Dubai Travel Guide
Hotel News / Dubai Hotels / Viceroy Hotels / → All Tags
Can Dubai Squeeze Another Hotel Onto the Palm? Viceroy Thinks So
Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi generally gets most of the attention when it comes to Viceroy hotels in the Middle East. But that's all about to change, as word got out last week that Viceroy is planning to build a 481-room beachfront resort on the Palm Jumeirah.
We kinda figured one 1,500-room mega-resort would be enough, but we guess we were wrong.
Set to open in 2017, Viceroy Dubai Palm Jumeirah will be a mixed-use development, with an adjoining 220 pre-furnished luxury residences, a spa, private beach club, 3 outdoor swimming pools, and the hotel itself. Of course, plenty of this already exists in Dubai, but this is a city practically founded on the concept of one-upmanship, so there's always room for something bigger, better, and more bombastic.
Sweet Suites / Hotel News / United Arab Emirates Hotels / Dubai Hotels / → All Tags
Raffles Dubai Unveils the Middle East's "Most Luxurious Floor"
Raffles Dubai put the world's most expensive dress on display last fall, and leave it to them to outdo themselves in a matter of months (who else could, really?). This spring Raffles is introducing what they call the Middle East's most luxurious floor - a 21,500 square-foot "space" that takes up most of the 14th level of the hotel. That's right, a private floor with six rooms, a spa, hair salon, majlis (that's meeting room, in basic terms), three private kitchens and a cinema that seats nine. Damn! (but watch your language if you see it, ok?)
Not impressed, you snort? Pfft. Fine. How about access via a private elevator, 24-hour check in, a private limousine service and chauffeur, customized linens, a private chef, and a dedicated butler? Sound good? Sounds like another case of Dubai being as flossy as they wanna be. Don't hate!
"A lot of the hotel guests travel with a big entourage and sometimes book half a floor," a hotel employee has said. "The Dubai Floor is perfect for this type of guest as they'll have a whole floor for themselves and privacy. This what makes it unique."
You bet your as bippy it does.
Celebrity Scoop / Dubai Hotels / Sweet Suites / Hotel Suites / Hotel Aquariums / → All Tags
Atlantis, The Palm Proves Too Extreme For DJ David Guetta
It's never been a secret that Atlantis, The Palm likes to do things on a big scale. Its grand opening party alone coast $35 million.
So we wonder why celebrity DJ David Guetta received such a shock when he checked into his suite at the hotel recently. He griped to 7 Days In Dubai:
"My room is so crazy I’ve never seen anything like it. They gave me a room where the bedroom is under the aquarium. I’m sleeping with sharks and stingrays and I had to close the curtains because I couldn’t sleep, it was freaking me out."
Dubai Hotels / Hotel News / Paramount Hotels / Movie Hotels / → All Tags
Paramount's First Movie-Themed Hotel Will Open In Dubai
Though we had initially reported that Paramount Pictures' first batch of movie-themed hotels would pop up in places like Brazil, the UK, Russia, and Qatar, it looks like the brand's premier hotel will actually be in Dubai.
The city is hardly in need of yet another flashy, Western-themed resort, but Dubai is also exactly the kind of place where something like this would take off. And we're not just saying that. Last week, when the first phase of residences went on sale (the 540-room tower will include both a hotel and luxury residences), they sold out within hours, according to Arabian Business.
Paramount Hotel & Residences is set to open around the end of 2015, and will be part of a complex featuring four 820ft-tall towers. In the center of the complex will be a multi-level plaza featuring restaurants, meeting and event facilities, a screening room, a fitness center, pool, kids club, and retail outlets.
A Paramount Pictures merchandise shop will be a necessary part of this equation too, so if it's Raiders of the Lost Ark* t-shirts you're after, then you're in luck.
Hotel Design / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel News / Hotel Art / → All Tags
Giant 'Snow Wall' Proves Kempinski Dubai Thinks It's In the Alps
It's a known fact that Kempinski likes to do things big. Who got chosen as management for North Korea's most-famous-hotel-that's-never-opened, the Ryugyong Hotel? Kempinski. Whose property opened last month with the Dalai Lama's blessing? Kempinski.
Even when their employees are extorting money from guests' credit cards, they still manage to do it in style.
So it kinda makes sense that one of the brand's most iconic hotels, Kempinski Dubai Mall of the Emirates has decided to cement their renegade status by installing an 18 foot high "snow wall" along one side of Aspen, the hotel's cafe. As you can see in the above photo, the surface looks like it could be the lower strata of the iceberg that sank the Titanic, or possibly just some beautifully textured abstract wall art.
Not that the hotel is short on conversation pieces. The Middle East's first and largest indoor ski resort, Ski Dubai, is attached to the hotel; hence the 'snow' theme of the brand new installation. In fact, the snow wall's designers, London-based Solomon&Wu, built the shimmery wall out of glass-reinforced plastic in order to simulate "snow drifts and rock formations." Looks like they pulled it off.
Hotel Openings / Hotel Restaurants / Dubai Hotels / Marriott Hotels / JW Marriott Hotels / Marriott Marquis / → All Tags
JW Marriott Marquis Dubai's Second Tower Won't Open Until 2014
By now an inseparable fixture of the Dubai skyline, the 77-story twin tower JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is gradually introducing itself into the city. After an initial November opening, this month, the hotel begins service at its nine restaurants and five bars, including Vault, a cigar lounge and bar occupying the 71st and 72nd floors of the hotel.
Think that's too many restaurants and bars for one hotel? Think again. Guiness Book of World Records officially recognized the JW Marriott Marquis as the world's tallest hotel, with a current total of 804 rooms.
And don't forget: that's still only half of the hotel. Though we expected the final unveiling sometime this year, the second tower isn't expected to open until late 2014.
That will bring the hotel's total room count to a whopping 1,600, allowing major conventions and meeting groups to house their attendees all under one roof. Like a giant slumber party, only instead of making popcorn and watching Sixteen Candles, guests will be gobbling steak at Prime 68 and whiling away their evenings soaking in the tub overlooking the twinkling lights of Business Bay.
Rates start at $217/night.
Hotel News / Dubai Hotels / Sheraton Hotels / Starwood Hotels / Hotel Takeovers / Hotel Rebrandings / → All Tags
Pullman Got Pulled From the Mall Of the Emirates
We're only one month into 2013 but already there's drama brewing in the form of a hotel takeover, this time in Dubai. Hotelier Middle East reports that Pullman (which falls under the Accor brand) has been ousted as the management for Pullman Dubai Mall of the Emirates, which henceforth is to be known as the Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates.
'So what?' you're thinking, 'hotels change management all the time.' True.
What's interesting about this re-branding, though, is the method in which the owners will implement the new changes. According to a tipster in Dubai, the switch will take place during the night, meaning guests will go to sleep in one hotel and, for all intents and purposes, wake up in a new one.
The basic structure will remain exactly the same, but with all new signage, branding—not to mention new staff—it might feel a little Twilight Zone-y coming down to breakfast in a different hotel than the one you had dinner in the night before.
Two for the price of one! Not that we'd expect anything less from a hotel inside a mall...
Hotel News / Dubai Hotels / Theme-Park Hotels / → All Tags
Taj Mahal Hotel Is Added to Dubai's Six-World Theme Park
Dubai is going all "Dubai" on us again, unveiling a plan to create a $1 billion "replica" of the Taj Mahal, which will include a 300-room, five-star hotel. Emphasis and quotations on the word replica due to the fact that Dubai's version of the iconic Indian structure will be four times larger than the original Taj Mahal.
Is anyone surprised by this?
This Taj Mahal is the most recent addition to the already in progress Falconcity of Wonders, a $35 billion-plus project located in Dubailand - a six-world theme park - featuring life-size reproductions of the Seven Wonders of the World (Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Piza, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, etc.).
Fantasy Friday / Raffles Resorts / Luxury Hotels / Dubai Hotels / → All Tags
The World's Most Expensive Dress Is At Raffles Dubai
For what's shaping up to be our weekly Fantasy Friday post, we head back to Dubai (under better circumstances, this time, from earlier bad news) where the Raffles Resort is showcasing one hell of a dress—the world’s most expensive in fact--today and tomorrow.
How much does this frock cost? A whopping $5.65 million is the price tag for the Black Diamond dress created by British fashion designer Debbie Wingham.
Those at the hotel can ooh and ahh over the elegant sheath during a special Fashion Afternoon Tea this weekend featuring delicate pastry items like the Dark Chocolate Stiletto encrusted with sugar diamonds .
And just so you’re not sitting there eating cake and glumly lusting after sparkly things you can't afford, guests can enter a contest to win a pair of limited edition DCJ Black Diamond jeans worth $4,040. All you need to do is be able to spot the difference between the genuine Black Diamond dress and the “fake”, which is only worth a meager $16K.
Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Dubai Hotels / Fairmont Hotels / → All Tags
Fairmont Goes To The Palm Dubai
Remember The Palm and The World, the two giant land reclamation projects off the coast of Dubai? While The World remains mostly empty except for a single show home (and by some accounts, is sinking back into the sea), The Palm is adding another hotel to its list this fall: Fairmont The Palm Dubai.
Slightly more subdued in architecture, and admittedly, smaller, than its fellow Palm-resident Atlantis, this is still large-scale luxury. We’d wonder whether the current economy (in Dubai and elsewhere) could really support another big, expensive hotel, but then the upcoming opening of the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai (1,608-rooms and the world’s tallest hotel) begs to differ.
Let’s look at the numbers for the Fairmont shall we? 381 guestrooms and seven restaurants, including pan-Chinese and Brazilian options, and the now seemingly ubiquitous cigar room with walk-in humidor. Four pools, a private beach, and a giant Willow Stream spa with 13 treatment rooms. A dedicated floor for Fairmont Gold, the group’s concierge level. Over 3,000 square meters of meeting and conference space, including a ballroom capable of holding 600+ people.
Celebrity Scoop / Dubai Hotels / Ne-Yo / Reality-TV Shows / Chris Brown / Hotel News / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Pussycat Doll Visits X Factor's Jumeirah Hotel Set
Former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger had a really good run in Dubai recently – including a 45-minute performance that netted her a million bucks – but promptly wiped out all that positive press last night in the heat of an LA nightclub. A photo emerged today that shows her and rapper Chris Brown getting awfully comfortable, and it kind of sort of looks like they’re kissing if you commit yourself to drawing inconclusive conclusions. Her reps are rabidly denying the report, suggesting it portrays a close conversation at a kicking club.
Press is press as they say, though, and it once again shines the spotlight on Scherzinger, who has made headlines of late for her reoccurring presence in Dubai. Last week she received $1 million to perform a short 45-minute set for Emirates NDB Bank at the Dubai World Trade Center, and back in August she made her home at the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray for a few days as part of her role as a judge for X Factor UK. She and Grammy-winning R&B artist Ne-Yo held up in the Grand Imperial and one-bedroom suites, respectively, filming the Judges’ House scenes throughout the hotel property.
Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Dubai Hotels / Marriott Hotels / JW Marriott Hotels / → All Tags
Folks Are Lining Up To Get A Peek At the World's Tallest Hotel
Marriott's crown jewel, the 72-floor JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, will be the tallest hotel in the world when it opens this December, and business is already pouring in.
GulfNews reports that the hotel is predicting 80% occupancy over the first two years of its opening—that's roughly 1,300 out of the hotel's expected 1,600 total rooms, all filled. Never mind that Dubai is one of the world's most hotel-saturated cities, JW Marriott Marquis has apparently found its "sweet spot" (their words, not ours), and isn't at all worried about whether the demand will meet the supply.
