Hospitality

SWISSÔTEL AL GHURAIR PRESENTS ‘A CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER’ WITH FESTIVE DINING, CREATIVE WORKSHOPS AND SPA INDULGENCES

Published

5 months ago

December 22, 2025

Dubai, November 2025 – This December, Swissôtel Al Ghurair invites guests to create cherished holiday memories with a thoughtfully curated line-up of festive experiences, bringing families and friends together for ‘A Christmas to Remember’. From immersive dining to interactive workshops and indulgent spa treatments, the hotel promises a season filled with joy, warmth and celebration.

Sunday Festive Brunch

Indulge in a gourmet brunch at Swissôtel Al Ghurair and savour seasonal delights such as sage-roasted butternut squash soup, shrimp & fennel salad, smoked duck breast, poached salmon salad, grilled peach with aged balsamic, classic meatloaf, Massaman duck curry, honey-roasted turkey with lemon thyme, and baked Quattro Formaggi pasta. Live stations will feature grilled chicken, beef and fish steaks, adding to the festive feast. To complete the experience, guests can enjoy an irresistible selection of decadent desserts including Chocolate & Marshmallow Crunch Log, Festive Pudding, the traditional Yule Log and rich fruit cake.

Children can also enjoy activities including face painting, Christmas arts & crafts, a kids’ cooking class and a bouncy castle.

Venue: Liwan Restaurant
Dates: Sunday’s 7th, 14th and 21st December
Timings: 1 PM – 4 PM

Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony

Be a part of the festive magic with the grand lighting of a 20-foot Christmas tree, sparkling with seasonal decorations. Guests can enjoy a Christmas choir performance, pass-around canapés, festive drinks, access to the ‘Little Explorers’ Play Area and a gingerbread house-making workshop.

Dates: Thursday, 11th December
Timings: 5 PM to 7 PM

Festive Swiss Chocolate Masterclass

For chocolate lovers seeking a hands-on festive experience, Swissôtel Al Ghurair invites you to join an exclusive Festive Swiss Chocolate Masterclass, where the talented pastry team will guide guests step-by-step in crafting their very own decadent Yule Log. This immersive session blends creativity, flavour and festive fun, offering dessert enthusiasts the chance to learn professional techniques while creating a delicious masterpiece to take home.

Dates: Thursday, 11th December
Timings: 3 PM to 4 PM
RSVPs are required by Wednesday, 9th December 2025

Lindt Festive Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea with decadent festive notes. Guests can enjoy festive treats such as maple-smoked turkey ham with brie & cranberry sauce on mini brioche, dill & lemon herb cream cheese on cucumber boats, sourdough chicken empanadas, cheddar cheese & caramelised onion tartlets, Christmas macarons, red velvet cake, berry tarts, and homemade chocolate & orange scones with whipped cream and blueberry jam, along with a selection of hot chocolates, luxury teas and coffees.

A specially curated kids’ menu includes macarons, chocolate-dipped marshmallows, baked mac & cheese, and peanut butter & strawberry sandwiches. Also, as an added treat, Swissôtel has thoughtfully organised a selection of family board games to cherish quality time with loved ones.

Venue: Yasmine Lounge
Dates: Daily from Friday, 5th December to Sunday, 4th January 2026
Timings: Between 12 PM and 6 PM

Gingerbread House Workshop

Families can join a delightful Gingerbread House Workshop, where creativity meets holiday cheer. The pastry chefs at Swissôtel Al Ghurair will teach the “Little Explorers” how to build their very own gingerbread creations with icing and sweet decorations while the parents can enjoy the indulgent Festive Lindt Afternoon Tea.

Venue: Yasmine Lounge
Dates: Saturdays 13th, 20th and 27th December
Timings: 2 PM to 4 PM

Christmas Eve Dinner

Celebrating the festive spirit, Swissôtel Al Ghurair presents a lavish dining experience, as the magical Christmas Eve sets in. Enjoy a sumptuous buffet featuring prawn & pomelo salad, poached seafood bar, roasted chestnut soup, chicken terrine with pistachio, beef consommé, whole roasted turkey, roasted Brussels sprouts, seafood paella, and grilled lamb chops. Sweet treats include Yule Log, panettone, Stollen, Christmas pudding and mocha cake.

Adding to the magic of the evening is groovy live music that will fill the venue with beloved Christmas melodies, creating a warm and joyful ambience. Little ones can enjoy an array of engaging kids’ activities, from Christmas arts and crafts to face painting and even a bouncy castle. The highlight of the night is a special visit from Santa, making it a truly unforgettable Christmas Eve for the whole family.

Venue: Liwan Restaurant
Dates: Wednesday, 24th December
Timings: 7 PM to 11 PM

Christmas Day Brunch

Families are invited for cherishing a traditional Christmas Brunch complemented by live entertainment and children’s activities. On Christmas Day, enjoy a festive brunch with a trio melon salad, pulled chicken with artichoke salad, chestnut soup, pulled turkey salad with cranberry dressing, whole roasted turkey, slow-cooked beef ribs, seared Atlantic salmon and a poached seafood bar. Festive desserts include Yule Log, panettone, Stollen Christmas pudding, toffee pudding, eggnog mousse and passionfruit pavlova.

Children can enjoy face painting, Christmas carols, arts & crafts, ornament hunts and a cooking class for Snowman marshmallow pops alongside a special visit from Santa.

Venue: Liwan Restaurant
Dates: Thursday, 25th December
Timings: 1 PM to 4 PM

Festive Spa Offers

This holiday season, Swissôtel Al Ghurair invites guests to unwind, refresh and immerse themselves in luxurious festive spa experiences. Perfectly timed for the season of celebration, these treatments provide a blissful escape, leaving guests rejuvenated, radiant and fully immersed in the festive spirit. Each experience is complemented with a comforting cup of signature hot chocolate to complete the indulgence.

The Festive Glow Revival facial envelops the skin in warmth and radiance, blending aromatic cinnamon and frankincense to restore a luminous, holiday-ready glow, completed with a revitalising arm and hand scrub for an added touch of luxury.

The Peppermint Luxe Serenity massage offers a soothing journey for body and mind, combining calming lavender, invigorating petitgrain and refreshing peppermint notes to melt away stress and balance the senses.

Dates: Wednesday, 3rd December to Monday, 12th January 2026
Timings: Between 10 AM and 10 PM

Swissôtel Al Ghurair’s festive offerings are designed to create unforgettable experiences that celebrate togetherness, gratitude and the spirit of the season, truly making it a Christmas to remember.

Hospitality

A Flavour-Packed International Burger Week at List Bar

Published

10 hours ago

May 25, 2026

Integrator Web-Admin

From 25th to 30th May, List Bar presents a special International Burger Week experience, featuring a curated selection of expertly crafted burgers made with premium ingredients, all served in a lively and relaxed setting perfect for social gatherings or unwinding after a long day.

Each burger order is paired with a complimentary pint, adding extra value to this exclusive offering and making it an ideal choice for those looking to enjoy great food in a vibrant atmosphere.

Offer Details
Date: 25th to 30th May | Offer: Buy any burger and enjoy a complimentary pint | Location: List Bar, Al Jaddaf Rotana Suite Hotel

Hospitality

FROM FARM TO SHELF: THE CASE FOR SOURCING CLOSER TO HOME

Published

13 hours ago

May 25, 2026

Integrator Web-Admin

Words by Firas Nasir, CEO of Organic Foods & Café and Co-CIO of the Gulf Japan Food Fund

The most consequential changes in business rarely announce themselves. They accumulate quietly in procurement decisions, in vendor reviews, and in sourcing conversations held far from the shop floor. What is happening inside UAE retail supply chains at the moment is exactly that kind of change. In the past, retailers across all formats built their vendor lists around established global suppliers who could deliver volume, compliance maturity, and operational consistency at scale. Local producers, by contrast, sometimes struggled to meet the benchmarks that major buyers required: reliable cold chain infrastructure, internationally recognised food safety certification, and the capacity to scale supply without compromising on delivery windows.

That gap has narrowed considerably, and the timing matters. Investment in UAE logistics infrastructure, including temperature-controlled warehousing, last-mile refrigerated delivery, and the development of alternative trade corridors, such as the Oman-UAE Green Corridor and the east coast ports of Khorfakkan and Fujairah, has given domestic suppliers a credible and sustainable path to retail shelves that simply did not exist half a decade ago.

The impact is most visible at retailers who made early commitments to domestic sourcing. For instance, Organic Foods and Cafe, which works with over 400 vendor partners across local and global supply chains, has tracked the evolution closely. Over the past four years, the composition of its vendor list has shifted meaningfully, with a clear move toward sourcing from closer geographies. This has improved product availability, reduced transit times, and meaningfully lowered the carbon footprint across key categories. The transitions have been most pronounced in beverages, fresh produce, and dairy, categories where domestic producers have invested seriously in quality and consistency. The products now earning space on shelves reflect genuine operational maturity, not simply a preference for local origin. Organic eggs from Risha Farms in Fujairah and fresh organic milk from Organiliciouz in Sharjah, both now stocked consistently, represent a generation of domestic suppliers that would not have met major retailer requirements a few years ago. Alongside them, homegrown brands, including ME Kombucha, Pure Harvest, Humantra, Nothing Silly, and Shake Your Plants, are finding sustained footing in channels that once defaulted to international names as a matter of course.

The broader retail sector is also responding. The Make it in the Emirates initiative, a government-led effort to boost domestic manufacturing and industrial investment initiative, has added meaningful policy weight to what was already becoming commercial common sense, with approved vendor lists across the industry being reviewed through a lens of supply chain resilience rather than simple cost optimisation. That recalibration has been sharpened further by recent events. Retailers who have already embedded local sourcing into their models have proved markedly better positioned to absorb the shock. Alternative freight channels were activated where necessary, but the businesses least exposed were those that had built domestic supplier relationships before disruption made it urgent.

Of course, challenges still remain. The shortage of organically certified local producers is a persistent gap, and the expectation from retailers has not softened, with domestic suppliers held to the same delivery, safety, and scalability standards as their international counterparts. But the pipeline of producers meeting that bar is growing, and the commercial argument has become difficult to dismiss. Faster turnaround, extended shelf life on domestic fresh goods, and meaningful resilience against freight volatility now outweigh the scale advantages that international suppliers once held unchallenged.

The restructuring of UAE retail around homegrown brands was already underway but the current geopolitical situation has expedited it to a new level. It is now being driven by hard commercial experience, enabled by maturing infrastructure, and supported by national policy. And the businesses that recognise it for what it is – a fundamental supply chain shift, not a sourcing trend – will be the ones who shape what UAE retail looks like in the decade ahead.

Hospitality

AT.MOSPHERE AT BURJ KHALIFA: FOUR MOMENTS, ABOVE THE ORDINARY

Published

3 days ago

May 22, 2026

Integrator Web-Admin

At At.mosphere, guests are welcomed to one of the city’s most coveted tables. High within the Burj Khalifa, dining takes on a rare stillness, with Dubai unfolding far below and the horizon dissolving into sky, creating a sense of scale that feels almost otherworldly.

At AED 155, the day moves through four distinct moments from morning to evening. No matter the hour, there’s a moment that fits.

Sunrise in the Sky – Breakfast
A slow start above the city with two organic eggs your style or fluffy pancakes with raspberry jam and vanilla Chantilly, alongside coffee as Dubai wakes beneath you.
Time: 8:00 am to 11:30 am

Business Lunch
A midday selection featuring roasted sea bream with black Venere rice or slow-cooked beef cheek with potato purée, finishing on something light.
Time: 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Afternoon Tea
Delicate sandwiches, warm English scones with jam and artisanal cream, and classic pastries served as the light shifts across the skyline.
Time: 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Golden Hour – Cocktails and Bites
Golden hour takes over with signature cocktails, curated bites, and a skyline that naturally draws you in.
Time: 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm