Four UAE hotels built their design on Arabic calligraphy rather than hanging a piece of it: ibis Styles Dubai Deira shaped 143 rooms on the swoops of the script, Andaz Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi took khatt as one of its four founding symbols, Jumeirah Al Naseem put a poem in calligraphy behind the front desk, and W Dubai The Palm wrote a song across a wall of every room. None of it needs a refurbishment to copy. A hotel copies it in three places: a word by the door, a six-piece calligraphy set on the room's table, and one line in the lobby. Each piece is made to order in our UAE workshop; a serving tray with «حياكم الله» is AED 115, a paint for the lobby from AED 60 rolled.
What the four hotels did
ibis Styles Dubai Deira: the script as the room's shape
The hotel opened in May 2022 beside the Gold and Spice Souks with 143 rooms, and its listings describe the design the same way: the rooms take their shape from the swoops and swirls of Arabic calligraphy, in bold blue and yellow. A mid-market brand with a tight budget treated the script as architecture, not as a framed print, and it is the thing guests photograph. The lesson for a hotel that is not rebuilding: pick one letterform and let it recur, on the door, on the table, in the corridor.
Andaz Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi: calligraphy as one of four symbols
When the Andaz opened in the leaning Capital Gate tower in 2018, its design was built on four Emirati symbols: the mashrabiya screen, khatt (calligraphy), Al Sadu weaving and the date palm, with a gallery of local artists' work. The point for any hotel is the company calligraphy keeps: it belongs with a pattern, a textile and a plant, not alone on a white wall. A tray with a cut arabesque pattern beside a tray with a line of script is the same idea at table scale.
Jumeirah Al Naseem: a poem where the guest arrives
Behind the front desk of Al Naseem at Madinat Jumeirah there is a poem written in Arabic calligraphy, by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in an interior inspired by dunes, sea breeze and pearl diving. One line of calligraphy at the point of arrival says what the hotel is about before anyone speaks. A hotel without a poet in the family uses a line of welcome: «حياكم الله», «أهلاً وسهلاً», or its own greeting composed in the script it chooses.
W Dubai The Palm: words on the bedroom wall
Trade coverage from 2019 described one wall in each room lettered with the lyrics of a famous Arabic love song. We cannot confirm it is still there, but the idea stands: a guest reads the room. The words need to be ones the guest can read and would want to, and the script needs to be one that stays legible at the size of a wall.
What a hotel can copy, room by room
By the door: one word
The first thing a guest reads is at the door. In Emirati homes it is «ما شاء الله» or a welcome; in a hotel it is the welcome, on a small framed paint or cut into a tissue box on the console. One word, large, in a script that reads from the corridor: Thuluth for a formal entrance, Diwani for a warmer one. Our guide to calligraphy for every room covers heights and sizes.
On the table: the majlis set
The Emirati welcome a guest already knows is coffee, dates and a word of greeting. On a hotel room's table that is six pieces: a serving tray, a dates box, a tissue box, a glass bowl, a napkin holder and a mabkhara, each cut or engraved with a line the guest reads. The set is used again at Eid and next Ramadan; acrylic is wiped clean and stored flat. The pieces and the set price per room are on the hotels page, and the hotel's name can go on the dates-box lid.
In the lobby: one line
Al Naseem's poem is the model: one line, composed for the wall, in a script that carries at distance. A line of poetry, a verse, or the hotel's greeting, printed on canvas and framed, from A3 to A1, or a calligrapher's signed original for the main wall. For a coffee station in the lobby, a Large serving tray and the brass dallah engraved with the greeting do the same job at table height.
In the corridors and suites: the same word, smaller
ibis Styles' trick was repetition. The word by the door returns on the suite's tray and on the corridor's paint, in the same script, so the hotel reads as one hand. Three paints in the same script along a corridor cost less than one large piece and do more.
Which script for which place
- Thuluth for the lobby and formal lines: tall, ceremonial, legible at distance.
- Diwani for a greeting: looping and warm, it suits «حياكم الله» and a hotel's own name.
- Naskh where the words must be read without effort: a verse, a longer line, a menu card.
- Ruq'ah for the everyday pieces: the tissue box, the napkin holder, «الضيف عزيز».
- Kufi for a modern interior: square, architectural, the one that sits best beside a geometric pattern.
The guide to the calligraphy styles shows each with examples. Whatever the script, the words come first: a guest who reads Arabic will read them, so they must be correct, and a guest who does not will ask what they say, so the answer must be worth giving.
The FF&E checklist
- Sizes and materials in writing. Every piece has its dimensions on its page and in the Majlis Catalogue; acrylic pieces are cut from sheet, paints are printed on canvas and framed by hand.
- Artwork you approve. The calligraphy is composed in Mashq Studio and sent as a proof; the outline you approve is the outline that is cut. For a hotel's name or a logo, send a vector file (SVG, AI, EPS or PDF).
- Lead time. A single set is made in 5–7 working days. A run for every room takes 10–14 working days from artwork approval and payment, with one photograph of the finished run before dispatch; a sample set is made first on request.
- Cleaning. Acrylic is wiped with a soft cloth and stored flat; the dallah is brass. Nothing in the set needs replacing after a season.
- One supplier, one invoice. The pieces, the paints and the VIP gifts come from one workshop; UAE delivery to one address is AED 25 per order for décor, AED 50 when wall art is in it.
Pieces to start with
- «حياكم الله» serving tray, Diwani: AED 115 clear, AED 165 gold-tinted. The welcome line for the room's table.
- «الضيف عزيز» tissue box, Ruq'ah: AED 130 clear, AED 180 gold-tinted or black. "The guest is dear", the line hotels ask for most.
- Dates box with a personalised Thuluth lid: AED 215, with a name or the hotel's name cut into the lid, for VIP guests and delegations.
- Mabkhara, cut arabesque: AED 85 for one, AED 195 for a set of three; our mabkhara guide explains the ritual.
- «إن مع العسر يسرا» calligraphy paint: from AED 60 rolled at A3, AED 150 framed at A3, AED 245 at A2, AED 395 at A1, for the corridor or the lobby.
All the trays are in the serving-tray collection and the paints in calligraphy paints. The full range with sizes and prices, and a hotels edition with the set per room and the Ramadan 2027 purchase-order dates, is in the Majlis Catalogue, sent to your work email.
Quick answers
Which UAE hotels use Arabic calligraphy in their design? ibis Styles Dubai Deira (rooms shaped on the script), Andaz Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi (khatt as one of four founding symbols), Jumeirah Al Naseem (a poem in calligraphy behind the front desk) and, in 2019 coverage, W Dubai The Palm (song lyrics on a wall of each room).
What does a calligraphy set for a hotel room cost? The pieces are priced singly on their pages, from AED 60 for a napkin holder to AED 215 for a dates box with a personalised lid; the six-piece set per room and the volume price at your room count are on the hotels page and in the written quotation.
Can the pieces carry the hotel's name? Yes: the dates-box lid and the dallah carry it at a fixed price, from a vector file, and you approve the artwork before anything is cut.
How long does an order for fifty rooms take? 10–14 working days from artwork approval and payment, plus two courier days. For Ramadan 2027 the purchase order must reach us by Wednesday 13 January.
Send the room count and the greeting you want on WhatsApp; the numbered quotation comes the same working day. Every company question, lead times, artwork and invoicing, is answered on the corporate gifting page, and the season dates in our Ramadan and Eid gifting guide.
About this guide: written by MASHQ, which makes Arabic calligraphy pieces to order in its UAE workshop (1click2open LLC, Sharjah). The hotel examples come from the hotels' own listings and trade press: Accor and Business Traveller (ibis Styles Dubai Deira, May 2022), Tatler and Malay Mail (Andaz Capital Gate, November 2018), the Madinat Jumeirah fact sheet (October 2024) and HOTELS magazine (W Dubai The Palm, May 2019). Prices were checked against the shop in October 2026.