AccorHotels Group has signed the Middle East's first SO/ Sofitel hotel with development partner Dubai Multi Commodities Centre.
 
The SO/ Uptown Dubai will have 188 guestrooms and 215 branded residences once it opens by late 2020 in Uptown Dubai's first super-tall tower. New York-based design firm Rockwell Group will design the interiors of the new hotel. The property's SO/ Residences will be on top floors of the tower. They will be the brand's first residences available in the Middle East.

The new hotel will be the first AccorHotels property to enter the DMCC's Uptown Dubai district. The Sofitel Uptown Dubai, which will also open in the Uptown Dubai tower, is scheduled to begin operating after the SO/ Sofitel.

Architectural firm Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture—the same firm who designed the Burj Khalifa—are the designers of the new high-rise. Uptown Dubai's two Accor hotels will share the building with commercial, retail and dining space.

The SO/ Uptown Dubai will join the brand's portfolio of five hotels operating in Bangkok and Hua Hin, Thailand, Berlin, Germany, Singapore and Mauritius. An additional 10 SO/ Sofitel hotels are scheduled to open worldwide in the next five years, including SO/ Sofitel Kuala Lumpur opening in 2020, SO/ Sofitel Samui opening in 2020, SO/ Sofitel Jakarta opening in 2021 and SO/ Paris opening in 2021. The next SO/ Sofitel properties set to open by the end of 2018 are the 137-room SO/ St. Petersburg in April, the 133-room SO/ Sofitel Auckland in July and the 182-room SO/ Vienna.