One of the oldest hotels in Dubai, Ramada Bur Dubai, will shut down this year, with demolition planned for October 2016.
The hotel, built in 1983, will go down in Dubai’s history, especially the 41-metre tall world record-breaking stained glass pillar in the hotel which will be sold to the highest bidder. 
Abdellah Essonni, CEO of Abjar Hotels International which owns the hotel said it was a tough and emotional and decision. “But we are renovating it. The idea is to give something more beautiful to the people. There will be a 180 room 5-star hotel, around 120 high-end residential apartments, and an 8,000-square metre shopping complex with a supermarket and retail outlets.”
By the end of August, the hotel will cease operations with construction scheduled to start soon after with the new complex set to be complete by 2019.
“Ramada is one of the most popular properties for many prominent business people and for the people living in this area,” said Essonni. We organised an event for our frequent customers recently to announce the news. Many of them came forward to share their memories. They reminisced how they have seen the building for 20-30 years, and the area is known as Ramada roundabout.”
