Meeting and Dining

Why have we put these two together, well although meetings are a very big subject as many of you know.. there isn't really that much to talk about unless you get in meeting concepts and that's something that we don't do. However alot of the time the venues that we use for meetings can also be used for dinners, as well as this the AV people that you'd often find at the back of the meeting room also on a lot of occasions find themselves in the desert pointing lights at camels or trying to organise the childrens string orchestra.

So in this section we can talk about both.

What do we mean by Venues and Non venues?

Venues would be places like the Creek Golf Club and or the hotel, non venues would be places not actually designated for dinners or lunches but adapted for them by us.. the desert, the Majelis Gallery etc,

Overall we have to remember that where ever we are in Dubai the possibilites are endless, all we could ever list here would be the mainstream F&B locations. But anywhere can be used, from the staff cafeteria in the hotel to the kitchen, from the top of a sand dune to the bottom of a wadi in the moutains, from the 18th fairway of a PGA golf course to a Dhow serving caviar in the middle of the Creek.

Once you have chosen your location... will it be buffet, served or do the guests cook under instructions from the chef, does the food arrive prepared or have the delegates bought the food on a photo rally or treasure hunt through the souks. Finally what theme do you want? Corporate? Arabic? Mongolian? Wine tasting..

Everything is possible! Most of the actual venues we use regularly are highly flexible. Sometimes something simple like changing the lay out of the tables or the dress of the delegates can effect the ambiance or we throw the lot at it... staging, decoration, lighting and themeing.

It is worthwhile to remember that in Dubai we do not have Stately Homes, Castles or Museums that we can use. Although it's a great idea to have a dinner in a Palace or on an oil tanker both are grossly impractal the first because there are no death duties here, necessitating that the homes be used as a source of income and we should understand the fact that the Palaces are very much family homes, and the second because they are usually to be found about 5 miles off shore

However we do have creative teams that can, strangely, 'create' almost anything we want to and vast areas of space to do this. And we also have flexible venues that we can use where we can create an atmosphere full of opulence and charm, which will impress even the most discerning of clients.

The Emirates Golf Club, The Creek Golf Club, The World Trade Club and the Racing Club are great places to do both lunch and dinner, either gala or informal. Outside these fixed venues there are many other amazing places to use for dinners and lunches.

What we must remember when we leave the hotel is that unlike Europe not everywhere serves alcohol, the reasoning is quite simple:-

Muslims don't drink, the UAE is a Muslim country. However one of the cornerstones of Arabic culture is hospitality: therefore it would be polite to make alcohol available for visitors.. visitors stay in hotels. Therefore the only place to buy alcohol is in a hotel.

There are a few exceptions to this rule and the main ones are government run clubs and the older expatriate institutions ( the country club for example )

So from the desert to the moutains to a dhow sailing up the Creek the possibilites really are limitless.

Just for your info.. as a guide the click this link and we'll give you some idea of drink prices here