Meliá Hotels International, and its joint venture partner Falcon’s Beyond, a global entertainment development company, have launched a new, leisure and entertainment-based resort brand, Falcon’s Resorts by Meliá.
The resorts will be featured within “world-class” entertainment destinations, to be branded Falcon’s Beyond Destinations, being jointly developed by the two companies in prime leisure markets across the globe.
Leveraging Meliá’s 66 years of expertise in travel and hospitality and Falcon’s extensive experience as a fully integrated entertainment development company, the new brand will offer a unique “resortainment” hospitality experience that will blend premium resort amenities with entertainment experiences in a way that’s casual sophisticated fun for everyone, according to the companies. The resorts will provide direct access to curated dining, shopping and entertainment venues as part of a larger destination experience.
“We’ve built more than a decade-long business relationship with Meliá, beginning with our successful entertainment hospitality property in Mallorca, Spain,” said Cecil D. Magpuri, CEO, Falcon’s Beyond. “We are delighted now to be bringing a further enhanced version of that model to Punta Cana by year-end. With Falcon’s 22-year history creating story-driven entertainment and hospitality experiences for some of the world’s largest brands, we are leveraging all of our unique expertise and capabilities for Falcon’s Resorts by Melia to deliver an unprecedented vacation experience that goes beyond expectations.”
Gabriel Escarrer, vice chairman/CEO, Meliá, added, “Our partnership with Falcon’s is a tremendous opportunity to offer a distinctly different vacation experience from our competitors by incorporating immersive and interactive entertainment elements and technologies in the resort experience in ways it has never been done before. We are thrilled to debut our first Falcon’s Resort by Meliá in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, an exceptional location where we’ve been operating for over 30 years and have a robust network of resorts and loyal guest base.”
The first of these new resorts, Falcon’s Resort by Meliá | All Suites Punta Cana, will be a multi-phase transformation of two existing Meliá properties in the Dominican Republic, Paradisus Grand Cana and The Reserve at Paradisus Palma Real, comprising a total of 622 rooms.
Phase one, which is expected to open in December and begin accepting reservations in October, will be an all-inclusive resort with multiple high-end bars and restaurants, pools, swim-up suites, a water park and a kids’ camp. Through the re-brand, the Paradisus Grand Cana resort will receive enhancements to the facilities, amenities and experiences across the property, and will integrate a unique interactive platform that is expected to be announced soon. Phase two, the completion of the re-brand of The Reserve at Paradisus Palma Real, is expected in 2023.
Falcon’s Resort by Meliá | All Suites Punta Cana will be one of three components of a new multi-faceted $350-million entertainment destination, Falcon’s Beyond Destination | Punta Cana, the first Falcon’s Beyond Destination to debut. The overall destination will also feature Katmandu Park | Punta Cana, a new theme park expected to open by late 2022 or early 2023, and Falcon’s Central | Punta Cana, a signature retail, dining, and entertainment district currently in development.
Katmandu Park will feature several patented, never-before-seen ride technologies, interactive storytelling and mega-park-level attractions. Falcon’s Central will connect guests with brands through curated location-based entertainment venues, experiences, amenities, content, restaurants, shopping and retailtainment. Both Katmandu Park and Falcon’s Central will be directly accessible to guests of Meliá’s network of area resorts and hotels, comprising 1,825 rooms, as well as to guests of hotels in Punta Cana’s Bavaro region—an additional 42,000 rooms—and to more than 43,000 local residents within a 30-minute drive.
Meliá and Falcon’s will develop multiple Falcon’s Beyond Destination locations across the globe in the upcoming years, including sites in Tenerife, Canary Islands, scheduled to open in 2024; Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, scheduled to open in 2025; and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, whose opening date will be announced in the future.
The unveiling of the brand follows other recent transformative news from Falcon’s Beyond. On July 12, Falcon’s Beyond announced plans to become a publicly listed company on Nasdaq through a definitive merger agreement with FAST Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company founded by Doug Jacob and headed by Sandy Beall. Upon the closing of the transaction, the new combined company will be named Falcon’s Beyond Global Inc., and is expected to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “FBYD.”