays is gaining pace in Riyadh. Boutique Group, which is wholly owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, has recently unveiled the official visual identity for The Red Palace ahead of its opening later this year, with the new identity taking direct inspiration from the landmark’s historic architecture and craftsmanship. Its core feature is a rose motif derived from a

carved rosette found in the historic plasterwork, paired with diamond geometric patterns reflecting the façade, alongside national symbols associated with the palace. Sami Alogla, Head of Marketing and Brand at Boutique Group, said it represents the first chapter in the palace’s story, preserving Saudi heritage while introducing it to a global audience. The redevelopment forms part of a wider drive to establish Riyadh as a global luxury destination.

Emirates Skywards has launched a European rail booking platform, allowing its 39 million members to redeem miles across 40 operators in 12 countries. The Skywards Rail portal covers train networks including Eurostar, SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, and UK airport expresses. However, redemptions value miles at around half a penny each – well below typical flight rewards. Early technical glitches with service schedules also suggest holding off until the system beds in.

Turkish Airlines will soon be rerouting its fiveweekly Istanbul-Sydney service through Singapore from late October 2026, replacing its Kuala Lumpur stopover. Flying an Airbus A350-900, the change lets travellers book the Sydney-Singapore sector on its own for the first time. The routing brings lie-flat business class pods to the route, positioning the airline ahead of its planned nonstop Istanbul-Sydney flights when A350-1000 aircraft arrive in 2027.

Air France has launched a Paris Stopover plan for passengers connecting through Paris CDG, partnering with Extime Travel to offer one- to four-night packages. Starting from €449 per person, the optional add-ons cover four-star hotel accommodation, airport transfers, and tours like Eiffel Tower visits or Disneyland entry. Available across all ticket classes for layovers of 27 hours or more, the offer taps into strong demand among transit travellers.

Qatar Airways has resumed daily non-stop flights between Doha’s Hamad International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport, restoring its 14th destination in North America. Operated using an Airbus A350-900 fitted with Qsuite business class and Starlink WiFi, it offers seamless connections across a network of over 160 global destinations. Passengers can earn Avios towards upgrades, duty-free shopping, and baggage extras.

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Radisson embraces ChatGPT THE HOTEL GROUP has partnered with Accenture to launch a hotel discovery app within the popular Artificial Intelligence Large Language Model (LLM). By typing @RadissonHotels at the start of a prompt, travellers can search live rates and inventory across more than 1,000 properties in over 100 countries. The new tool handles tailored requests, like family stays in Amsterdam, generating real-time rates and interactive maps. However, it isn’t a direct booking S E PT E M B E R 2026

engine yet. Once ready, users are redirected to Radisson’s website to complete payment. In-chat booking and Radisson Rewards integration are slated for future updates. The launch reflects shifting habits, with Accenture’s data

showing 87% of travellers are open to AI travel agents. Gianni Di Fede, CCO, noted: “AI is radically transforming how people search for and book hotel stays, and we are committed to being at the forefront of this shift.”

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Coral Beach turns waste into water

FOOD WASTE management in Sharjah has taken a step forward as Coral Beach Resort Sharjah becomes the first hotel to operate an on-site biodigester. Using oxygen and natural microorganisms, the system

converts organic kitchen waste into greywater to irrigate gardens, cutting landfill methane emissions. The move aligns with SCTDA’s Food Waste Carbon Pilot Implementation. “I am proud that Coral

Beach Resort Sharjah is the first hotel in Sharjah to commission and operate this innovative biodigester technology,” said Iftikhar Hamdani, the hotel’s Area General Manager. “This is more than the installation of new equipment; it is the successful delivery of a practical sustainability solution that is already making a measurable difference. Sustainability is embedded in the way we operate, and we remain committed to investing in technologies that reduce our environmental footprint while creating lasting value for our guests, our community and future generations,” he added.

Restoring a coral reef

Nujuma earns Dark Sky mark Stargazing on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast has gained new official recognition. Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, is among the first resorts to earn the new DarkSky Approved Resort certification. Developed by DarkSky International alongside Red Sea Global, the standard recognises destinations managing lighting responsibly to protect the natural night environment. Across Nujuma, tailored lighting keeps night skies clear while protecting local wildlife, including sea turtle hatchlings. Guests can join guided stargazing sessions under night skies on site. 1 0 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

THE FIVE-STAR LUXURY HOTEL, located on the private island of Meedhuffushi in the South Nilandhe Atoll, launched their eco-focused “Adopt-a-Coral” initiative on World Nature Conservation Day. The project is driven by the Sun Siyam Cares sustainability programme, and offers guests an active role in safeguarding local marine ecosystems. Guided by the resort’s marine experts, travellers can attach live coral fragments onto specially designed nursery frames, which are placed in lagoon zones to regenerate vital habitats. Guests then receive personalised updates after returning home, allowing them to monitor the growth of the coral they helped restore. “Our reef is the heart of our island, and protecting it is a responsibility we proudly share with every guest who visits us,” said Masdhooq Saeed, the hotel’s Cluster General Manager. “By giving our guests the opportunity to plant coral, we offer them a meaningful way to leave our sanctuary even better than when they arrived.” S E PT EM B ER 2026

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Sun Siyam Vilu Reef now has an Adopt-a-Coral initiative in the Maldives, to help rebuild and monitor local aquatic habitats

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The latest updates in the travel industry from across the world Payal Jain dresses staff at India’s Oberoi Rajgarh Palace (Right) The Indian couturier has created a bespoke collection for the restored 350-yearold property in Khajuraho, recently highlighted as one of TIME’s World’s Greatest Places 2026. Grounded in Bundelkhand’s heritage, the wardrobe combines courtly elegance with modern practicality across flowing Anarkalis and tailored bandhgalas. Intricate tonal embroidery mirrors the palace domes against warm beige, gold, and ivory.

San Francisco airport to add airside sleep rooms and a bar (Above) Two Wait n’ Rest retreats opening in SFO’s Terminals 1 and 3 by September 2027 will offer hourly bedrooms, private showers, and a Nikkei-inspired cocktail lounge called The Lost Gate. It promises a genuine refuge for stranded travellers facing long layovers or overcrowded airline lounges, delivering proper privacy past security without the expense of a full overnight hotel stay.

Bark Air adds in-flight pet grooming for jet-setting dogs (Below) Partnering with luxury brand Pride+Groom, the canine carrier now offers coat wipes, paw balms, and citrusy pet cologne applied by onboard concierges, launched before International Dog Day. Tailored primarily for larger breeds unable to squeeze under standard airline seats, the pampered perk comes bundled into one-way fares that start at US$7,450 for a dog-and-human pair.

The Langham opens bookings for riverside Bangkok retreat (Left) Welcoming guests from 20 December, the 75-key property in Bang Rak centres on the city’s restored 1888 Custom House. Rooms sit in a modern, river-inspired building designed by Smith Obayawat alongside the heritage landmark. Expect quiet luxury with views of the Chao Phraya, a Chuan Spa, and an outpost of Hong Kong’s threeMichelin-star T’ang Court restaurant. 1 2 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MI DDLE E AST

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The Brick opens as Tribute Portfolio’s debut Gdańsk hotel (Right) Set on Poland’s historic Granary Island, the new property draws heavily on the Polish city’s seafaring roots, featuring design by Anna Król and interiors by Fobia Design. Its striking public spaces blend timber framing, exposed brickwork, and photo exhibitions tracing a century of Gdańsk history, complemented by local maritime dining at Porto 102 Restaurant.

Flexjet becomes the official private aviation supplier for F1 (Right) The multi-year deal sees the private aviation fleet operator managing travel for key executives and personnel across more than 20 countries on the global calendar. Crucially for fractional aircraft owners, the partnership unlocks a raft of perks – from seamless helicopter shuttles that bypass circuit traffic at venues like Silverstone, to startinggrid walks, driver Q&A sessions, and top-tier paddock hospitality.

Kimpton targets central Ubud with new riverfront property (Above) Opening on the banks of the Wos River later this year, the 101-room Kimpton Suntaya puts guests right in the town’s cultural centre on Jalan Bisma. Designed by Denton Corker Marshall to follow the hillside slope, the property features a five-venue dining programme led by Michelin-starred Japanese omakase at Imamura Ubud, alongside a spa and a contrast-therapy recovery studio.

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The Belson Brussels opens as Tribute’s first Belgium property (Above) Following a 13-month transformation, the reflagged boutique hotel features refreshed rooms, expanded public areas, a new restaurant, and a signature bar named The Vault, paying homage to the building’s former life as a bank branch. The chic urban base offers easy access to Brussels city centre, NATO headquarters, European institutions, and BRU airport.

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LOT Polish Airlines adds direct service from Warsaw to Hanoi (Below) Taking off on 31 March 2027, the Star Alliance carrier will operate three weekly year-round flights aboard Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The ten-hour non-stop connection cuts out transfers via Doha or Frankfurt for Central European travellers. It marks LOT’s fifth Asian destination and makes it just the third airline flying directly between Europe and the Vietnamese capital.

Marriott brings Autograph

10 Collection to Formentera

(Left) The new 34-key Sabàtic property sits on the island’s northern coast, offering 27 studios and seven suites with private terraces overlooking the surrounding coastal landscape. Guests can dine on Italianinspired dishes at CASABLU, unwind by the panoramic rooftop pool, or explore via electric bikes. An indoor garden lounge with a vinyl collection rounds off the boutique stay. BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 1 3

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Expert opinions on the future of travel THE BIG INTERVIEW LAURENT GARDINIER PRE S I D E NT O F RE L A I S & C H ÂTE AUX

A Matter of Taste From first-minute micro-details to auditing his company’s own inspectors, Gardinier tells Yi-Hwa Hanna what it takes to champion authentic individuality while curating soul-led luxury hospitality

FOUNDED IN 1954, Relais & Châteaux began as an act of collective defense by independent hoteliers against changing highway infrastructure and the rise of standardised corporate chains. Today, the landscape has shifted from physical roads to navigating the massive consolidation of the global hotel sector. The association’s mission, however, remains unchanged: championing hyper-local, independent properties that prioritise individuality and character, upheld by a rigorous 500-point Quality Charter that results in an incredibly selective acceptance rate. When you walk into a property, what is the first detail you notice that tells you that it truly has ‘soul’? The first impression is very important. Most of the time, it’s very aligned with the rest of the experience. It’s everything from how the property is maintained – from the gardens to the common areas and the small details inside, like a flower on the front desk for instance – to the feeling of welcome. Is there genuine passion coming from the member of the team that is welcoming you, or is it just a job to them? These are the first steps of the guest experience, and you have many S E PT E M B E R 2026

BIOGRAPHY Laurent Gardinier is a French hotelier and the president of Relais & Châteaux. Together with his brothers, he co-owns Domaine Les Crayères in Reims and Paris’s Le Taillevent. Elected in 2023, he steers the luxury group with a focus on heritage and sustainable tourism.

ways to consider if these details will make the total experience work well. I often look for if there is something very specific that I’ve never seen in any other hotel. It could be something on the uniforms, or the quality of the welcome desk itself, to the way in which you are welcomed. A lot of things can happen in the first few minutes of a guest’s experience, and that’s where I would put in that kind of small detail – something that leaves an impression. After that initial moment, it could be a confirmation of that “wow” feeling or it could be a catastrophe, but the feeling I get, and the details that I notice in that first minute when I arrive at a property are very important to me. You can market something perfectly, but with a property that’s part of Relais & Châteaux, when you arrive, you’re getting a guarantee that it will live up to those standards. You have a team of highly discerning inspectors reviewing hundreds of touchpoints across your portfolio. But as a co-owner of historic properties yourself, you know that perfection on paper doesn’t automatically confirm that a place lives up to those standards. How do you train inspectors to measure the elements that a checklist can’t always capture? Every year, we gather all of the inspectors of Relais & Châteaux at one property and we assess them. We ask them to inspect the same rooms at the same hotel, and we see what the discrepancies are between one and the other. If everyone is aligned then there’s no issue, but if you have one person that says this hotel is beautiful while all the others say it’s ugly, for instance, then we have to consider if one inspector might not understand the brand well enough, and if we would perhaps need to stop working with them accordingly. We generally have good inspectors, in part because of this process, but sometimes it’s a reality. It’s so important, because if we didn’t have good BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 1 5

Insight Continued from overleaf ones, we might miss a good property, or accept a property that isn’t quite the right fit, so it is a key role in the association. So in a way, to become an inspector is not like getting a traditional job per se, it’s more like auditioning as a curator of taste. Yes, that’s true. In recent years, you’ve seen an enormous jump in applications from boutique properties – by at least 14%. When a more curated business scales up, it can sometimes suffer from a loss of identity. How do you keep the DNA and the heart of what Relais & Châteaux stands for from changing, even while you continue to add more and more new properties? As part of our rules as an association, if you want to be president, you need to have been an owner, too. That means that you will, at least, understand why you are there. It ensures continuity in the governance of Relais & Châteaux through the president, and the board of directors that are elected members. This organisation is managed strategically, and it is very important for the continuity of the identity of the brand. We uphold the quality of membership with this among other tools we have – so the fact that we are growing in many different regions of the world does not dilute the brand, as long as we have a strong awareness of the most important elements of the brand, that define its DNA. That’s the way we try to work, and I think we do it quite nicely.

Ryokan Hiiragyia

sense that we have to take certain factors into account depending on who is buying the property, but globally speaking, we don’t see a change like that with fear, we see it as evolution – it’s a normal part of the life of any company. The first and most important question is what they are planning to do with it. So as long as they maintain the standards [we require], they will also bring their own unique vision.

because we have actually decided to work on one recently. We are considering it as more of an experience-led programme than one just centered around monetary value. [Like our hotels], it will also be singular. We do have a B2B loyalty programme as well, but that one is more of a commercial programme. We are currently working on it, and in time, we’ll have both a B2B as well as a B2C loyalty programme.

You don’t have a loyalty programme, when many other hospitality brands these days are prioritising loyalty. Why have you chosen not to have one – and would you ever consider having one? You raise a good question. We don’t have a loyalty programme right now, but we do have a recognition programme. We can only keep track of all of the guests that book through the Relais & Châteaux system, because if they don’t book directly, we don’t know they That seems to be a are booking. If they go very unified approach, Maison des through our system, with with a community-driven Cimes their consent, we can save mentality. and use that information across all We aren’t really unified per se – Relais & Châteaux properties. But it is true I suppose you could say the only thing that we haven’t had a loyalty programme that truly unifies us is our singularity. as far as today, because we wanted to be sure that if we had one, it would not create For a lot of Relais & Châteaux properties, any frustration. Any loyalty programme we the vision seems to be quite ownerwould run would have to be applied all over driven. What happens if ownership the world, and since we don’t manage the changes, even if it’s a new owner within properties, if you have a very loyal guest the same family? that goes to one property that doesn’t The ownership is not a big deal, in that want to participate in this programme, for it’s not really considered a risk for us. It’s example, that could be a challenge. That important news for the property of course, was the main reason why, as an integrated so we manage and monitor it accordingly, company, we had a reluctance to do this. but sometimes it can even improve the But it is a very relevant question right now, property. Ownership is important in the

Looking at the new properties added to the association recently, there’s a fascinating range – from your first property in Belize (Prana Maya Island Resort) to the hyper-intimate Quercus in Georgia, which centres heavily on circadian rhythms and red-light therapy. It feels like the definition of luxury travel is moving away from standard opulence toward deep and unique immersion. Why do you think people have been changing their perception of luxury in recent years? I think the COVID-19 pandemic has been a very big game-changer in the relationship we have with luxury travel. The fact that small is beautiful has turned out to not only be a slogan but a reality, and I think that the way this relates to what is meaningful, as well as sustainable – and the aspect of how you travel lending itself to a feeling of cocooning with your loved ones, or celebrating things with your family… this has always been there, but now there tends to be more value ascribed to it. Because the consumption of tangible assets has become more frugal. There is a distance now with tangible assets like jewellery or bags or clothing, for instance, and that has shifted our idea of luxury to the quality of experience. The quality of an experience is now directly linked with the human size of it – that is to say, the number of people that you are sharing it with. Having an experience with 200 people is not the same as one had with 10 or 12 people. There has been an evolution

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LAURENT GARDINIER

in the way that luxury is seen and consumed, and I think we meet these expectations very well since we’ve been doing it for 72 years. Being perceived as a luxury was not our purpose – it’s just that the essence of what we were is now something a lot of organisations want to achieve.

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You’ve spoken before about how hospitality is less about service and more about a way of inhabiting the world. Given your own background of having run independent properties, has your personal philosophy of what makes for a perfect stay evolved since taking on the presidency of the global association? Yes, it has changed. It’s not totally different though. As I’ve been an owner, I had a chance to become familiar with Relais & Châteaux before I became president, so I had an idea of what has to be there for a not necessarily perfect, but an as-perfectas-possible stay. The thing I’ve learned since becoming president is that there is a cultural relativity that you need in order to put yourself in the mindset of judging a place, or the state of a place. And the more you travel, the more you discover different cultures, different gastronomy, different ways of service, and the art of welcoming. Then the more you can compare them, and be happier in very different situations. So I think that maybe I had a vision of what was a luxury state before that was more shall we say, holistic. And the more I travelled, the more it split into different parts of my mind – where I can consider that, for instance, in South America, is a very rustic room, can be exactly the definition of luxury in another part of the world or country, and I wouldn’t put forth the idea that luxury can only come in one form. The way you travel, the more you travel, the more you can divide your experience, and the more you’re willing to accept the local definition of luxury. Food is one of the connective tissues of Relais & Châteaux properties. How are you redefining the idea of gastronomic luxury for the modern traveller who wants indulgence but also seeks sustainability and well-being? Why is gastronomy such a huge part of every property? Because Relais & Châteaux is built around the idea of restaurants that people would like to stay and sleep at [after a meal], so [rather than being a hotel first, it’s more like] the chef built some rooms. That’s a very simple way to put it, but what I mean is that the essence of the destination aspect of our properties has mostly been gastronomy. For the manager of a big hotel, gastronomy can be very boring because S E PT E M B E R 2026

Wilderness Reserve

“There is a cultural relativity that you need in order to put yourself in the mindset of judging a place” you typically depend on the chef, you don’t necessarily make money, you don’t always control it, and it can be costly, so you can lose your shirt on that so to speak. For many in the industry, it’s seen as a service that has to be there – as an add-on that must be provided to be sure that the guests will stay in the hotel. But it’s not often seen as a destination point which places expectations at a very high level. It’s so difficult to do that very few do it. The fact that we are based on the ideas of individuals – passionate people that understand that there is a strong interaction between eating and sleeping in a good condition – is what makes us very singular, because very few people want to copy us [in that respect]. Because it is difficult and costly, by doing it, you’ll only get the people who are willing to rise to the challenge. In the current day, sustainability is often used as a buzzword that’s thrown around freely. But it’s clear that you value cultural sustainability as well as the environmental aspect – hiring local staff that can bring in authentic knowledge, for instance – and the power of remaining authentic. Can you tell us about your take? A word we want to avoid is “greenwashing”, so we have to be careful about that. [This view on sustainability is] really important to us because it’s part of the DNA, and what our relationship [with these places] is. We

THE BIG INTERVIEW

are here to showcase it, and to preserve the local culture through the art of welcoming, through gastronomy and through, of course, respecting people in their own traditions. So what does that mean? It means that you want to work with the closest ecosystem possible. For the gastronomy you want to be seasonal; you want to protect it, not consume too much water, not spend too much money or use too much electricity. You have a mindset of showcasing a place while preserving the ecosystem around it, and with the way we operate, you end up with a path of authentic and natural sustainability that has been done for many, many years. From there, the idea was to shift from only doing things on an individual basis to collective goals. We are dedicated to our guests but also to our staff. One of our goals is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. To combat global warming, we are driving the reduction of the carbon footprint of our global network, we have partnered with UNESCO, we help provide assessment tools for our members, and we have outlines to help them embark on this beautiful goal. After all, the whole concept of Relais & Châteaux began with the idea of things that last. At an event at Ran Baas the Palace in Patiala, India, held the day before this interview, you thanked the chef and the hotel owners and entire team at the end – specifically, you closed your speech by thanking them for applying. Do you mostly expect for people to apply to you, hoping to identify those that are right, or do you go out seeking them also? Sometimes we do also have some prospection teams, and we are very professional about it, because we don’t want to miss out on the good properties. We are aware that we are not the only ones to do so, so we have competition, so we do [go out seeking the right places too]. But most of the time we do discover incredible places through our high volume of applications. What’s the first thing that people tend to get wrong when they apply? It’s that they misunderstand what it takes to become part of Relais & Châteaux. A lot of people think that to get in, you have to have the gold and luxury, but it’s not about that – it’s about the story. What advice would you give to a property wishing to join of Relais & Châteaux? First, to create a hotel that is a part of yourself. Put your biography into it – infuse it with your tastes, and put your soul into it. And then try to always operate it to the best level that you can. BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 1 7

Insight More than a hotel, W Abu Dhabi - Yas Island is a unique architectural landmark positioned directly over the Yas Marina Circuit. We spoke with its GM, Spencer Wadama on driving year-round bleisure demand, operational excellence, and life beyond race weekend

How do you leverage your location to drive business travel demand outside of major event periods? Our location gives us a unique advantage, but our focus is on making Yas Island a year-round destination beyond major events. While being positioned directly over Yas Marina Circuit provides global recognition, we leverage the wider Yas Island ecosystem to attract corporate travellers through its growing portfolio of attractions, entertainment venues, events, and business opportunities. For corporate clients and prospects, we position W Abu Dhabi as a leading ‘bleisure’ destination where guests can combine business productivity with exceptional leisure experiences. This is further supported by the upcoming business complexes in and around Yas Island, which will continue to strengthen the island’s appeal for corporate travellers. We complement this with versatile meetings and events spaces, exceptional dining, signature wellness programs, and experiences that enhance every stay. Through close collaboration with key stakeholders including Aldar Hospitality, Miral, the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, and Ethara, we continue to be a compelling choice for business stays throughout the year. The W brand is known for its bold lifestyle offering and unique take on experiential luxury. How do you tailor the offering to meet the expectations of modern business travellers alongside lifestyle programming? Today’s business travellers expect efficiency, flexibility, and experiences 1 8 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

that feel personalised. At W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island, we combine the operational excellence required by corporate guests with the bold energy of the W brand. Our teams focus on anticipating needs, creating seamless journeys, and delivering thoughtful touches that make each stay more meaningful. Our extensive meeting and events spaces offer versatile settings for everything from focused business meetings to impactful corporate events, with our teams ensuring every detail is delivered seamlessly. Guests can recharge through our wellness offerings, or connect and unwind through our vibrant dining and social spaces. This balance allows business travellers to work efficiently while experiencing the luxury lifestyle energy that defines W.

BELOW Spencer Wadama

Yas Island is a rapidly expanding hub with major destination partners, local tourism authorities, and event organisers. How does the hotel align its strategies to support Abu Dhabi’s broader tourism goals? Collaboration is essential to Yas Island’s continued success. As an integral part of the larger Marriott Abu Dhabi community, we work closely with partners including Aldar Hospitality, Miral, the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, and Ethara to ensure our strategy supports the wider destination vision. By aligning our programming, commercial initiatives, and guest experiences with island-wide developments and major events, we contribute to positioning Yas Island as a world-class destination for leisure, business, and international visitors. In a competitive regional luxury market, guest expectations are constantly evolving. What specific initiatives or service habits have been implemented at W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island to consistently drive high guest satisfaction scores? Guest satisfaction is at the core of who we are, and it comes from consistently understanding what matters most to our guests and ensuring every detail of their experience is delivered to the highest standard. We recently introduced the W Ambassador programme, where members of our leadership team conduct daily quality audits across guest areas and rooms S E PT EM B ER 2026

IMAGES W ABU DHABI – YAS ISLAND

Setting the Pace in Luxury Lifestyle Hospitality

Managing a property of this size and architectural complexity requires distinct operational precision. What are the primary focus areas required to maintain your high standards? It requires strong coordination and teamwork, proactive planning, and attention to detail across every operational touchpoint. Our key focus areas are operational planning, preventive maintenance, service consistency, and continuous team development. We rely on strong communication between departments, data-driven decision-making, and proactive preparation, especially during high-demand periods. Most importantly, we ensure that our teams remain empowered and engaged, because operational excellence ultimately comes from people who take ownership and pride in delivering exceptional experiences.

W A BU DH A BI – YAS ISL A ND

while spending more time on the floor connecting directly with guests and gathering real-time feedback. This is supported by stronger personalisation, cross-department collaboration, and empowering colleagues to take ownership of guest experiences. We also continue to enhance our robust amenity programme, designed to cater to a wide range of guest profiles and preferences, ensuring every stay feels thoughtful and personalised. By combining proactive attention to detail, genuine guest engagement, and tailored experiences, we continue to elevate service standards and drive satisfaction. Service quality typically depends heavily on frontline teams. Drawing on your background, with experience at a wide range of hospitality brands like Ritz-Carlton, Armani, and Jumeirah, how do you foster a culture of empowerment and service excellence among the hotel staff? My professional foundation was shaped by the Ritz-Carlton, where I learned that strong service culture starts with people and therefore one lesson remained constant throughout my career – exceptional experiences begin with exceptional teams. Through initiatives like monthly brainstorming forums, open communication sessions, and continuous coaching, we empower our talent to bring ideas forward and take ownership. While technical skills are essential, it is passion, emotional intelligence, and genuine care that truly define exceptional hospitality. W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island and its team have earned several industry accolades recently, alongside your own RUWAD Award for General S E PT E M B E R 2026

A UNIQUE LANDMARK W Hotel Yas Island, Abu Dhabi

Manager of the Year. Which operational or team achievements at the property are you most proud of? The achievements I am most proud of are those that reflect the strength and commitment of our team. Since taking leadership, we have achieved significant commercial growth, with total hotel revenue increasing by 19% year-onyear, while guest satisfaction reached its highest levels to date, improving by 2.5%. Last year, we also delivered our most successful Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend in the hotel’s history. Beyond the numbers, seeing our colleagues embrace creativity, collaboration, and ownership has been the greatest achievement, reflected in our 93% Marriott leadership index score. We have also been proud to receive multiple industry awards across our spa, and food and beverage offerings, recognising the dedication, creativity, and excellence of our teams across the property. Sustainability is increasingly vital. How is W Abu Dhabi integrating responsible environmental practices and local community initiatives into its daily operations, and going beyond it being just a buzzword? Sustainability must be integrated into how we operate every day. At W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island, we have focused on

“Sustainability must be integrated into how we operate every day. We have focused on measurable actions”

HOTEL VIEWS

measurable actions, including reducing energy consumption, improving waste diversion, and strengthening recycling and reuse initiatives. We are also committed to community engagement through partnerships supporting food sustainability and social causes, including our collaboration with the Al Jalila Foundation during Pinktober and our ongoing support of the UAE Red Crescent during Ramadan. Achieving certifications such as WTTC Hotel Sustainability Basics and LEED Gold certification reflects our commitment to responsible luxury that creates value for both guests and the wider community. What can travellers look forward to from W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island over the coming year? We are focused on continuing to evolve W Abu Dhabi – Yas Island as a luxury destination where business, lifestyle, and entertainment come together. Guests can look forward to refreshed F&B experiences, new collaborations across music, fashion, and design, and further development of our signature programming. We are also investing in key spaces across the property to enhance both functionality and design. Alongside our focus on the guest experience, we remain equally committed to creating an environment where our colleagues can thrive. In 2026, we received a 95% score through Aldar’s “Great Place to Work” survey, reflecting the strength of our team culture and our continued focus on engagement, collaboration, and creating a workplace where our people feel valued. Our ambition is to continue creating experiences that feel unexpected, relevant, and uniquely connected to Abu Dhabi. BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 1 9

WORDS CHRIS CHAMBERLIN

Status matching 101 Status match offers are often advertised, but their timing may be limited, so pounce while you can. For the airline, accepting your match means fresh revenue coming in the door. But, to discourage less serious applicants, matches sometimes have a fee. Airlines will typically align your existing frequent flyer membership to their closest equivalent tier. You could be matched to a lower tier instead, but usually still one with lounge access. You’ll generally keep that new status for a year. After that, you’ll need to meet the programme’s ordinary requirements to keep it. Virgin Atlantic is currently offering a Flying Club Status Match, which requires hopefuls to join Flying Club, book a qualifying flight, and provide proof of tier status with one of 10 airlines, including BA. Meanwhile, there’s also a Flying Blue (Air France/ KLM) paid status match offer, with a €89 fee for Silver, €100 for Gold or €349 for Platinum. Just ask Outside of advertised campaigns, you can also just approach an airline directly and make the case for a match. I’ve personally had success via Qantas’s ‘Tier Accelerator’ and Virgin Australia’s ‘Discover Gold’. If you work for a large company – particularly one with a juicy corporate travel contract – it’s also worth asking

S T K U ER C T P R O IUM H S M R E U PR O Y O T

h tc a r sc get m s: fro line d in ir a ga g a ste a t in n ar tch ch i t i ’t s sw mat n Do hen tus w sta a

your travel manager if there are any private offers available for staff. This is especially worthwhile when your employer shifts its travel contract to a new airline, as these deals commonly include status matching for staff.

Switch your loyalty but keep your perks with status matching

Prove your worth Airlines sometimes launch a ‘status challenge’, instead of a match, to see how serious you really are about switching. Rather than giving away a year of perks from a mere application, you have a travel goal to hit first. Sometimes, it’s as easy as taking a return trip or one long-haul flight, other times you might need to keep that momentum going for a few months before your tier changes. United Airlines MileagePlus Premier Status Match Challenge was one such example, with applications having closed on 30 June, 2026. When to act? A change in circumstances can be a great time to evaluate your status strategy. If you’ve just changed

‘Be aware that some airlines only let you match once every five years – or once in your lifetime’ 20 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

jobs and will need to travel to new destinations, it might be time for a status match. Moving to a new city, or a new country? The status from your homeland may no longer suit. Savvier travellers might also consider a strategic short-term match for upcoming travel plans with a new carrier or alliance. This can make sense, but be aware that some airlines only let you match once every five years – or once in your lifetime. Don’t waste that opportunity. Status accepted To apply, get your paperwork in order. Find your latest frequent flyer membership card, generate a record of your recent flying activity, and have your ID handy. Exact requirements vary, but airlines will usually want to establish that you hold a competing status, that your identity aligns, and that you’re a regular traveller. This is true whether it’s an open status match, a status challenge, or a bespoke offer when contacting a prospective airline. Be prepared for a ‘no’ – you’re asking for a favour, after all. But if you’re a legitimate applicant with a proven track record of travel, a new airline would be lucky to have you. S E PT EM B ER 2026

IMAGE GETTY IMAGES

OR MANY BUSINESS travellers, frequent flyer status comes with the territory. Holding a shiny card that bypasses airport queues and unlocks luxurious lounges is a cherished perk of the job. But if your travel patterns shift, a change of airline could be on the cards – that’s where ‘status matching’ comes in. A savvy power play, status matching takes you straight up the ladder and side-steps an airline’s regular requirements to enjoy status privileges from your first flight.

A Stage for

LIFE'S DEFINING MOMENTS

From focused meetings to grand celebrations, Fairmont Bab Al Bahr offers versatile indoor and outdoor venues, creative menus and dedicated planning to make sure every occasion is a memorable one.

Khor Al Maqta, PO Box 114304, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Direct: +971 2 654 3333 | Email: babalbahr@fairmont.com

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Business Traveller Middle East gives Christian Gurtner, general manager of Six Senses The Palm, five minutes to pitch his property to prospective guests IX SENSES THE PALM, DUBAI will open on the Palm Jumeirah in Q4 2026, marking the brand’s first property in the UAE. The resort has been shaped around an idea that feels particularly relevant to the city: creating space to slow down without stepping away from everything that makes Dubai such a dynamic destination. The resort comprises 61 suites, designed with natural materials, floor-to-ceiling windows, and private terraces overlooking the Arabian Gulf, Palm Jumeirah, or the Dubai skyline. Some include private pools, while the 350sqm Three-Bedroom Private Reserve offers a larger setting for families and groups. The scale is deliberately intimate, with a 24-hour Guest Experience Maker service providing a consistent point of contact for guests and their individual preferences throughout each stay.

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TOP AND BOTTOM Six Senses The Palm, UAE BELOW Christian Gurtner

“There is an emphasis on experiences shared across generations”

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IMAGES SUPPLIED

The Elevator Pitch

The property takes its architectural and design cues from the natural environment. Coral reefs inspired the curved forms and latticed rooflines, while the use of stone, timber, and textured finishes reflects the colours and materials of the Gulf. References to the traditional Emirati Majlis and wind tower principles bring elements of local heritage into a contemporary setting. Across the grounds, gardens, shaded walkways, courtyards, and water features create a transition between the built environment and the beach. Wellness is approached in a similarly integrated way. The 5,500sqm Six Senses Spa combines traditional therapies with diagnostics, movement and longevity programmes, with facilities including hydrotherapy areas, an indoor pool, hammam,

saunas, yoga, and meditation studios and a Biohacking Recovery Lounge. Nova Clinic introduces a more clinical dimension, with diagnostic and longevity services alongside the broader Six Senses approach to sleep, fitness, nutrition and restoration. Outside the spa, the beach and gardens provide settings for yoga, meditation, breathwork and sound healing. Wellness carries into the suites with details such as yoga mats and wellness minibars complementing the wider approach to rest and well-being. Dining follows the Eat with Six Senses philosophy, with seasonal produce and regional sourcing shaping the menus. Sustainability is equally woven into the design and day-to-day operations of the resort. A Six Senses property Earth Lab provides a space for the community to explore practical ideas around upcycling, waste reduction, responsible consumption and local craftsmanship. Water recovery systems, climate-responsive landscaping, responsible sourcing and a zero single-use plastic approach reduce the resort’s environmental impact, while the Sustainability Fund will support environmental and social projects in the local community. Rather than separate experiences, wellness and sustainability are woven into the way we design our spaces, source our food and create the programmes, treatments, and experiences. There is also a strong emphasis on experiences shared across generations. The children’s club, playground, kid’s pool and games room sit alongside sports facilities, water activities and family wellness programmes. For business and private occasions, the resort includes three combinable indoor event venues, a multipurpose meeting lounge, private dining and retreat suites, as well as garden and beachfront settings. At the heart of the resort is a more personal approach to hospitality, intuitively understanding and responding to what each guest needs throughout their stay. We hope to create a place where guests can take away something meaningful, whether that is a new perspective on wellbeing, a deeper connection to the destination or simply the feeling of having had time to slow down.

Tell us about your approach to Japanese cuisine. My menus are omakase, which means “I leave it up to you”, so there’s no choice for guests. It’s an ever-changing, multi-course meal that engages with the seasons, and I adjust menus for every sitting. I follow traditional Japanese techniques but use local British produce. Your Michelin-starred restaurant Endo at The Rotunda was victim to a devastating fire in London last September. How did you deal with this challenge? Rotunda is my passion, my everything, and it was completely destroyed. After the fire, I felt very negative and returned to Japan. But I received thousands of messages from people all over the world. It made me realise that I can’t lose purpose and I should return to London and show how much I appreciate everyone’s warm words. With Rotunda temporarily closed, you pivoted to hosting a pop-up at exclusive members’ club Annabel’s in Mayfair. What prompted this? After the fire, I thought: ‘How can I get the Rotunda team back together?’ The director at Annabel’s contacted me and asked if I wanted to host a five-month residency. Annabel’s is a destination, and since I like to make my restaurants destinations, it felt like a fitting home. We launched “Endo, Upstairs at Annabel’s” in late February, with just 10 counter seats and two sittings per evening from Tuesday to Friday. I also asked Annabel’s to allow non-members, so that we could reunite with guests from The Rotunda – people travelled from America and Europe to experience my pop-up omakase. Guests had to surrender their phones during the meal. What are your thoughts on digital detox dining? At Annabel’s, there’s a ‘no phones, no photos’ rule throughout the club. I followed this because I respect their policy. I don’t necessarily want to ban photos, but at the same time I don’t want people to be on their phones. You should enjoy the experience and the environment. I know London is busy, but it shouldn’t be hard to avoid 24 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER M IDDLE E AST

SUSHI TALES

The well-travelled sushi master and omakase chef Endo Kazutoshi chats about food and travel with Hannah Brandler

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F R E Q U E N T F LY E R

your screen for a period of two hours and 30 minutes in a 24-hour day.

NOM-AKASE Dishes from Endo at the Rotunda

Has travelling inspired your cooking over the years? Of course, I learnt a lot from my father and grandfather in Yokohama, both of whom were sushi masters, but I also discovered techniques when living in Spain 21 years ago. At that time, the country was top in the world for food, showcasing a new wave of cooking. I met Ferran Adrià, the renowned head chef of the former El Bulli restaurant on the Costa Brava, and he gave me two pieces of advice: have an open mind, and keep your traditions. I was surprised because his cuisine is radically different. But he was right – lots of chefs don’t know how to master traditional cuisine. What’s been your most memorable career highlight? When I received a Michelin star for Endo at The Rotunda in 2019. I couldn’t stop crying! Prior to this, I had met chef Raymond Blanc when I was working in Zuma in Knightsbridge. Once a month he came to my sushi counter and always asked to try something different, so I never made him a Zuma dish. When I told him I was leaving to open my own restaurant, he said: “Endo, you have to get a Michelin star.” He was the presenter at the Michelin ceremony the year I was awarded a star.

Which restaurants are you excited to try next? Geranium in Copenhagen and Bonheur by Matt Abé in London. Also, everyone’s always really surprised when I say this, but I’ve never been to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant – so that’s this year’s target! What’s your next challenge? I want to get two Michelin stars. Once I reach this target, I’ll take a break and spend two weeks in Cuba, enjoying the food, music and American classic cars. Then I’ll head to the Caribbean for surfing. What’s your indispensable travel gadget? A nasal stick to clear sinuses. What’s your inflight entertainment pick on long flights? When I travel home to Tokyo, I try to sleep on the 14-hour flight. No one can call or text me – it’s a gift. I eat before boarding and then go straight out to restaurants when I arrive.

‘When I received a Michelin star for Endo at The Rotunda in 2019. I couldn’t stop crying!’

What’s next for Endo? Next year, I’ll release a book that will closely explore the innate storytelling behind omakase. This will be a reflection of my culture and the influences throughout my life. It will feature a collection of recipes and stories.

IMAGES BENJAMIN MCMAHON

ENDO’S TREASURES

CUT ABOVE Chef Endo is a sushi master

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Endo, Upstairs at Annabel’s Endo’s highly popular residency at Mayfair’s members’ club on Berkeley Square was fully booked since its launch in February – with the lucky few popping their name on the waitlist to try and nab one of the ten seats at the sushi counter for a 14-course masterpiece before it ended on 17 July. Diners were advised to leave their perfume at home – it can disrupt the experience – and hand over their mobile phones before entering.

Kioku by Endo The rooftop at Raffles at The OWO sets the historic scene for Endo’s nostalgic restaurant, where menus chronicle memories (Kioku) across the chef’s lifetime. Japanese cocktails and small plates (think a Shiso Gimlet and egg sando) can be savoured amid panoramic views of London’s landmarks, while those looking for a business lunch in Whitehall can opt for speedy bento lunch for £40 per person. Or go all out and enjoy a tasting menu for £155 per person.

Endo at The Rotunda Endo at The Rotunda opened on the top floor of the former BBC Television Centre in London’s White City in 2019, serving up 18-course omakase menus at a 200-year-old Hinoki wood counter amid sleek minimalist interiors by architect Kengo Kuma. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star just six months after opening. While now temporarily closed following a fire last year, Endo is eager to reopen the restaurant in the future.

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THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF

Cat STevens

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Eat, drink, shop, relax

EX TR A DAY

Barcelona Delicious food, vibrant culture, and with something for everyone, there’s a lot to love about this city WORDS ANEESHA RAI

ARCELONA IS A CITY that can only be best described as a feeling. With its historic background, distinct architecture, and avant-garde museums and experiences, it has an energy that just draws you in.

IMAGE DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

AUG S E PTUEST M B2026 E R 2026

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BARCELONA

WHERE TO STAY

welcomed; and so is a keen and genuine interest in your hobbies and projects. After you’re done with breakfast, take a stroll through the Diagonal and Eixample neighbourhoods. With their green trees and Catalan Modernism architecture, this is a great place to start your stroll. Head to the famous la Sagrada Familia (which has just finished its centennial celebration) to catch a visit before its final completion date by 2034, or head to the other famous Gaudi

‘Head to the famous Sagrada Familia to catch a visit before its completion by 2034’

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ABOVE FROM LEFT Placa d’ Espanya Catalonia; Patatas Bravas BELOW Catalan cream BOTTOM Barcelona’s skyline at sunset

landmarks like Casa Battló on the famous (and closer) Passeig de Gracia and Casa Milà, where you can view the city from the rooftop. All of these attractions require a prior booking. If you need a ticket on the spot, you’re most likely to get it for Casa Battló and Casa Milà. AFTERNOON After the excursions of architecture, consider heading to La Nacional on Passeig de Gracia for lunch. A modernist space, El Nacional comprises of four distinct restaurants ranging from tapas to delicious steak. Complimenting these are four additional bars, teamed with cold cuts, oysters, and interesting cocktails you can get off their menu. The location can be easily missed and has a hidden, speakeasy-like character. The building was founded in 1889 and housed a cafétheatre, a fabric dye factory, a car dealer’s shop, and a garage before it took on its new identity. After this, take a short walk to the Gothic quarter to see the famous cathedral after passing Plaça Catalunya. This area comes across as quite touristy, but is key to finding your way to the famous Rambla street and La Boqueria, where you can grab some excellent food gifts off this

Casa Sagnier This hotel is located in the heart of Barcelona in the La Rambla street. It’s bookish and cosy and is the former family home and studio of Modernist architect Enric Sagnier. The café, restaurant, and bar at Café Arquitecte is great for a meal if you don’t want to venture too far.

traditional market. Walk on to find Carrer dels Tallers, a favourite street for musicand vintage-lovers. If you would like a unique souvenir, head to Mercilona where you can buy delightfully handmade souvenirs made by local artists, from coasters to magnets. EVENING In the evening, head over to Barceloneta, grabbing a drink at Bosque de les Fades on the way, a fairy-themed bar that is whimsical and fun. Walk further down 20 minutes and access the Time Out Market with glorious views of the sea and the W hotel (affectionately known by the locals as La Vela — the sail). At Time Out Market, you can enjoy some of the most unique delicacies. Try the red pepper croquettes from Croquetelle and the black rice with cuttlefish or a traditional paella at Can Ros Barceloneta. Round off your meal with a traditional crema catalana. Thank me later. Emirates and Etihad Airways fly direct to Barcelona from the UAE; Saudia flies there direct from Saudi Arabia. S E PT EM B ER 2026

IMAGES MARCORUBINO, JACKF, LECKERSTUDIO, BLUEBEAT76/ADOBE STOCK

MORNING Start your morning at Farga in La Diagonal, a delightful restaurant founded in 1957, and find yourself a seat on the terrace to watch the crowds. Breakfast options range from the usual egg benedicts with smoked salmon to a traditional “bikini,’” a simple toasted sandwich with ham and cheese. While the menu offers great options, Farga’s really strong points lie in its pastry section. Try the cream filled xuixos (pronounced as ‘chu-chos’) – a Catalan custard-cream-filled, cylinder-shaped, deep-fried pastry – with your coffee. If you’re headed to the city around Christmas, make sure you pick up some of their artisanal “turron” – a favourite is the crunchy chocolate. At €40 a bar, it can set you back a little more than you’d want to spend on a chocolate bar while visiting, but you will never regret it. Any meal you have in Barcelona with locals will be a ritual on its own, which is something you’ll notice. Long drawn-out meals are often peppered with debates and discussions. Topics about politics and sports are

WORDS YI-HWA HANNA

WELLNESS

A new era for female wellness clinical experience in reproductive health, postpartum care, and family well-being, including 12 years at a specialised women’s hospital in Shanghai. Malinova’s holistic approach helps guests understand hormonal fluctuations, address inflammatory lifestyle triggers, and build sustainable health routines that continue long after returning home.

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SIX SENSES is launching “The Yin Way Retreat – The Way of a Woman,” its first global wellness programme built entirely around women’s health across every stage of life. Debuting at Six Senses Kanuhura in the Maldives from October 1 to 4, 2026, and moving to Six Senses Kyoto in Japan from December 11 to 14, 2026, the intimate retreats combine modern clinical science with ancient wisdom to restore emotional equilibrium and recalibrate the female nervous system. Reconnecting through cyclical living Grounding its philosophy in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Taoist thought, the programme centres on the “Yin” principles of rest, receptivity, reflection, and cyclical living. Rather than viewing hormonal shifts through a lens of decline, the retreat reframes perimenopause and menopause as a “second spring,” shifting the focus toward listening to what the body requires during key life transitions. This approach reflects broader global wellness trends prioritising dedicated, female-centric longevity practices. Expert guidance and clinical insight Each retreat is led by Hati S. Malinova, Six Senses Wellness Director and Integrative Health Expert, who brings over two decades of S E PT E M B E R 2026

High-tech diagnostics and therapies The high-tech, high-touch experience begins with a personalised wellness screening on arrival, with Sleep With Six Senses and Eat With Six Senses principles integrated throughout. Targeted therapies – including specialised lymphatic drainage for hormonal balance, heat treatments for detoxification, and contrast hydrotherapy – are prescribed to regulate cortisol levels, optimise circadian rhythms, alleviate chronic stress, and dramatically improve one’s quality of sleep. Island restoration at Kanahura Set among pristine Maldivian beaches, the Kanuhura retreat houses guests in private beach villas with pools. The itinerary combines daily yin yoga, sound healing, and interactive sessions at the Alchemy Bar – where guests blend therapeutic herbs and botanicals – with unhurried group meals and relaxing ocean excursions, such as a guided dolphin cruise across open waters. Rates start from US$3,361 per person in a beach villa. Cultural immersion in Kyoto, Japan In the Far East, the retreat offers a culturally reflective journey in Kyoto’s historic heart. Guests participate in hands-on kintsugi workshops, restoring broken ceramics with gold lacquer as a metaphor for embracing life’s changes, alongside ikebana flower arranging, qigong, Daoist meditation, and labyrinth walks. Evenings feature restorative dining inspired by Japan’s 24 sekki microseasons, biohacking sessions, and hydrotherapy facilities. Rates for this retreat start from ¥666,000 per person in a deluxe king room.

Science meets tradition Anazoe Spa at Costa Navarino in Messinia, Greece, has unveiled a new longevity-focused menu that pairs ancient Hippocratic healing philosophy with cutting-edge clinical diagnostics. The offering introduces two specialised pathways: The Longevity Compass focuses on cellular renewal and metabolic health through advanced metabolic testing, skin assessments, ice plunges, hydrotherapy, and pressotherapy; the Kinetics Flow targets performance recovery, injury prevention, and improving mobility.

Recharge your inner child at Rove Hotels WHETHER YOU’RE navigating a competitive multiplayer match or immersing yourself in a rich virtual world, playing video games offers an effective way to let loose, reconnect with your inner child, and release daily corporate stress. Last month, Rove At The Park ran a popular Geek Staycation weekend deal replete with quizzes, community nights, tournies, and more. While the package wrapped at the end of August, if you missed out, you don’t necessarily have to wait for the next event to get your fix: Rove Hotels uniquely caters to the regional gaming community year-round with its dedicated “Gamer Caves” – specialised hotel rooms available at Rove At The Park and Rove Downtown. Fully

outfitted in collaboration with a range of top tech brands, these private sanctuaries feature neon ambient lighting, highperformance PC setups powered by Intel Core i7 processors and Nvidia RTX graphics, dual 144Hz ViewSonic displays, and top-tier Razer peripherals including mechanical keyboards and noise-isolating headsets. Complete with ergonomic gaming chairs and consoles, these rooms offer travellers a true gamer’s paradise to plug in, unwind, and recharge.

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LITTLE LUXURIES

HOT OPENING

From London to Dubai The popular two Michelin-starred Indian dining institution Gymkhana is making its long-awaited UAE debut at DIFC this month

GATE VILLAGE in Dubai’s DIFC welcomes a major new addition this month, as JKS Restaurants brings this acclaimed dining concept to Building 7. Founded in Mayfair in 2013 by siblings Jyotin, Karam, and Sunaina Sethi, the venue pays homage to elite

Indian social and sporting clubs. Following expansion to Riyadh and Las Vegas, the new Dubai location spans two levels with seating for 137 guests alongside an outdoor terrace. Inside, ground floor dining features warm lantern lighting and banquette

seating, while the lower level introduces mirrored ceilings and a peacock bar. The menu features signature chaat-style sharing plates, tandoori-grilled specialities, curries, and biryanis, alongside exclusive dishes created specifically for Dubai.

A toast to the Tomatini

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IF YOU’VE EVER DINED AT La Petite Maison, chances are you are familiar with its signature Tomatini cocktail. The French Riviera-inspired spot has given its most famous creation a refreshing seasonal overhaul across all of its regional venues. Developed alongside Michelin-starred chef Danny Khezzar, the new Tomatini Sorbet transforms those signature savoury flavours into a light, zero-proof dessert. Available at LPM Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Riyadh, the dish combines bright vine tomatoes with white balsamic and tomato vinegars for a crisp, fruity finish. The sorbet is served alongside French toast brioche paired with sweet tomato confit and fresh basil. It’s priced at AED 55 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, QAR 70 in Doha, and SAR 65 in Riyadh. S E PT EM B ER 2026

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Spicing up the UAE’s dining scene THE HOTLY-ANTICIPATED Batliwala & Co opened at DoubleTree by Hilton – Business Bay recently, ringing Bombay’s classic Irani café culture to Dubai. Located in Bay Square, there’s nothing generic about this space, which boasts a sweeping terrace with direct views of the Burj Khalifa. Designed to mirror the warmth of traditional Parsi gathering spots, the entrance opens with a neighbourhood provisions store and a 1980s-inspired sweet shop, flowing into a railway-style dining room filled with vintage gramophones, stacked tiffin

boxes, and retro radios. The menu offers guests an extensive deep dive into Parsi culinary heritage. Diners can start with street-food favourites like Juhu Beach Pani Puri and Bun Maska Jam paired with strong Irani chai, and mains such as slowcooked Dhansak Set, Railway Chicken Curry, and Britannia’s Berry Pulao. Desserts include traditional Mawa Cake and Lagan nu Custard. At the bar, drinks draw from the Indian pantry, with creative ideas like the Irani Biscuit Old Fashioned alongside nostalgic ice-cold Irani Sodas.

THE BAG

A new spin on travel trunks

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Briggs & Riley’s new expandable hardside luggage is built for life EVEN FOR THE SEASONED TRAVELLER, finding hardside luggage that expands without adding excess weight can be tricky, but Briggs & Riley’s latest hardside spinner range tackles the issue head-on. Built from durable polycarbonate shells, the collection – which is, looks-wise, timeless and sleek – spans multiple sizes, including by a uniquely tall extralarge trunk spinner designed for longhaul itineraries. Each piece incorporates the brand’s expansion-compression technology – offering up to 25% extra packing space before ratcheting back down flush – alongside smooth 360-degree spinner wheels, built-in TSA locks, and an unconditional lifetime guarantee that also covers functional damage caused by airlines. From AED 1,709, briggs-riley.ca S E PT E M B E R 2026

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To the moon and back In honour of the Moon landing anniversary, OMEGA has partnered with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre on a space exploration showcase in Dubai, highlighting the iconic Speedmaster worn by UAE astronaut H.E. Dr. Sultan AlNeyadi on the ISS. If you want to own a piece of that space horology heritage yourself, just head to the showroom. OMEGA’s UAE partner, Rivoli Group, is offering the Speedmaster collection – including five references celebrating nearly seven decades of space history – across its regional boutique network. Price upon request

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C U LT U R A L CA L E N DA R OUR PICK OF EVENTS TAKING PLACE AROUND THE WORLD Totally Thames Festival 1-30 September

The Sheep Detectives

Tide over the wait for the next Knives Out film with this inventive, all-ages murder mystery. Adapted from Leonie Swann’s cult novel (Three Bags Full), the film follows a flock of sheep as they investigate the death of their shepherd. Equal parts cosy crime caper and warm, heartfelt comedy, and packed to the fleece with memorable performances from its all-star cast (including Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and more), The Sheep Detectives will leave you baa-gging for a sequel.

READ

London Falling by John Radden Keefe FOLLOWING HIS DEEP DIVE into the Sackler Family in his 2022 bestseller Empire of Pain, Keefe, a staff writer for the New Yorker, turns his attention to a London family following the death of their 19-year-old-son. What follows is a gripping examination of extreme wealth, organised crime, fabricated identities, and

the city itself. Combining meticulous reporting with novelistic pacing, Keefe easily demonstrates why he’s considered among the finest narrative nonfiction writers today as he uncovers a story as much about modern London’s hidden power structures as it is about a family’s search for answers. AED 73; amazon.ae

FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, Berlin, German 4-13 September The German capital opens its doors to some of the world’s best players for two weeks of elite international competition. With established powerhouses and emerging contenders chasing the title, the tournament highlights the continued growth of the women’s game while delivering world-class athleticism, fierce rivalries, and plenty of unforgettable moments on the court.

LISTEN

You Must Remember This FILM HISTORIAN Karina Longsworth returns this month with the 21st season of her highly-acclaimed exploration of Hollywood’s golden age. In it, she revisits the era’s biggest stars, directors, and studios, revealing the scandals, politics, and cultural shifts behind classic films. Meticulously researched and beautifully narrated, it makes the behind-the-scenes details as captivating as the movies themselves. Available on Apple Podcasts. 3 2 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER M IDDLE E AST

Festival Internacional de Teatro de Manizales, Colombia 26 September - 4 October Latin America’s oldest international theatre festival transforms the Colombian city of Manizales into a stage for worldclass performance. Bringing together theatre companies from across the globe, its programme spans contemporary drama, street theatre, dance, and experimental productions, celebrating artistic exchange and the enduring power of live performance. S E PT EM B ER 2026

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This month-long celebration of London’s iconic waterway features a packed programme of art, music, theatre, heritage events, and outdoor installations, transforming the city’s banks into a vibrant cultural corridor. Whether it’s exploring riverside exhibitions or watching the river races, visitors will discover the Thames as both a cultural icon and the lifeblood of the British capital.

PARTNER CONTENT

Small steps, lasting change We chat with Jean-Yves Minet, Global Brand President at Novotel, about the brand’s bold new wellness vision - Longevity Everyday - and the thinking behind its inaugural global Longevity Week FROM DEMOCRATISING WELLNESS for everyday travellers to redefining the very role a hotel can play in human health, Minet makes the case for why the future of travel and the future of well-being are inseparable.

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Longevity is a word we’re hearing more and more - but it’s often associated with luxury retreats, biohacks, and premium price tags. Why is Novotel, a midscale brand, planting its flag in this space? That’s exactly the problem we’re solving. Longevity is not a luxury issue, it’s about people not price. The longevity economy is projected to be worth US$27 trillion by the end of this decade, with US$4.6 trillion flowing into the travel industry alone. Yet right now, it is almost entirely dominated by experiences that are simply out of reach for most people. In 1967, Novotel was founded on the belief that high-quality, innovative hospitality should be accessible to everyone. That is still our DNA today. So when we saw this global movement toward longer, healthier, more fulfilling lives, our response wasn’t to build a luxury experience or a specialist spa concept. It was to ask: how do we democratise longevity? How do we make it real and achievable for everyone, for the business traveller checking into their fourth hotel this month, or a family escaping the juggling of daily life? The answer we arrived at is Longevity Everyday – a vision that says a longer, happier life isn’t built in a twoweek retreat. It’s built in the small decisions you make every single day: how you sleep, what you eat, how you move, and who you connect with. What made this the right moment for Novotel to make longevity its defining purpose and how does this come to life? The world gave us the signal. The question society is now wrestling with is not how to live longer – it is how to live better. And travel sits right at the intersection of that conversation. When people are away from home, their routines are disrupted, their choices are shaped by their environment, and their well-being is genuinely in our hands. That is an enormous responsibility, but it is also an extraordinary opportunity. Novotel has always served people at pivotal moments in their lives. Longevity Everyday is simply us owning that responsibility more consciously and more boldly. The

vision has four pillars: Sleep, Eat, Move and Meet – each one translating the philosophy of longevity into something a guest can actually feel during their and long after their stay. A better night’s sleep on elevated bedding. A delicious, and more sustainable, meal that leaves you energised rather than heavy. Movement that feels easier, and more intentional. A meeting designed around energy, not just efficiency. These are small, accessible, everyday choices embedded into the fabric of a Novotel stay that leave a lasting impact.

Longevity Week will take place during the 37th week of the year, from 7-11 September. What do you aim to achieve? It’s our invitation to the world – not just our guests, but everyone – to take one small step toward living better. There is a mathematical principle at the heart of everything we do at Novotel: if you improve by just 1% each day, over the course of a year that compounds into a 37-fold transformation. That idea gave birth to the Novotel 37 Collective, our community of well-being experts and opinion leaders, and it is why we chose Week 37 as the moment where our philosophy becomes a global event. It is where thinking becomes action. The week will be brought to life by our Novotel 37 Collective, with free expert-led talks, masterclasses and live sessions available inhotel and at home, streaming on our Instagram and YouTube channels every day. What is the Novotel 37 Collective? Who are these experts and why were they chosen? The Novotel 37 Collective is the human

expression of Longevity Everyday. Each member embodies one of our pillars in an authentic, inspiring way - they are not brand ambassadors in the traditional sense. They are people who genuinely live these principles and can inspire others to do so. Kauli Vaast represents Move. He is the Paris 2024 Olympic gold medallist in surfing who has made consistency, discipline and connection to nature the foundation of his performance. On 8 September, he leads a morning warm-up masterclass that anyone can build into their daily routine.Alfie Steiner represents Eat. A British food creator, he’s built a following around making plantforward cooking delicious and accessible. He leads a Longevity Talk on 7 September, and a live cooking class on the 9th, when he’ll be joined by Kaushiik Subramaniam - our Ocean Defender and marine conservation biologist - for a fascinating conversation about the connection between marine ingredients and human health. Olivia Arezzolo represents Sleep. She is Australia’s most recognised sleep expert and a bestselling author, and on 10 September, she leads a breathwork and sleep-improvement session that I think will genuinely surprise people with how simple and impactful the science of rest can be. And Javier Pastore represents Meet. The former Paris Saint-Germain midfielder brings a unique perspective on performance, focus, recovery and human connection - and on the 11th he’ll share a very exciting hint of a new chapter in the global Novotel and Paris Saint-Germain partnership. After Longevity Week, the Collective will continue to share practical, human insights that make longevity feel achievable, engaging, and personal beyond a stay. How will Longevity Everyday resonate with the business traveller specifically? Travel, as much as we love it, can be a disruptor of personal wellbeing – but it doesn’t need to be. It can be hard to maintain routines and healthy habits while you travel – but we believe it can also be a source of inspiration, a time to reset, and be inspired to take new habits and daily practices home. The modern business traveller is what I would call a corporate athlete. Their job isn’t just to perform in meetings; it’s to manage energy, maintain clarity, recover well, and show up consistently across time zones and schedules. That requires the same discipline and intentionality that elite sport demands - just applied to everyday professional life.Longevity Everyday makes that intentionality feel easy. Whether you are at home or in one of our 630 hotels worldwide, we help everyone choose a simple action every day that can have a lasting impact on the busy lives we lead.

COVER STORY

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Sau delidi Arab nowver on ia is on eco in its its Visi track syst fina on 2 to em l ph 030 WO is h ase , an RDS YI-H ittin , its d WA HAN g its trav NA strid el e

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f you have visited Saudi Arabia at any point over the past decade, your impression of the kingdom was likely defined by the nationwide transformation happening in real time. For years, travelling through Riyadh, Jeddah, or the ancient desert landscapes of AlUla felt like walking through an active architectural workshop. Promotional billboards promised futuristic smart cities, construction cranes dominated urban skylines, and hospitality industry press releases detailed ambitious hotel room counts scheduled for delivery years down the line. By this month however – which is the sevenyear anniversary of the launch of the country’s tourist visa, when it opened its doors to international tourists for the first time ever from 27 September 2019 – the narrative has fundamentally changed. Over the past twelve months, the nature of Saudi Arabia’s travel, hospitality, and aviation conversation has shifted from what will be to what is. The scaffolding is coming down across more major destinations, a growing number of resort doors are opening to international guests, and the operational reality of one of the most ambitious economic diversification strategies in modern history is now almost on full display. As Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan enters its final stretch, the kingdom’s tourism ecosystem is no longer relying on thrilling artistic renders to capture global interest. Instead, it is already delivering tangible, high-end experiences across luxury hospitality, heritage restoration, regional aviation, and leisure infrastructure. Understanding this shift requires examining the structured roadmap laid out a decade ago. The Vision 2030 framework was built around three sequential phases of execution, designed to transition the national economy from oil dependency to a diversified services model, with travel and tourism as a central pillar. Phase One (2016–2020) focused on institutional foundation and policy reform. During this initial five-year stretch, the government established dedicated administrative bodies, created specialised Vision Realisation Programmes, and revised regulatory systems to accommodate private investment and foreign visitors. September 2019 was one of the major turning points, when Saudi Arabia formally launched its international tourist e-visa for citizens of 49 countries. This major administrative change opened the country to global leisure travellers and established the country’s foundational identity as an international tourist destination, centered on heritage, cultural traditions, and varied landscapes. Phase Two (2021–2025) was driven by capital deployment and physical development. Backed by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) alongside domestic and international commercial partners, construction accelerated across major development zones known as gigaprojects. International hotel groups signed historic expansion agreements, airport modernisation programmes began, and early

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luxury properties opened to guests. The plan was so successful that by late 2023, Saudi Arabia had surpassed its initial target of 100 million annual domestic and international visitors seven years early, prompting government officials to revise the national target upwards to 150 million visitors by 2030. Phase Two demonstrated that the kingdom could execute largescale engineering and hospitality builds within tight timelines. As of this year, the country is navigating Phase Three (2026– 2030) – the final stage of delivery, commercial maturity, and operational integration. This phase emphasises long-term financial viability, service consistency, and system integration. Individual development zones now form an interconnected regional travel network supported by expanding air routes, high-speed rail links, and unified digital entry platforms. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The past twelve months have been marked by completed hotel handovers, expanded resort portfolios, and operational refinement across flagship tourism hubs. Along the Red Sea coast, Red Sea Global has moved beyond initial soft-opening periods into full commercial operations. Establishments like Six Senses Southern Dunes, The St. Regis Red Sea Resort, and Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, are receiving international bookings on a regular schedule. They have been joined over the past year by properties such as Desert Rock, built directly into mountain rock formations, and Shebara, featuring overwater steel villas. These openings operate alongside Red Sea International Airport, which has expanded its schedule of domestic flights from Riyadh and Jeddah while introducing direct regional flights from Gulf hubs. AMAALA, an ultra-luxury, regenerative tourism megaproject along the country’s northwestern Red Sea coast developed by Red Sea Global, welcomed its first property – the Four Seasons Resort AMAALA at Triple Bay – this June. The first operational resort to open in the broader AMAALA destination – which is known for its focus on holistic wellness, longevity, the arts, and environmental conservation – it was followed by the Six Senses AMAALA in July, with at least six more resorts (from brands including Clinique La Prairie, Jayasom, and The Ritz-Carlton) to open by the end of 2026. BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 3 5

In NEOM, the island of Sindalah opened its luxury marina facilities, retail promenades, and fine dining venues to global travellers. As the first physical asset to open within NEOM, Sindalah offers an operational look at the maritime tourism infrastructure planned for the region. Inland, construction continues at TROJENA in preparation for the 2029 Asian Winter Games, with heavy civil engineering work set to advance to remain on schedule. NEOM’s natural heritage strategy – wherein 95% of NEOM’s total area is protected within the NEOM Nature Reserve – has also reached critical operational milestones. The destination’s rewilding programme has successfully reintroduced native species that had been absent from northwestern Saudi Arabia for decades, including the Arabian oryx, Nubian ibex, sand and mountain gazelles, red-necked ostriches, and lanner falcons. With targets to plant 100 million native trees, shrubs, and grasses, restore 15 million hectares of habitat, and prepare for the staged return of apex species like striped hyenas and cheetahs, the reserve operates with dedicated ranger programmes and zoned visitor access to balance ecological preservation with public discovery. In the capital, Riyadh’s hospitality market has added substantial capacity in the luxury and boutique sectors. The historic area of Diriyah – home to the UNESCO World Heritage site of At-Turaif – has expanded its offering considerably beyond the popular culinary district of Bujairi Terrace. Properties like the Bab Samhan hotel are housing business guests and cultural tourists alike within traditional Najdi architecture, while major international brands continue building out properties along the Wadi Hanifah master plan. To the south of the capital, Qiddiya City has progressed with the launch of some of its primary entertainment zones, including Six Flags Qiddiya City – which opened to the public on 31 December, 2025 – all designed to capture domestic and regional leisure demand. Meanwhile, established destinations like AlUla are focusing on long-term luxury positioning and cultural programming. Following years of initial festival launches and heritage restoration, AlUla now offers a year-round hospitality calendar supported by boutique eco-resorts, wellness retreats, and the Maraya venue, alongside active archaeological conservation work. A central highlight in the past year’s broadening of AlUla’s cultural, scientific, and ecological footprint is the design reveal for AlUla Manara, a landmark astronomy and astrotourism

FROM TOP Nujuma; Four Seasons Resort AMAALA BOTTOM InterContinental The Red Sea Resort

facility designed by Heatherwick Studio. Situated between the AlGharameel and Harrat Uwayrid reserves, the textured sandstone structure features three interlocking telescopelike formations housing interactive galleries, a planetarium, a restaurant, and a rooftop observation deck. The site forms part of a broader astrotourism network; AlUla Manara, AlGharameel Nature Reserve, Sharaan National Park, and Wadi Nakhlah Nature Reserve have all been certified by DarkSky International as the GCC’s first International Dark Sky Parks, safeguarding night skies that rank in the top 5% globally for natural darkness under a strict RCU Astrotourism Policy. Further strengthening AlUla’s scientific research capabilities, the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) has partnered with the US-based SETI Institute to transform AlUla Manara Observatory into an active space research hub. The collaboration includes installing a LaserSETI optical instrument – part of a global northern hemisphere network scanning for laser flashes indicative of extraterrestrial technology – alongside teacher training, STEM education tools, and virtual reality initiatives designed to build local scientific capacity. The destination’s cultural presence has also extended into new creative mediums: it introduced a Musical Road experience featuring the composition ‘Passage of Light’, the winning entry from the AlUla Music Competition; the landscape’s historical monuments took centre stage in Ubisoft’s popular video game expansion Assassin’s Creed Mirage: Valley of Memory; and its Madrasat Addeera collaborated with Saudi designer Mohammed Khoja of HINDAMME on a slow-fashion wearable art collection inspired by its ancient petroglyphs and native flora. A LINK TO THE WORLD A travel destination requires transport links to sustain visitor volumes, and as such, the country’s aviation sector has seen significant structural progression to support its ambitions.

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COVER STORY

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Leading this shift is Riyadh Air, the PIF-owned flag carrier that has now transitioned from tantalising brand announcements to live flight operations. Following its noncommercial operational readiness flight phase in October 2025 – which saw its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft make test runs to London Heathrow – the airline officially opened public ticket sales in mid-2026. Riyadh Air’s maiden commercial scheduled passenger service launched on 10 June 2026, flying nonstop from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh to London Heathrow aboard its newly delivered custom Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. This maiden route was immediately followed by domestic services to Jeddah, regional flights to Dubai and Cairo, and long-haul connections to international hubs including Madrid, Manchester, Kuala Lumpur, and Mumbai. Operating alongside national carrier Saudia – which is executing its own fleet renewal and reorganisation – Riyadh Air is rapidly scaling towards its target of connecting the capital to over 100 global destinations by 2030, anchored by the development of King Salman International Airport. Set to begin initial operations and open its new passenger facilities in 2029, the new airport is planned to become one of the world’s largest airport developments (integrating the existing King Khalid International Airport), designed to be able to process up to 120 million passengers annually by 2030, and 185 million passengers annually upon full completion of the master plan by 2050. Overland luxury travel is also taking shape with the announcement of the first five itineraries for Dream of the Desert, Saudi Arabia’s first luxury train service developed by Italian firm Arsenale S.p.A. in partnership with Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR). Scheduled to launch at the end of 2026, the 14-carriage, 33-suite train will carry 66 passengers across a 1,300mm route running from Riyadh to the northern desert regions. Connectivity within the wider Middle East has also improved through regulatory cooperation. The approval of the GCC S E PT E M B E R 2026

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Grand Tours visa – a unified tourist visa for Gulf Cooperation Council member states – is set to simplify multi-destination itineraries across the region, though it has yet to open for public applications. Similar to the European Schengen visa, this system will allow international business visitors and tourists to travel across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman under a single entry approval. LOOKING AHEAD ACROSS AN EXPANDING, RESILIENT LANDSCAPE While the region has experienced periods of geopolitical tension, the response within the kingdom’s travel and hospitality market has primarily been marked by commercial stability. Hotel occupancy and visitor figures have remained supported by strong domestic travel demand. Saudi citizens and residents travel extensively within the country, generating consistent revenue across seasonal entertainment festivals, regional cities, and coastal resorts. Intra-GCC travel also provides a stable volume of corporate and weekend visitors. The government’s financial commitment to Vision 2030 infrastructure projects also remains unchanged. Public sector capital allocation via the Public Investment Fund, combined with long-term commercial contracts, has allowed major tourism developments to proceed without significant schedule reductions. The industry continues to focus on longterm targets while adjusting operational strategies to reflect market conditions. As Saudi Arabia moves through its Phase Three towards the 2030 horizon, its travel and tourism industry is standing upon a firm foundation. Its initial period of policy formation and structural building has yielded a functioning commercial travel sector, and visitors arriving in the kingdom today will encounter an established network of international hotel brands, modern transport links, simplified visa processes, and restored historical sites, as well as high-quality event facilities across major urban centres and specialised tourism zones. With some major global events headed for Saudi’s shores in the coming years – including Expo 2030 in Riyadh and the 2034 FIFA World Cup – the country is priming for a newly-expanded world stage with what it hopes to be a fully-operational travel ecosystem that’s prepared for the global market. BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 37

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HOW TO USE PLAY DYNAMICS TO TRANSFORM YOUR TRAVEL

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So what even is gamification anyway?

ach year, by the time September rolls around, a familiar emotional shift takes place across the globe. Whether you are a parent lamenting the end of the long summer break, or a professional gearing up for an intense second-half push at work, many of us return home from the seasonal holidays with a conflicting set of feelings. On one hand, there is genuine excitement to get back into structured routines, focus on our personal health, and re-engage with work projects. On the other hand, for many of us, there’s also the undeniable onset of the back-from-holiday travel blues – that lingering sense of fatigue as the novelty of summer gives way to daily responsibility and routine. One of the most effective ways to combat this post-vacation slump is ensuring we imbue our upcoming travels with a little more fun. When you break down why summer holidays feel so special, it rarely comes down to the destination alone. Rather, it’s usually because extended breaks tend to interrupt our daily routines. They give us room to rest, play outdoors, explore unfamiliar environments, and build lasting memories with family and friends. Summer vacations offer a rare sense of freedom from routine. Without early morning alarms, school drop-offs, or rigid meeting calendars, our days tend to flow at a naturally slower pace. Extended daylight hours give us extra time to relax outside, and our minds get a genuine break from daily performance targets and stress. The trips we plan during this season also tend to be packed with simple, engaging experiences – from spontaneous trips to the beach and camping under the stars to visiting new cities or simply stopping to enjoy an ice cream without checking the clock. Above all, these uninterrupted days allow families and companions to share meals, talk more deeply, and build memories that can last long after the luggage is unpacked. One challenge for many modern travellers is finding a way to recreate those restorative qualities during shorter, non-seasonal trips throughout the rest of the year. Whether you’re taking a weekend staycation, extending a business trip by two or three days, or planning a quick mid-quarter family getaway, incorporating a bit of gamification into your itinerary could be a simple way to bring that sense of discovery and excitement back into your travels. S E PT E M B E R 2026

WORD PLAY The word “gamification” was coined in 2002 by British computer programmer and game designer Nick Pelling

At its core, gamification is the practice of adding game design elements – such as point scoring, visual rewards, structured challenges, and friendly competition – to non-game activities. Its primary goal is pretty straightforward: to turn routine or passive tasks into more engaging, active experiences that can better hold our interest. While the term originated through work around digital product design, the underlying elements are already familiar to most people. Points systems track our physical or digital progress. Badges serve as visual tokens for completing specific milestones. Leaderboards show us how our achievements compare to those of our peers, while levels offer clear markers of advancement over time. You can see examples of gamification everywhere in modern life. Educational apps use daily streaks and quick quizzes to help millions of users learn languages or master mathematics. Corporate enterprises rely on points systems and tiered rewards to increase customer loyalty and streamline employee training. Meanwhile, health and fitness platforms track step counts, reward daily exercise targets, and award virtual trophies to keep users moving. The rapid rise of gamification over the last decade is no coincidence. Digital applications now dominate daily life, modern smartphones make real-time data tracking effortless, and organisations constantly seek innovative ways to capture human attention in an increasingly crowded world. Cloudbased software updates points instantly, while younger generations who grew up playing video games naturally expect digital and real-world tools to be interactive. As a result, static, traditional experiences can often feel outdated to modern travellers.

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TR AVEL TRENDS

Gamification works so effectively because it taps directly into core human psychology. It uses fundamental desires for achievement, status, autonomy, and social connection to transform standard activities into deeply motivating experiences. From a neurological standpoint, earning a reward, levelling up, or reaching a goal triggers a release of dopamine in the brain. This typically creates a positive feedback loop that naturally encourages us to repeat the behaviour. Beyond chemical rewards, gamification grants travellers autonomy and control. Rather than following a rigid, minute-by-minute itinerary dictated by a tour operator, gamified elements give participants the freedom to choose their own routes and direct their own progress. Having clear point structures and milestone badges also satisfy our need for competence. They can offer us immediate proof that we are exploring deeper, learning new skills, or mastering a local environment. When shared with family, friends, or colleagues, friendly competitions can also help us to fulfil a human need for social connection, belonging, and shared accomplishment. In practical terms, gamification relies on three functional mechanics that traditional travel itineraries often lack. The first is instant feedback: Unlike real-life goals where outcomes take weeks or months to see, games offer immediate progress updates so travellers know instantly how they are doing. The second is safe failure: In a gamified system, making a wrong turn or missing a target is framed as a low-stakes chance to learn and try again tomorrow rather than a costly mistake. Third is a clear path to mastery: A route through which large, abstract goals – like simply “exploring a new city” – are broken down into manageable, bite-sized tasks that feel easy and satisfying to complete one step at a time. 4 0 BU S I N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

STEEPED IN OUR HISTORY Pelling first created the term “gamification” to describe adding game-like user interfaces and mechanics to commercial electronic devices like ATMs and vending machines. But the concept of these reward systems can be traced back to long before the digital term existed – like trading stamps since the 1890s

How to gamify your next trip

As intimidating as it might sound at first, gamifying a trip doesn’t require complicated software, expensive tech, or hours of tedious preparation. With a few simple mechanics, you can easily turn any holiday or business trip into a pointand-reward adventure. Exploration and sightseeing quests One of the easiest ways to gamify a destination is through tailored exploration quests. For example, before departing, you can create a Photo Bingo card tailored to your location. Instead of listing generic tourist spots, fill the grid with specific, atmospheric items – a house with blue shutters, a neighbourhood cat, a vintage local delivery vehicle, or a specific street food vendor. The first person or team in your group to complete a row or a full card earns a prize, such as choosing where the group eats dinner that night. Real-world treasure hunting is another option. Applications like Geocaching use built-in mobile GPS to lead travellers to hidden containers tucked away near historic sites, parks, and

‘From a neurological standpoint, earning a reward, levelling up, or reaching a goal triggers a release of dopamine in the brain.’ S E PT EM B ER 2026

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The behavioural science of play

urban plazas by local communities. The result could make for an engaging way to discover quiet, authentic corners of a destination that traditional guidebooks rarely mention. For urban explorers, location-tracking apps like Fog of World or Swarm can act as digital check-in systems. They allow you to clear the “fog” off a digital map as you walk through unfamiliar neighbourhoods, rewarding you with badges as you unlock new percentages of a city on foot. Pokémon GO can become a great exploration tool for families – just don’t forget logical considerations around safety. Group and family competitions If you’re travelling with family, friends, or colleagues, adding light-hearted group competitions can help keep energy levels high and encourage healthy levels of shared silliness and laughter. During evening downtime, you can plan for a mini tournament schedule for casual card games, board games, or ping-pong matches. Tracking scores across the duration of the trip thus creates an ongoing storyline that ties the holiday together. Too much effort for you? Try introducing daily morning quests instead: Before leaving your hotel, assign participants simple challenges such as ordering an afternoon coffee entirely in the local language, finding the most scenic viewpoint in the neighbourhood for under five dollars, or locating a building constructed before 1900 and snapping a group photo with it. Keeping a visible leaderboard on a hotel room notepad or in a shared smartphone note keeps everyone aware of the current standings – or if you’re doing this photo-scavenger-hunt-style, you can show off your conquests and treasures over group drinks before dinner.

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Daily point systems and micro-habits To keep game mechanics easy to manage, try establishing a basic point system that rewards curiosity, active movement, and cultural engagement. For instance, you could incorporate step goals by setting a realistic daily step target based on your group’s preferences. Everyone who hits the target earns 50 points, while the traveller with the lowest step count at the end of the day faces a funny penalty – such as buying the afternoon gelatos or carrying the daypack the following morning. Another option is awarding culture points, wherein you award points whenever someone successfully uses a local phrase with a resident, tries an unfamiliar regional dish,

ABOVE Photography can easily be turned into various types of interactive holiday games, done either solo or as a group

or shares an interesting historical fact about a site you just visited, for instance. For a bit of extra feel-good factor, you could tie in the idea of Random Acts of Kindness: Keeping social etiquette top of mind by awarding high point values to group members who help carry luggage, clear dishes, or leave a warm review for a small, family-run business.

BELOW Who says treasure-hunting is only for pirates? It can be adapted for gamificationloving travellers’ fun too!

Gamification is a great tool for family vacations and trips with groups of friends, and it can be equally valuable for frequent corporate travellers. Business trips often revolve around identical environments: airport lounges, taxi backseats, standard conference rooms, and business hotels. Over time, this routine can make business travel feel monotonous. By introducing micro-quests to short breaks in a work schedule, business travellers can turn a two-hour window between meetings into a purposeful break. Setting yourself a challenge to walk 5,000 steps through an unfamiliar neighbourhood, or to sample a local coffee specialty, or photograph three distinct architectural styles encourages active exercise and mental decompression. When extending a business trip into a brief bleisure stay, gamified goals can provide just enough structure to help professionals make the absolute most of limited free time without feeling overwhelmed by planning.

Practical value for the business traveller

Reclaiming the joy of exploration

Travel is ultimately about curiosity, perspective, and joy – yet the demands of busy schedules, work stress, and routine can sometimes turn our trips into just another item on our to-do list. Gamifying your next work trip or holiday doesn’t necessarily have to involve rigid rules or turn your travel into a stressful to-do list or contest – but it might just help you break free from routine and bring the true spirit of play back into every journey you take. S E PT E M B E R 2026

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Maximalism has made a triumphant return to the hotel industry WORDS ALICE HENDERSON & YI-HWA HANNA

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MORE IS MORE H O S P ITA LIT Y

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H O S P ITA LIT Y

UIET LUXURY HAS dominated design in recent years – but 2026 has ushered in a new look. Bold patterns, clashing colours, and flamboyant features have swiftly replaced monochromatic, pared-back interiors, as the maximalist aesthetic makes its way back into the hotel industry. Here we spotlight some of the most showstopping hotel openings around the world.

IMAGES MEMPHIS WEST PICTURES; COURTESY OF HOUSE OF GODS; COURTESY OF W HOTELS; SIM CANETTY CLARKE

HOUSE OF GODS, LONDON With two properties already in Scotland, House of Gods has now expanded into England, with an outpost in London’s Canary Wharf. The property features 79 lavishly dressed rooms, each of which reflect the group’s mission to offer guests an immersive experience. Once deemed a fashion faux-pas, tiger print now takes centre stage in the form of plush bedspreads and striped carpets along with claret-red walls. The hotel’s gold-tiled facade has a dramatic look too, with LED lights along the base that make it glow in the dark.

DON’T MISS

House of Gods’ ‘Treat Me Like I’m Famous’ package. Expect bedspreads scattered with golden rose petals, prosecco on ice and a butlerdelivered milk and cookies midnight feast among other treats.

MAMA SHELTER SINGAPORE Interiors by Dion & Arles have drawn on Singapore’s heritage for Mama Shelter’s Asian debut. Peranakan influences can be seen in the powdery pink and orange shades, plus tiling around the pool, while nods to the city’s wildlife come in the form of a hand-painted mural featuring dragons, tigers and boats. The focal point of the 115 guest rooms are green and red striped headboards, and black carpets with mandala-style patterns.

‘Ardbeg House’s ‘Monster’ room boasts a theatrical canopy bed, with winding branches up each of its four posts’ W NEW YORK – UNION SQUARE

ARDBEG HOUSE, ISLAY

The hotel has unveiled a daring new look after a US$100 million renovation. Most eye-catching is the Living Room lobby space, with animal-print furniture, orange accents, and soaring marble columns, while the Living Room Café is dressed entirely in lime green. Design is more understated in the guest rooms, though playful elements prevail with orange velvet headboards and chessboard-patterned side tables, plus bright yellow taps in bathrooms.

Single malt brand Ardbeg has got into the hotel spirit, launching a gothic property on the same Scottish island as its distillery. Interiors by Russell Sage Studio showcase an all-important bar decked in swirling, orange marble and glaring yellow overhead lights. After a nightcap, guests can retire to one of the 12 rooms filled with a dizzying assortment of patterns – from checks and stripes to jagged, hypnotic spirals.

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H O S P ITA LIT Y SITARA HIMALAYA High in the Indian Himalayas, Sitara Himalaya is an intimate ten-room lodge built around the Good Earth design aesthetic of rich colours and creating authentic living cultural tapestries. Masterminded by Good Earth founder Anita Lal, the sanctuary weaves together Indian, Tibetan, and English craft traditions. Think vibrant block-printed textiles, gilded detailing, and rich hand-woven rugs set against wood-clad walls, offering a cosy yet theatrical retreat amid the high mountain peaks.

‘This grand hotel pairs classical European palace luxury with lavish Middle Eastern design’

THE OTHER HOUSE, LONDON Championing a signature ‘British Maximalist’ style, The Other House blends resident club living with bold, theatrical design across its outposts in South Kensington and Covent Garden. Interiors draw on Art Deco glamour and Art Nouveau fluidity, layering rich teal and salmon tones, velvet upholstery, and bold metallic accents. From moodily lit cocktail lounges to bold hallways and pattern-filled Club Flats, the properties deliver a vibrant, drama-filled take on London living.

RETRO RIOT

This grand hotel along Jeddah’s vibrant corniche takes Arabian grandeur to extreme heights, pairing classical European palace luxury with lavish Middle Eastern design. Interiors feature 24-carat gold leaf accents, soaring marble columns, and a three-storey Swarovski crystal chandelier suspended above the central lobby. Richly upholstered silks and ornate furnishings fill the guest suites, delivering an uncompromisingly opulent take on hotel maximalism. 4 4 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

THE MANDRAKE HOTEL, LONDON Tucked away in London’s Fitzrovia neighbourhood, The Mandrake Hotel offers a theatrical, dark-gothic spin on maximalism. Designed as a living art gallery, its dramatic interiors combine raw concrete walls with plush velvets, heavy drapes, and curated artworks from around the world. Guests will find Venetian masks peering from shelves, a glass lift revealing tattoo art inside the shaft, and a central courtyard flanked by a lush hanging garden of jasmine and passionflower. Hot tip: Don’t miss their unique Damu Spa. S E PT EM B ER 2026

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WALDORF ASTORIA JEDDAH - QASR AL SHARQ

Squeezed between two train stations and bringing eccentric British maximalism to Paris, Hôtel Les Deux Gares is a quirky antidote to beige. Designer Luke Edward Hall has filled the 40room property with pea-green walls, bold 70s geometric carpets, pastel bathrooms, and a playful mix of mismatched vintage furniture.

Paradise, Found on the Palm Lose yourself in a beachfront retreat where lagoon waters wind through tropical gardens and the city feels a world away. From Overwater Villas suspended above the Arabian Gulf to restorative spa rituals and memorable dining, discover an unexpected escape on Palm Jumeirah.

ANANTAR A THE PALM DUBAI RESORT East Crescent, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE | +971 4 567 8888 | dubaipalm@anantara.com ANANTAR A .COM

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ELECTRIC MOBILITY

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ELECTRIC MOBILITY

ELECTRIC

REVOLUTION ACROSS AFRICA,

ELECTRIC MOBILITY IS NO LONGER A PILOT PROJECT OR A FUTURISTIC AMBITION. IT IS ALREADY RESHAPING HOW PEOPLE MOVE THROUGH IMAGES GETTY IMAGES, ADOBE STOCK

CITIES, DRIVEN BY NECESSITY AS MUCH A S I N N O VAT I O N WORDS KEITH MWANALUSHI

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From Nairobi to Kampala, Kigali to Lagos, electric motorbikes are emerging as the most practical answer to Africa’s urban transport challenges, and a subtle upgrade to the experience of travelling for leisure or business purposes on the continent.

1.5 billion people, but India has roughly 300 million two-wheelers on the road. Africa has closer to 30 million. “That’s already about a tenfold opportunity,” Burman says, pointing out that Africa has far fewer motorbikes than it could. The market is wide open for growth. Two-wheelers are the backbone of daily mobility across African cities because infrastructure leaves little alternative. “Now two-wheelers are by far the single biggest modal transportation driver in Africa,” Burman explains. “People need to use a two-wheeler to get around, right? It is the starting point of a mobility revolution that’s happening right now in Africa.” That revolution is already visible. Spiro operates in seven African countries and has deployed around 80,000 electric motorbikes supported by 2,500 battery swap stations. Collectively, those bikes have travelled more than one billion CO₂-free kilometres. That’s no small feat on a continent often overlooked in global electric vehicle conversations.

A CITY THAT SOUNDS DIFFERENT

Spend time in Kampala and you quickly understand why electric bikes matter. “Boda bodas”, as they’re known locally, are motorcycles used by commuters, delivery services, and ride-hailing apps. They dominate the streets, providing fast, flexible transport where formal public systems fall short. Noisy and smoky, they fill the air with exhaust and engine rattle. Electric fleets change that equation almost immediately. For a business traveller, the difference is sensory. The sound softens and the air clears. The short ride – from a hotel to a meeting, or from a meeting to the airport – becomes calmer and more pleasant. It’s not about novelty, but comfort. Jakob Hornbach, CEO of GOGO Electric in Uganda, frames it simply: adoption changes the “soundtrack” and “air” of the city. For travellers navigating unfamiliar streets on tight schedules, that shift matters. The last mile often defines the experience of a city, and electric mobility is quietly improving it.

CLEANER AIR, STRONGER ECONOMICS

SERVING AFRICA

Africa’s electric mobility story is not following the same script as Europe or North America. There are fewer private cars, limited mass transit systems and a far heavier reliance on two-wheelers. That reality, rather than holding the continent back, is accelerating the transition. Kaushik Burman, chief executive of Spiro, points to a striking comparison. India and Africa both have populations of around 4 8 BU S I N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

PREVIOUS SPREAD Spiro has deployed around 80,000 electric motorbikes in Africa

The case for electric mobility in Africa is not built on environmental ideals alone. It is rooted in economics. Most African countries import refined fuel, paying in dollars. That exposes local currencies to volatility and keeps transport costs high. Electric bikes flip that model, running on locally produced and often renewable electricity. In Uganda, around 90% of the country’s electricity comes from hydropower, meaning electric motorcycles are effectively powered by domestic, clean energy. GOGO Electric addresses what Hornbach calls two simultaneous crises: emissions for the city, and profitability for riders. Removing petrol from the equation cuts pollution immediately, while improving daily earnings for drivers. The numbers from GOGO are compelling. Riders save around 30–40% on daily operating costs compared with petrol bikes. A battery swap costs roughly 5,000 Ugandan shillings (US$1.40), while covering the same distance on petrol costs closer to 15,000 Ugandan shillings ($4.23). With fewer moving parts and no oil changes, maintenance costs drop sharply. The result: take-home pay can increase by as much as 50%. S E PT EM B ER 2026

ELECTRIC MOBILITY

FROM TOP LEFT Africa has far fewer motorbikes than it could; Spiro operates in seven African countries; the market for electric motorbikes is wide open; Spiro’s model is powered by battery swap stations

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ELECTRIC MOBILITY

‘Rwanda has banned the sale of new petrol motorbikes’ easier booking, clearer pricing and safer journeys. In cities like Nairobi and Kampala, ride-hailing platforms increasingly favour electric bikes because they are cheaper to operate. That cost advantage often flows through to passengers, making short trips more affordable and more predictable. There is also a psychological shift. Riding through a city on an electric motorbike offers a sense of momentum rather than congestion. It signals a city investing in solutions rather than coping with problems.

For the traveller, those economics translate into availability. Riders who earn more are more reliable, more professional, and more invested in their vehicles.

INVESTING IN INFRASTRUCTURE

The real story behind Africa’s electric mobility shift is not the bikes themselves, but the infrastructure supporting them. Spiro and GOGO both rely on battery swapping rather than plug-in charging. Riders do not own batteries; they exchange depleted ones for charged units at swap stations. Burman explains: “Batteries and battery swap stations is essentially like setting up a network of gas stations.” Building swap networks requires capital, technology and long-term commitment. Spiro has raised around $330 million to date, much of it poured directly into batteries and stations. Meanwhile, GOGO has expanded its network to over 160 locations across Uganda, ensuring riders are never far from a fresh battery. Hornbach notes that recent funding has allowed GOGO to move from experimentation to scale. The focus is not flashy vehicles, but energy distribution, batteries, chargers and transformers – these are the invisible systems that make electric mobility dependable. For business travellers, reliability is everything when time is tight. A city with dense, well-run electric infrastructure is a city where the last mile works.

BUSINESS WITH BENEFITS

Electric mobility may be driven by local necessity, but visitors and business travellers reap the benefits. Cleaner air and quieter streets improve comfort and reduce stress between meetings. The rise of app-based electric bike fleets means 50 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

ABOVE Drivers of electric motorbike taxis can see their earnings increase

Both Spiro and GOGO see Africa’s next phase of electric mobility moving beyond deployment into deeper integration. Local manufacturing will be key. Rather than importing finished vehicles, companies are increasingly assembling bikes and batteries locally, creating jobs and aligning with national development goals. Spiro alone has helped create more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs across the continent. Another emerging trend says Hornbach is grid integration to support the national power supply. When many bikes are connected, they can help keep the electricity grid stable. Government policies will also play a decisive role. Rwanda has already banned the sale of new petrol motorbikes; a move Burman calls a “North Star” for the continent. Other countries are watching closely, aware that reducing fuel imports is not just an environmental decision, but an economic one. Spiro’s ambition reflects that broader vision. “Our goal in the next two to three years, is to be the de facto infrastructure provider in terms of battery swapping,” Burman notes, adding that the company aims to open its network to other manufacturers, creating an interoperable ecosystem. In addition to creating more local economy jobs, that will help stir Africa’s ongoing electric vehicle revolution. This is an ambition that reflects the scale of the moment. Africa’s mobility revolution is no longer a distant possibility. It’s already unfolding on the streets of Nairobi, Kigali, Kampala, Cotonou and Lomé – quieter, cleaner and unmistakably modern. For business travellers, it means a new kind of city experience. For the continent, perhaps it signals something even bigger: a leap into the future on two electric wheels. S E PT EM B ER 2026

IMAGES COURTESY OF SPIRO; GETTY IMAGES

ELECTRIC EVOLUTION

UNCOVERING OLD DUBAI 10 ESSENTIAL HERITAGE EXPERIENCES

Discover traditional trading waterways, restored wind-tower quarters, and bustling souks along the historic banks of Dubai Creek

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ong before the arrival of its modern skyscrapers, Dubai developed as a bustling trading port centered around a natural saltwater inlet – the waters of Dubai Creek. The historic districts of Deira, Bur Dubai, and Al Shindagha served as regional hubs for pearl divers, fishermen, and maritime merchants, and in many ways, they’re the heart from where the now-iconic city’s modern transformation began. These areas have served as vital commercial hubs bringing together global communities since long before the UAE made its mark touristically. Today, these still-bustling neighbourhoods retain their architectural character and trading traditions, from their traditional wind towers and vibrant bazaars to glimpses into the city’s maritime heritage, while offering an experiential look into the city’s roots. Here are 10 authentic ways to explore “Old Dubai.” S E PT EM B ER 2026

D E STI N ATI O N

Wander through the extensive Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

Built in the late 19th century by travelling merchants, Al Fahidi (formerly known as Al Bastakiya) features narrow pedestrian lanes (sikkas) framed by restored buildings famous for their traditional barajeel (wind towers). These early architectural cooling systems, built from sandstone, teak, gympsum, palm wood, and sandalwood, were designed to funnel passing breezes down into living quarters.

Cross Dubai Creek on a traditional boat

For AED 1 (cash only), board an open-air wooden water taxi (abra) to cross the Creek between the Bur Dubai and Deira stations. Operating continuously throughout the day and night, these boats offer a low-level view of active wooden cargo dhows loading goods destined for ports across the Gulf and East Africa.

Explore the Gold Souk in Deira, Al Ras

Located in the commercial heart of Deira, this covered market houses hundreds of jewellery retailers displaying gold, platinum, and silver. Monitored by local authorities to ensure strict purity standards, the market features intricate regional designs alongside famous displays such as the Najmat Taiba (Star of Taiba), a 64kg band recognised by the Guinness World Records in 2000 (the same year it was crafted, when it took 55 workers who operated for 10 hours a day for 45 days to complete it) as the world’s largest and heaviest gold ring.

Browse spices and herbs at the Spice Souk

Step into the colourful lanes of the Spice Souk, situated near the Deira Old Souk Abra Station. Open-air stalls display sacks of saffron, frankincense, dried black limes (loomi), sumac, and aromatic spice mixes commonly used in Khaleeji cooking. Spice are sold by weight and in packets, and you can also buy tea.

WHERE TO STAY IN OLD DUBAI Al Seef Heritage Hotel Dubai, Curio Collection by Hilton Set directly within the Al Seef waterfront promenade, this property blends traditional Emirati architecture and rustic wind-tower design with contemporary hotel comforts.

XVA Art Hotel A quiet 15-room boutique hotel hidden within historic courtyards in Al Fahidi, featuring rotating art exhibitions and an award-winning vegetarian café.

Park Hyatt Dubai A luxury resort situated along the banks of Dubai Creek, featuring waterfront dining, a private lagoon beach, and an adjacent 18-hole championship golf course.

Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek Opened in 1975 as Dubai’s first fivestar hotel, this classic landmark offers private Creek-facing balconies and over a dozen dining venues.

Visit the Al Shindagha Museum complex

Located along the mouth of the Creek, Al Shindagha Museum is an extensive open-air heritage precinct containing over 20 specialised houses. Key stops include the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House – the historic residence of Dubai’s former ruler – along with dedicated pavilions covering the region’s pearling history and fragrance traditions at the Perfume House.

Mövenpick Dubai Creek This five-star hotel on Deira’s Baniyas Road has 150 rooms and suites with skyline and waterfront views, a spa, three restaurants, and a rooftop pool.

Shop for fabrics at the Bur Dubai Textile Souk

Shaded by wooden lattice roofs, here you can find and buy silk, fine cottons, embroidered fabrics, and pashmina shawls. Tailor shops tucked into the surrounding lanes can craft bespoke garments or traditional Emirati attire within a few days.

Join a cultural meal at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding (SMCCU)

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Housed in a restored wind tower building within Al Fahidi, SMCCU hosts breakfast, lunch, and dinner sessions. Visitors sample traditional Emirati dishes while engaging in open discussions about local customs, religion, and history under the centre’s official ethos, “Open Doors, Open Minds.”

Learn about the origins of coffee and its traditions at the Dubai Coffee Museum

Situated within the courtyard houses of Al Fahidi, this museum documents the global history of coffee, emphasising its cultural significance in the Arabian Peninsula. Displays showcase antique S E PT E M B E R 2026

roasting tools, traditional brewing pots (dallah), and visitors are also offered samples of Arabic coffee (gahwa) spiced with cardamom and paired with dates.

Stroll along the Al Seef waterfront promenade

Stretching nearly two kilometres along the Bur Dubai side of the Creek, Al Seef combines modern design with historical aesthetics. The heritage section uses traditional mud-brick finishes and rustic wooden elements, featuring craft shops, cafés, and views of passing dhow traffic.

Explore contemporary art at XVA Gallery

Also located in the Al Fahidi neighbourhood, XVA Gallery focuses on contemporary works from artists across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. In addition to rotating exhibition spaces, the venue also features a quiet central courtyard café serving a vegetarian menu. BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 5 3

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FROM TECH GIANTS TO K-POP STARS, WE EXPLORE SOUTH KOREA’S HARD AND SOFT POWER

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WORDS HANNAH BRANDLER

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‘My little soda pop’ blares from the speaker.

RIDING THE K-WAVE

Last year marked an all-time high for traffic to South Korea, with 18.9 million international visitors welcomed to its shores. Flights between the Middle East and South Korea have risen significantly in recent years, having reached a historic high of 899,890 passengers in 2024 via three major Gulf carriers (Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad). This was an 11.8% year-on-year increase from 2023. In 2024, Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways increased 56 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

FROM LEFT K-Pop dance class; Virgin Atlantic touches down in Seoul

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On cue, I mimic cranking open a can, throw some sharp elbow jabs, then transition into fluid shoulder shimmies. “More attitude”, encourages the instructor, as our group attempts to master the dance routine at the Real K-Pop Dance Academy in Seoul’s hip Hongdae district. The 90-minute class with a bona fide choreographer to the K-pop stars is fast-paced and fun, set to a catchy tune from KPop Demon Hunters – the 2025 animated hit, which became the most-watched original title in Netflix history and scooped two Oscars at the 2026 Academy Awards. The film – and its earworm-packed soundtrack – is just the latest sign of South Korea’s rising prominence on the global stage. While Hallyu (the Korean wave) has been steadily growing since the 90s, the hype for K-everything has exploded in the past decade, with the tech-savvy nation capitalising on social media to capture worldwide attention. If KPop Demon Hunters doesn’t strike a chord, bands BTS and BLACKPINK, the TikTok-famous beauty industry, and award-winning cinema – from social satire Parasite to dystopian series Squid Game – certainly will. Alternatively, you may know South Korea better for its global standing as a tech hub, home to giants including Samsung, LG, and Hyundai. Or you might just love a bit of kimchi. Whatever piques your interest, the country is calling – and its capital, Seoul, is a lively, sprawling gateway to the K-craze.

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K MILESTONES

Bong Joon-Ho’s film Parasite wins an Oscar in 2020

Squid Game was Netflix’s most-watched foreign language show, ranking #1 in 93 countries

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K-pop band BTS has embarked on an 85-date US$1 billion world tour – this month, they’re in the US, in Los Angeles, California, then Latin America in October

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‘Many visitors actively explore curated beauty stores, often planning their purchases in advance’

their flight frequencies to to South Korea. By the first half of 2025 alone, Middle Eastern tourist arrivals to South Korea had grown by 12.3% YoY compared to the same period in 2024. In the 2025 survey on Korea’s National Image, conducted in October 2025 across 26 countries, the UAE was listed as the country displaying the highest favourability toward Korea, with 94.8% of respondents stating that they hold a favourable view of South Korea – followed by the Philippines at 91.4%, Türkiye at 90.2%, India at 89.0%, and South Africa at 88.8%. The UK is also proving to be a focus market, with visitors increasing by 17% between 2024 and 2025. Virgin Atlantic has seized on this burgeoning demand, launching a daily route from London Heathrow to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, making it the only UK carrier to operate direct flights to the South Korean capital – alongside SkyTeam partner Korean Air. The new route, operated on the airline’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, is already proving popular – with load factors of 80% since the inaugural service in late March, alongside strong cargo demand with an average of 12 tons of pharmaceuticals and electronics transported every day from Seoul to the UK. “The business links between Korea and the UK are becoming stronger and stronger, and Korean culture is popping up everywhere,” agrees David Geer, Virgin’s chief commercial officer. The Korean government has also made it easy for business or leisure trips, with Brits exempted from any visa requirement for visits of up to 90 days. Citizens of all six GCC countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman) are 58 BU SI N ES S T R AV ELLER MIDDLE E AST

ABOVE Olive Young promises K-beauty hauls

also eligible for visa-free entry for short-term visits. Instead, they are simply required to complete the Korea Electronic Travel Authorisation (K-ETA) before travelling – a speedy and easy process costing around US$8, which permits entry for three years, encouraging return visits. The high-end hospitality scene is also gearing up to meet Seoul’s growing demand. Rosewood is set to open a hotel within The Parkside Seoul mixed-use development in 2027 – located on the former site of the United Nations Command in Itaewon. Looking into the next decade, Mandarin Oriental will welcome its fans to the Central Business District in 2030, while Marriott plans to convert the existing Millennium Hilton Seoul into a glitzy Ritz-Carlton property by 2031.

POWER OF BEAUTY

So why are we all flocking to Seoul? The answer is likely on your Instagram or TikTok feed, populated by viral videos of K-pop dance routines and flawless beauty regimes. Since I’d already been inducted into the city’s dance scene, it was time to turn to K-beauty. The mission? Return to the UK with glass skin – the trending translucent look that combines an impossibly dewy, smooth complexion with glowing radiance. First stop: Olive Young – a mecca of sorts for K-beauty. Since opening its doors in 1999, its “All Live Young” philosophy has expanded across more than 1,380 stores nationwide. I made a beeline for the outlet in Myeongdong, the city’s main shopping district, but you can find the luminous green branding on corners throughout the city. S E PT EM B ER 2026

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I browsed shelves of face masks, cleansers, and lotions, RIGHT nabbing products from brands such as Laneige, Round Lab, The and Beauty of Joseon, counting on employees to pinpoint Samsung booth products for my dehydrated skin. With a tombola-like bag of during the goods under my arm, I pushed through swarms of customers to 2026 World the till – any guilt wiped away by the promise of an instant tax IT Show refund. Turns out my British passport still has some benefits. in Seoul Minutes later, I’m at Colorize, a colour analysis studio where consultants scrutinise my eye colour, skin tone, and hair colour to recommend the best shades for my look. I sit facing a mirror in a clinically bright white room, as a consultant lays Pantone colour swatches on my chest, leafing through each shade and detailing why it works – or doesn’t. Neon is not my friend, high-saturated colours are a no-go, and I’m told to opt for cooler, pastel colours, silver jewellery and matte lipstick. I’m not convinced by my “summer muted” result – a wardrobe of washed-out colours – but thankfully vibe better with my “second best” palette of navy and maroon. I’m not alone in prioritising beauty experiences on a visit to Seoul. Symphony Park, hotel manager at Mondrian Seoul Itaewon, says: “Many visitors actively explore curated beauty stores such as Olive Young, often researching and planning their purchases in advance. “For those with deeper interest or repeat visits, it is increasingly common to book dermatology treatments ahead of time, including procedures such as lifting and skin booster treatments,” Park says. Take Olive Young’s store in the city’s Seongsu commercial district, for instance. This immersive beauty playground spans five floors, with facilities including an AI-powered skin and scalp analysis, and a personalised colour service. As of November 2025, global NO MAN’S LAND visitors accounted for 54% of footfall at the store, and We head to the border with North Korea represented 87% of all skin diagnosis consultations. At the Myeongdong store, 95% of sales came from international visitors in 2025. K-beauty is also being exported outside Korea. Boots in the UK stocks several hyped brands, while Sephora has a zone curated by Olive Young in stores across the US, AN HOUR FROM the city, you’ll Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, be confronted with the DMZ, the Thailand and Hong Kong – strictly controlled demilitarised zone with plans to roll out to separating North and South Korea. Today, the UK, Middle East and tourists can peek across the 4km-wide landmine-packed border from the Dora Australasia in 2027. Observatory, walk the Third Infiltration Olive Young also recently Tunnel dug by North Koreans, and meet opened its first standalone brave defectors. One told us first-hand store overseas, setting up how she escaped the hermit state a shop in the equally imagedecade ago, taking a dangerous journey obsessed Los Angeles in May. through China, Laos, and Vietnam. She is A second site will open in one of over 34,000 people to escape the LA this month, with future North Korean regime, which she tells us locations planned across is losing its propaganda power thanks to the smuggling of K-films and dramas. California later this year. S E PT E M B E R 2026

BARGAINING CHIP

Soft power is core to South Korea’s international influence, but it’s not the country’s only asset. The country is a semiconductor powerhouse, producing the chips required to power today’s computers, cars and smartphones – and tomorrow’s artificial intelligence. South Korea accounts for approximately 20% of the world’s semiconductor production capacity, and semiconductors represent the country’s largest export item. “Korea serves as the IT hub of Asia. We have one of the two largest semiconductor companies [Samsung] in the world. A lot of the experts feel that the prospects for the tech sector in Korea are very bright,” says Park Sung-hyuck, CEO of the Korean Tourism Board. The nation is also bolstering its place in the global AI ecosystem. “If you look at AI-related technology, there might be some gap between us and the US and China, but we are actually the third largest or strongest technological powerhouse in the world,” Park Sung-hyeuck tells me. Stanford University’s AI Index 2026 revealed that South Korea had the highest number of granted AI patents on a per capita basis in 2024, and the fastest-growing AI adoption rate among the world’s top 30 economies in 2025. Google is also betting big on Seoul, with its AI research lab DeepMind announcing plans to base its first-ever artificial intelligence campus in the city – inviting local academics, start-ups and research institutions to team up with Google’s AI experts “to accelerate scientific breakthroughs”.

BACK IN TIME

While the city has its sights on the future, Seoul still has impressive vestiges of its empire-rich history. Head to Gyeongbokgung Palace to experience royal residences and gardens built by the Joseon dynasty in 1395, with re-enactments of the changing of the guard ceremony taking place at 10am and 2pm daily (except for Tuesdays). You’ll gain free entry by wearing a hanbok (a traditional Korean attire), with reams of rental shops in the vicinity. Over in Itaewon, meanwhile, buzzing coffee shops neighbour vintage stores, while flea markets take over the streets on weekends. Don’t miss the 1km-long Itaewon Antiques Street where dealers sell everything from chairs to street signs. Many travellers are also extending their visit to discover the rest of South Korea’s treasures. Unfortunately, my visit to Seoul was too fleeting to explore further afield – but my skin and soul are thirsty to return. In the meantime, I hear that KPop Demon Hunters has a sequel on the way – I’ll master my moves ready for the release. BUS I N ES S T R AV EL L ER M I DDL E E AST 59

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