The region's openings story has shifted east. For a decade the Middle East calendar meant Dubai and Abu Dhabi; in 2026 the verified momentum is Saudi, where Red Sea Global has put two resorts into service and is rolling out an entire wellness destination at AMAALA. The Gulf still has marquee names coming, but only one of them carries a firm date this year. Every status below was checked in June 2026 against the developer, the brand newsroom or dated trade reporting, and where a date is a target rather than a fact, the label says so.
How does the regional calendar actually read?
Nine headline properties, one giga-destination doing most of the heavy lifting, and a Gulf pipeline that is long on names and short on dates. Status verified June 2026.
| Hotel | Place | Status | Keys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four Seasons Red Sea | Shura Island, Saudi | Open (May 18, 2026) | not published |
| Miraval The Red Sea | Red Sea, Saudi | Open (May 2026) | not published |
| Four Seasons AMAALA | Triple Bay, Saudi | Phased 2026, booking live | 202 + 25 residences |
| Equinox AMAALA | Triple Bay, Saudi | Phased 2026 | 128 + 21 residences |
| Six Senses AMAALA | Triple Bay, Saudi | Phased 2026 | 100 + 25 residences |
| Rosewood AMAALA | Triple Bay, Saudi | Phased 2026 | 110 + 26 residences |
| Six Senses The Palm | Palm Jumeirah, Dubai | Sept 1, 2026, confirmed | 61 + 172 residences |
| Baccarat Dubai | Downtown Dubai | 2026, announced (no day) | 144 + 49 residences |
| Nobu Abu Dhabi | Saadiyat Island | 2026, announced (no day) | 165 |
Which of these can you check into now?
Two on the Red Sea, with a third destination opening around them, and every one of them is a Saudi address that did not exist as a place to stay two years ago.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences Red Sea (Shura Island)
Open: first guests arrived May 18, 2026. This is Red Sea Global's first joint-venture resort on Shura Island, the dolphin-shaped centerpiece of the wider Red Sea destination that began welcoming visitors in 2023. The developer has not yet published the room count, which is itself worth noting from a brand that usually leads with the number. The honest caveat: Shura Island's marina and surrounding hotels are still filling in, so you are buying into a destination that is being completed around you, with the connectivity and dining breadth that implies. Cross-check it against the established Gulf options in our Dubai hotel guide before you commit a milestone trip to a first-season resort.
Miraval The Red Sea
Open since May 2026. Hyatt's wellness brand made its Red Sea debut just before Eid Al-Adha, per Red Sea Global's own newsroom, bringing Miraval's all-inclusive, screen-light, programming-heavy model to the Saudi coast. The honest caveat: Miraval is a specific philosophy, not a conventional beach resort, with structured wellness days and a no-tipping, largely device-free ethos that suits some travelers and frustrates others; and as with Shura, the room count has not been published. Read the format before you book, because this is the least flexible property on the list.
AMAALA Triple Bay, opening around you
Opening in phases through 2026, with the Four Seasons already taking reservations. AMAALA is the second of Red Sea Global's giga-destinations, a wellness enclave across three bays where the Hijaz Mountains meet the sea. The developer announced the launch of Triple Bay in November 2025 and trade reporting has the first resorts arriving from early 2026. Because it opens resort by resort rather than all at once, treat AMAALA as a place where some doors are open and others are weeks away. The full roster is broken out below; the safest single booking today is the Four Seasons, whose reservations are live.
Which Gulf opening has a real date?
One, and it is the entry most readers came here for.
Six Senses The Palm, Dubai
Confirmed for September 1, 2026, with reservations live. The brand's first resort in the UAE, and its fourth in the Middle East after Oman, Saudi Arabia and Israel, takes the quieter West Crescent of Palm Jumeirah: 61 all-suite keys plus 172 privately owned branded residences, wrapped around a 60,000-square-foot spa that includes a longevity clinic, hydrotherapy and biohacking floors. The honest caveat: a September 1 opening lands at the tail of Dubai's brutal summer, when the city discounts hardest and outdoor wellness is a dawn-and-dusk affair; the resort's first honest test is the winter high season that follows. Our Dubai hotel guide ranks the Palm incumbents it has to outshine.
What is announced for 2026 but still dateless?
Two heavyweight Gulf names, both real projects, both missing the one thing you can book against.
Baccarat Hotel and Residences Dubai
Announced for 2026, no day published. The crystal house's UAE debut sits in Downtown Dubai facing the Burj Khalifa, in twin tapering towers by Studio Libeskind, developed by Shamal Holding: 144 rooms and suites, a third of them suites, plus 49 Baccarat-branded residences. The honest caveat: the 2026 target traces back to the 2023 announcement and has not been pinned to a month since, which on a project of this complexity is exactly the profile of a date that drifts into 2027. Do not plan a stay around it yet. The city's open ultra-luxury bench is in our Dubai hotel guide.
Nobu Hotel Abu Dhabi (Saadiyat Island)
Announced for 2026, no day published. A Nobu Hospitality and Aldar Properties project drops the brand's hotel, restaurant and residences into the Saadiyat Cultural District, steps from the Louvre Abu Dhabi: 165 rooms and suites including a signature Nobu Villa, with the obligatory waterfront Nobu restaurant. The honest caveat: like Baccarat, it carries a year and not a date, and Saadiyat's cultural-district timelines have a long history of moving; treat 2026 as the ambition. Compare it first against what is already open on the island in our Abu Dhabi hotel guide.
AMAALA, resort by resort: who opens what?
Red Sea Global's November 2025 launch named the Phase One roster, nine resorts and more than 1,600 keys in total. These are the figures the developer published; the order in which the doors open is staggered across 2026, so the rule is to verify the specific property before booking it.
Four Seasons Resort and Residences AMAALA at Triple Bay is the family-and-water anchor: 202 keys and 25 residences, six dining outlets, a Kids For All Seasons program and a Discovery Centre, and it is already taking reservations. Equinox Resort and Residences AMAALA is the fitness brand's first Middle East hotel, a Foster and Partners design with 128 sleep-optimized rooms and suites, two penthouses and 21 residences, built around recovery science, an open-air magnesium pool and a subterranean spa grotto. Six Senses AMAALA brings 100 pool suites and villas plus 25 residences and a 3,000-square-meter spa running the brand's sleep, longevity and biohacking programs. Rosewood AMAALA splits 110 rooms and 26 residences into family, couples and wellness zones around an Asaya spa, and Nammos Resort and Residences imports the Mykonos beach-club name with 110 rooms, 20 apartments and an island restaurant off its own coast. Rounding out the first wave, the Red Sea Global-operated AMAALA Hotel adds 144 keys at the staff village. The honest read: three more Phase One resorts, Clinique La Prairie, Jayasom and a Ritz-Carlton, were described as on track for "the coming months" in November 2025, which is developer language for not-yet-dated; do not book those three against 2026 without re-checking.
When should you book a new hotel in this region?
Match the property to the calendar, then to the climate. The Red Sea and AMAALA resorts open into a coast that is gentlest from roughly November to March and punishing in high summer, so a winter booking buys you both better weather and a property that has had a few months to find its feet. Six Senses The Palm Dubai opens September 1 into the back end of Gulf summer, which is precisely why opening rates will look generous and precisely why your first comfortable stay is more likely December onward. For the two dateless Gulf names, Baccarat and Nobu, the only sound move is to watch, not book. The discipline we apply on the USA edition, the Europe edition, the Asia edition and the Caribbean and Mexico edition and the Africa and Indian Ocean edition applies with extra force in a region opening a whole destination at once: re-verify any opening date four to six weeks before you commit. The world openings list and our ranked newly opened luxury hotels carry the wider picture, and the 2027 pipeline overview shows what comes next.
