The Anantara Siniya Island resort will open in 2030 with 125 keys and 125 residences in Umm Al Quwain

Minor Hotels announced on 6 October 2026 the signing of the Anantara Siniya Island Resort, the brand’s first address in the emirate of Umm Al Quwain. The resort will open in 2030 with 125 keys, alongside 125 branded residences, on an island linked to the mainland by a 1.7 km bridge. Ground was broken on 3 October 2026.

☰Contents

1. Anantara’s first address in Umm Al Quwain
2. 125 keys and 125 branded residences
3. Ground broken on 3 October 2026
4. What Minor Hotels and Sobha are saying
5. 50 minutes from Dubai, via a 1.7 km bridge
6. Gazelles, oryx, mangroves: what’s on Siniya?
7. An ancient monastery and a pearling past

Anantara’s first address in Umm Al Quwain

The Minor Hotels announcement confirms two projects: the Anantara Siniya Island Resort and the Anantara Residences Sobha Siniya Island. It is the first time Anantara has set foot in Umm Al Quwain, the emirate next to Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. The resort will be the flagship hotel of the Sobha Siniya Island masterplan, with architecture and a guest experience inspired by the island’s natural setting, its cultural heritage and its waterfront.

Minor Hotels claims more than 640 hotels, resorts and residences in operation or in development across 67 countries. In the Emirates, the group is also preparing the Ampersand Beach House on Dubai Islands, and it has just launched its longevity brand, Life Longevity.

125 keys and 125 branded residences

The resort will have 125 keys, although the split between rooms, suites and villas has not been disclosed. It will be complemented by 125 branded residences, marketed as Anantara Residences Sobha Siniya Island. Their layouts, services and prices are not yet known, and neither are the restaurants or the spa of the future resort.

No images of the resort have been released yet: the renderings in this article show Siniya Island as its developer envisions it, not the Anantara hotel itself.

Ground broken on 3 October 2026

The ceremony was attended by Sheikh Rashid bin Saud bin Rashid Al Mualla, Crown Prince of Umm Al Quwain, and Sheikh Ahmed bin Saud Al Mualla, Deputy Ruler. Ravi Menon, chairman of Sobha Group, Francis Alfred, William E. Heinecke and Amir Golberg, chief operating officer of Minor Hotels for the Middle East and Africa, were also present.

The project belongs to Sobha Al Siniya FZC, a joint venture between developer Sobha Realty and Umm Al Quwain Properties, the real estate investment arm of the emirate’s government. Minor Hotels will run it under the Anantara brand.

What Minor Hotels and Sobha are saying

‘The UAE has been part of our journey for many years, and we continue to see great opportunities to grow here,’ says William E. Heinecke, chairman and founder of Minor International, parent company of Minor Hotels. ‘Sobha Siniya Island is a compelling new destination, and Anantara will play a central role in its hospitality offering.’

For Francis Alfred, managing director of Sobha Siniya Island, ‘the island has been designed to celebrate its natural landscape, and Anantara’s approach to hospitality complements its character’. In his view, the groundbreaking marks ‘the next step in bringing this vision to life’.

50 minutes from Dubai, via a 1.7 km bridge

The island lies around 50 minutes from Dubai and is linked to the mainland by a 1.7 km bridge. According to the masterplan website, it is also 10 minutes from Al Marjan Island, where Aman is building Janu Al Marjan Island, and 30 minutes from Sharjah.

Gazelles, oryx, mangroves: what’s on Siniya?

The masterplan covers around 23 million square feet, or about 2.1 km², more than 60% of which is given over to water, open space and greenery. The island is home to mangroves, white-sand beaches and wildlife including gazelles, oryx, flamingos and turtles.

Around the resort, Sobha plans villas, beachfront mansions, apartments, other resorts, a marina with a yacht club, an 18-hole pitch and putt course and a retail boulevard.

An ancient monastery and a pearling past

Its developer presents Siniya as the cradle of the oldest pearling town in the Gulf. Archaeologists have uncovered a Christian monastery there, announced in November 2022 by Umm Al Quwain’s Department of Tourism and Archaeology and dated to roughly the 6th to 8th centuries. It is this heritage, together with the island’s landscape and waterfront, that is set to inspire the future resort.