The hotel will have 274 rooms and suites and 102 residences in Bahrain Bay, adjacent to Bahrain Financial Harbor and opposite the diplomatic quarter.

The 50-story hotel tower is part of Bahrain Bay, a $2.5 billion development master planned by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

The project is designed by renowned architect Yousif Daoud Al-Sayegh and Associates who designed the Six Senses Hideaway Zighy Bay, Oman (winner of the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s first Estidama Sustainability Award 2008.)

“The JW Marriott Bahrain will be a spectacular addition to the Bahrain Bay development,” said Abdul-Aziz Al-Rabban, chairman of Khaleejcapita BSC. “Bahrain has an under supply of luxury 5-star hotels and we are confident that the project will be a great success,” he added.

He said the project represents the first entry for the group in the hospitality field and that there are many other hotel and resort projects in the pipeline for Bahrain and Qatar.

The hotel will have an executive lounge with ocean view, one casual and five specialty restaurants, and four lounges including a lobby lounge and bar, a pool bar, quiet bar and rooftop lounge/bar, in addition to 17,119 square feet of meeting space. Recreational facilities will include a health and leisure club and spa, indoor and outdoor pool, tennis and squash courts.

Ed Fuller, president and MD, International Lodging for Marriott International, said: “Our JW Marriott brand is reserved for select luxury hotels in key gateway cities around the world, and Bahrain is certainly one of these.”