Wynn Al Marjan Island opens in September 2027, and Ras Al Khaimah hotel operators are already renovating more than 600 rooms and repositioning their properties to compete with the incoming casino resort.

Rixos Al Mairid Ras Al Khaimah is refurbishing 323 rooms in its main building and will shift to a more premium positioning in December. Pullman Resort Al Marjan Island is refurbishing 300 rooms and will reopen as an adults-only property in Q2 2027 — roughly a quarter before the Wynn debut.

The moves are no coincidence. Alison Grinnell, CEO of Marjan Hospitality, the hospitality arm of Ras Al Khaimah master developer Marjan, said hotels near the casino site are also likely to scale back all-inclusive packages as the opening approaches, a pricing and distribution shift aimed at capturing higher-rate demand rather than volume.

Why are hotels renovating now?

Part of the urgency is structural. Some hotels in the emirate are reaching their 10-year renovation lifecycle, Grinnell said, meaning owners face capital expenditure they would have to fund regardless of the Wynn.

But the timing is deliberate. "When you've new, shiny hotels coming into the market, neighboring hotels want to make sure that they have done a normal lifecycle upgrade," Grinnell said. "We always had a plan to make sure our existing hotels had their renovation process gone through before the Wynn opened."

That sequencing matters for operator economics. Completing room renovations before September 2027 lets properties reprice their inventory against a new, high-profile supply entrant rather than into it — and avoids taking rooms out of service during the demand surge the casino resort is expected to generate.

What changes for guests and rate strategy?

The repositioning plays out along two visible lines:

• Segmentation. Pullman's conversion to adults-only targets a premium, non-family segment, while Rixos's premium repositioning of its 323-room main building lifts its competitive tier.
• Packaging. Fewer all-inclusive offers would shift the market toward à la carte and room-only pricing, a structure that typically carries higher average rates and gives operators more flexibility to capture casino-adjacent spend on food and beverage.

For the emirate's tourism economy, the pattern mirrors what casino-resort openings have produced in other markets: incumbent operators invest ahead of the debut, then compete on segment and rate rather than letting the new entrant absorb the premium demand alone.

With the two largest named projects — 323 rooms at Rixos and 300 at Pullman — plus lifecycle upgrades across older stock, Grinnell indicated the pre-Wynn renovation program was planned from the outset. Expect further repositioning announcements from neighboring properties as the September 2027 opening approaches.