In conversation with Aloki Batra
Dubbed the hottest hotel on Palm Jumeirah, FIVE Palm Jumeirah is set against a breath-taking backdrop of a 150m private beach and Dubai Marina skyline, this lifestyle hotel boasts 470 luxurious rooms and suites with ocean or city views. The resort is a party and culinary hotspot with a range of restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, inviting a new experience every day. Whether you are looking for a gourmet dining experience or want to dance the night away, the resort creates laid back or high energy choices from breakfast to the early hours as you design your stay.
At FIVE Jumeirah Village, a glorious city chic hotel that captures the pulsating excitement of new Dubai, visitors can design their vibe as they curate their own high-rise private pool celebrations (the property boasts of 270 pools), sunbath in style or enjoy a special dinner overlooking the world-famous sparkling Dubai skyline. Their award-winning sky villas were designed with more than sleep in mind as FIVE Jumeirah Village flawlessly combines a myriad of entertainment options, a culinary smorgasbord and first-rate guest services – after all, FIVE knows how to throw an exceptionally good party!
We had the pleasure speaking with the FIVE CEO and music lover Aloki Batra.
It's not a logical step for a hotel to start a record label, what inspired you to start FIVE Music?
Well, it depends on what you define as a ‘hotel.’ For us, at FIVE, a hotel is a music and lifestyle destination. We understood very early on that people don't just want to go stay in a hotel for them to have to go and find things to do outside of the hotel. They want much more than that. Just because no one has done it before, doesn't mean it doesn't work. So we decided to put clubs, lounges, different types of events, and varied styles of parties at FIVE to make it more exclusive and special. We have customers from all over the world, with different nationalities and different cultures, and we realised that music is what brings them all together. So for us, it just became a natural choice to start thinking about music very seriously. As we got more successful and obviously more popular, we realised that being serious and investing energy into playing the right music with the right artists, for the right audience, was very critical for business success. On top of that, it gives our customers amazing bespoke experiences, because when you're curating the entertainment offering yourself for your customer, it leads to them having a better time.
I have to go there! I have never been to Dubai before. You definitely make it sound so exciting.
You must come and experience FIVE. Now that we know what music to play, we’re investing more into the artists we collaborate with and paying closer attention to music driven trends. The digitisation of music helps as well, because you can actually see how well you're performing and can therefore easily adjust, improve and do more.
Amazing. You just released your first song on Five Music. "Oh, My My" in collaboration with Burak Yeter. How was the track received by the public?
Well, it's been received very well. And we are excited to release more tracks soon.
It’s got nearly 7 million views on YouTube and is doing very well on Spotify, Beatport etcetera. However, it's a little early for us to really see the overall effect, but I love the song and that's why we decided to collaborate with Burak. In the end, it’s art, it’s subjective and it’s up to the people, but we have a lot of faith that audiences will receive it very well because we believe showcase the right talent.
Amazing. Yeah, there's a big pool of talent also now in Amsterdam. So I think that's a good opportunity to be here.
Yeah, exactly. A lot of music is constantly evolving in Amsterdam. We were happy to meet a lot of young artists as well during our time with ADE. And because FIVE as a business is a very successful one, we're not really looking at it particularly from the financial side of things, but more on the trend side where we have a platform for young artistes and a new way to connect with our customers. We’re not just hoping that one day we will discover phenomenal talent because you never know when it will happen and if it will happen. If it doesn't happen, we're still really happy because this is our way of connecting with our customers.
In conclusion, you stated that FIVE Music will capture the energy of the FIVE Hotels and resorts lifestyle, what kind of energy is that?
Well, it's an energy of celebration. It's the same energy as when you cut into a birthday cake, for example.
And that's good energy!
Exactly! So that is the energy of FIVE. When you come on holiday, we're not just a hotel that you take a book into, but a lifestyle that you become a part off. So within the ethos of FIVE are the memories you create and the connections you make with the music, the people, the food, and the atmosphere.
Amazing! You have more openings coming up soon such as Zurich right?
Yes we do. We have FIVE Zurich launching in the Summer of 2022, which we are very excited about as it is a fast evolving city. It is the number one city for young professionals to work in as it hosts the top companies from around the globe – and it's got a huge musically-driven culture. FIVE Zurich will also focus on creating experiences and sensations through food and music, and just like FIVE Dubai, FIVE Zurich will have luxury rooms and events every day!
Aside from their global luxury lifestyle destinations, FIVE Hotels and Resorts’ utilises their network of superstar DJs to produce and release a hand-crafted portfolio of FIVE-star tunes through FIVE Music, capturing the unique energy of the Vibe at FIVE.
Stay tuned for more exciting updates on the Sound of FIVE, brought to you by guest-starring, world-famous Artists.
Timotej Letonja & Magdalena Roe
