Dubai Travel Guide
JW Marriott Hotels / JW Marriott Marquis Hotels / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Hype / Hotel News / → All Tags
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai to Be Tallest Hotel in the World
Well it looks like Marriott Hotels won't be relinquishing their title of "World's Tallest Hotel" anytime soon. Though that distinction belongs currently to the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong come later this year, it will be wrested away by the JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai.
Marriott made the announcement today saying that the two towers of the 1,608-room hotel will stand 1,164 feet tall, making them just 85 feet shorter than the Empire State Building. And unlike other hotels in buildings this tall, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai will be entirely dedicated to hotel operations.
Cool Hotel Jobs / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Employees / → All Tags
The Ritz-Carlton Dubai Now Has a Hookah Sommelier on Staff
If you've ever wanted to smoke a hookah but were afraid of looking like a novice, the Ritz-Carlton Dubai International Finance Centre now has an expert on hand to ensure that every puff you take is perfect.
The Shisha Sommelier is a part of the hotel's Shisha Terrace. Shisha, also called hookah, is just smoking tobacco in a glass-based waterpipe but the Shisha sommelier is there to help guests choose the shisha flavor that will compliment their food and beverage or simply, their preference of tobacco flavor.
So who is this man tasked with such a cool hotel job? Sadek Zeineddine, a Lebanese national, who has worked in a food and beverage capacity in several different areas of the Middle East like Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. Most recently, he was at another Ritz-Carlton hotel, the Sharq Village and Spa, before joining the Ritz Carlton Dubai on the pre-opening team.
Hotel Swag / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Gifts / → All Tags
The Case of the $7,250 Burj Al Arab Ashtray
The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. It's world famous and ranked seven stars with four-digit nightly room rates, so naturally people get curious. For one, we're curious about what makes their hotel so worth that money, and what perhaps they might sell in the gift shop (cause you know they have one).
Well, the latter question has somewhat been answered for us by a weird little website called Opulent Items. Specializing in over-the-top luxury gifts, they'll sell you anything from a $7,500 inflatable "iceberg" to a $20 shower curtain, as Racked discovered yesterday. What they also dug up is this ashtray, priced at $7,250 and embedded with three diamonds.
Hotel News / Hilton Hotels / Waldorf-Astoria Collection / Dubai Hotels / → All Tags
Hilton Plans a Waldorf-Astoria Resort For Dubai (But They Won't Let Us See)
Hilton just announced that a 324-room resort on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai will become a Waldorf Astoria Resort by the end of 2013. Hilton is teaming up with Al Habtoor Group, who had originally bought the land but ran into major delays when the economy went down the drain in 2008, affecting all imminent Dubai properites.
Not only is Al Habtoor now re-starting construction on the $272 million resort, they are funding the entire project out of their own pocket. Apparently, the city's banks are so hard-pressed that receiving funding is virtually impossible. Al Habtoor also told Arabian Business that it is working on "other projects, which we are going to announce soon."
Click below to see a (not very visible) artist's rendering of the upcoming resort.
Celebrity Scoop / Kim Kardashian / Dubai Hotels / Celebrity Hotels / → All Tags
Kim Kardashian Wants to Open a Hotel for Gorgeous People
Brace yourselves, the day's hotel news just got a lot more depressing. WSJ is reporting on a statement made by Kim Kardashian about opening her own branded hotel in the United Arab Emirates. In her words: "everything I think will be successful here."
Hmm, a self-obsessed reality TV star with delusions of starting her own hotel? Haven't we heard this one before? Also, Kim you might want to stop copying the Hilton sisters at some point.
Kim is currently touring the country solo, and was apparently so swept away by all the beautiful women there that she took to Twitter to make her feelings known. So, she's got millions of dollars, has already visited a few of the world's glitziest hotels, and has a thing for beautiful women? Judging from what we know of other well-known lady-loving hoteliers, Kim certainly seems to fit all the criteria. All we ask is that she lays off the houndstooth. That's not so much to ask, is it?
Twitter / Celebrity Scoop / Eva Longoria / Dubai Hotels / Armani Hotels / Death-Defying Hotels / Killer Views / → All Tags
Twitpic of the Week: Window Washing At The Burj
In the ever-expanding universe of Twitter, there is one particular trend @HotelChatter happens to quite enjoy: candid hotel room photos. These Twitpics range from stunning views to anti-views to celebrity tomfoolery and everything in between. And we can't get enough of 'em! Starting this week, we will begin featuring one "Twitpic of the Week" to commemorate our favorite hotel-themed snapshot. Got a favorite of your own? Want to show off your sweet suite? Send it in!
As we learned last month, the Armani Hotel Milan is still taking its time to get up and running. Meanwhile, in Dubai, the mega-solar-powered Armani Hotel Dubai in the Burj tower is enjoying a little daytime maintenance work. Namely, window-washing.
Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria shot this pic from her suite at the Armani Hotel with the following caption:
Snapshot / Concierges / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Architecture / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
This Might Be The Fanciest Concierge Desk Around
We love looking into our HotelChatter Flickr Pool and finding snapshots from hotels around the world, including hotels we'll never be able to afford like the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
This being the world's only 7-star hotel, of course they have the fanciest concierge desk the world's ever seen. It looks like a mini Hollywood Bowl! Perhaps if our friend at ConciergeCorner worked here, he wouldn't be so grumpy.
[Photo: Corinna Witt]
Dubai Hotels / Armani Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
To Get a $600 Armani Hotel Room for Free, You've Got to Spend $23K on Airfare
Why pay $600 per night to sleep at Dubai's Armani Hotel if you can get it for free? The only catch—of course there's a catch—is that you'll be paying through the nose in another way for the privilege of a comped stay here, as Dubai-based airline Emirates has just launched an incentive to fly in First or Business Class this spring.
Here's the deal: you've got to book an Emirates flight out of either Los Angeles or Houston and fly to Cape Town (CPT), Vienna (VIE), Christchurch (CHC), Manchester (MAN), Geneva (GVA), Copenhagen (CPH) or Hamburg (HAM) in First or Business.
Hotel Deals / JetSetter / Armani Hotels / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Booking Sites / → All Tags
The Armani Hotel Dubai Hits the Sale Racks
There was a moment several months ago where we clicked over to check out the current hotel offers on flash sample sale site JetSetter.com and spotted the Armani Hotel Dubai as an upcoming offer. Alas, it disappeared shortly after because perhaps the hotel realized what we were thinking—that it was still a bit too early and too hyped to start with the discounting. All of that is in the past, however, because Armani Hotel Dubai is on JetSetter right now with rates from $420 per night.
The hotel opened almost a year ago this time, and the rates have come down from four digits to $600 per night, which JetSetter is marking down to the $420 price for a Classic room. Take a step up to a Premier Suite for $475 per night, originally much more. These deals are good through August, because September sees a rate jump to $525 for a Classic and $595 for a Premier.
Glamping / HotelChatter Guides / Dubai Hotels / Desert Retreats / Desert Hotels / Desert Resorts / → All Tags
Places to Get your Glamp On: The Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, Dubai
All this week, we’ll be trekking across the globe with HotelChatter contributor Eric Rosen as he tells us about the most exciting new glamping experiences out there. From the savannahs of Africa to the shores of Western Australia to the peaks of Patagonia, this is a full-fledged, five-star adventure to the most thrilling and luxurious camping resorts in the world.
Today we’re upping the “glam” in glamping, and taking you to a tented desert resort in broad and barren sands of Dubai that has us dreaming of camel caravans and verdant oases. It’s called the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa, and word has it that it’s one of LA-based fashion designer Catherine Malandrino’s favorite places on earth. That’s good enough for us.
Restaurant Openings / Hotel Restaurants / Dubai Hotels / Intercontinental Hotels / → All Tags
A New York Diner To Hit Dubai
Let the artifice continue! The InterContinental Dubai Festival City will soon be home to an outpost of Midtown Manhattan's Brooklyn Diner. The spot in inside the emirate's Festival City complex, which is also home to a Crowne Plaza, and the forthcoming the W Dubai Festival City (slated for 2013) as well as a 12-screen cinema, an Ikea, 400 shops, 90 other restaurants and a bowling alley.
The "finer diner," which in New York features enough Brooklyn food cliches to feed a whole borough, opens February 15 and will look identical to the US outpost with pictures of Brooklyn on the walls, neon signs and the maitre d' rocking the tux and sneakers combo.
It will make some nods to local tastes according to Insatiable Critic:
Hotel Openings / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Opening Rates / Hotel News / → All Tags
Dubai Is So Nice, Ritz-Carlton is Doing It Twice
Apparently, despite the depressed economy of the last few years, there is still enough money rich people room in Dubai for two Ritz-Carltons!
We first heard about Dubai's second Ritz-Carlton Hotel back in September 2009 and now the hotel is finally set to open on January 12.
The hotel will actually be located in the Dubai International Financial Center and a tipster who's done some research on the property tell us:
The hotel seems very urban and sophisticated, with a more urban setting. DIFC is now the cool hot spot, with trendy SOHO style restaurants and art galleries. The most famed restaurant over there is of course ZUMA.
For those who aren't in the jetsetting know, ZUMA is a popular London eatery. But there will also be plenty of options to eat at the hotel with its three restaurants, bar and dedicated champagne and chocolate lounge.
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