United Arab Emirates Travel Guide
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The Leaning Hyatt of Abu Dhabi Tops Out, Does Not Fall Over
Well, there it stands; the building we've dubbed "The Leaning Hyatt of Abu Dhabi" has topped out without toppling over...yet.
The building itself is called "Capital Gate," being built by RMJM Architects and due to house Abu Dhabi's first Hyatt. It reached its half-way point back in early June, and less than six months is a pretty quick race to the top for them. But then, in order to create the unique structure and keep it safe from high winds and earthquakes, each pane of glass is different, and fitted onto the strong structure with all the modern engineering that the original Tower of Pisa lacked.
Let's not forget that contained within will be 200 hotel rooms and "a gigantic internal atrium, including a tea lounge and swimming pool suspended 263 feet above the ground." Yep—you heard them; there's gotta be that tea lounge. We don't yet have an opening date, but let's just say the first half of 2010 to be safe, since we bet everyone is champing at the bit to get all up in the "World's Most Leaning Tower."
[Images: Hyatt Hotels]
Tags: One and Only Resorts / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Construction / So Kerzner / Hotel News / → All Tags
A Perfect 10? One & Only Will Open Their New Resort in Dubai on 10-10-10
Another week, another news of a grand new hotel to be built in Dubai. This time it's to be a luxe One & Only Resorts property situated on the man-made islands of The Palm. Interesting, seeing as how One & Only already has the One & Only Royal Mirage occupying prime massive oceanfront property right at the base of the Palm, on Al Sufouh Road.
Anyway, the One & Only isn't due to open until October 2010, and when it does it'll join a bevy of other properties springing up among The Palm fronds: Atlantis The Palm, Movenpick Resort Oceana Palm Jumeirah, Fairmont Palm Hotel, Movenpick Resort & Spa Palm Jumeirah, Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, Anantara Resort, Trump International Hotel, and properties from Radisson SAS, Hilton, Metropolitan, Shangri La, Starwood, Marriott, Oberoi, and Kempinski, according to The Emirates Network.
So how will this One & Only try to make it seem like it is the one and only luxury resort on The Palm?
Tags: Desert Retreats / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Openings / Desert Hotels / Desert Resorts / → All Tags
The Anantara Qasr Al Sarab Turns a Desert Mirage Into a Proper Retreat
Not everyone heads to Dubai with mall shopping and indoor skiing on their minds, or if you do, you quickly get tired of it. For this reason, more and more retreats are being built outside of the city, either in lush green environments like the Westin Golf Resort near Abu Dhabi or flat out in the desert, like the soon-to-open Anantara Resort at Qasr Al Sarab.
Due to open on October 25, the Anantara is 90 minutes away from Abu Dhabi and three hours from Dubai in the Liwa Desert, and boasts 206 rooms, although some are flat-out palatial villas with private pools and commanding views over the sand dunes. Face it: if you're coming all the way out here, you're coming to relax and just go between a hammam, a chaise lounge and your hookah all day (and night) long.
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Dubai Doubles Up On Ritz-Carltons In 2010
No surprise here: Dubai is getting yet another hotel, already under construction for a 2010 opening. However, this is no gimmicky property with the Middle East's biggest wave pool or a helicopter tennis court; it's actually a classy Ritz-Carlton, the second for Dubai.
Due to abut the Dubai International Financial Centre, the property will be a consummate luxury business traveler hotel, but thankfully with world-class restaurants and a spa to boot.
Tags: Hotel Openings / Hotel Opening Rates / Anantara Resorts / Abu Dhabi Hotels / → All Tags
Anantara Qasr Resort Opening Soon In The Desert
Anantara Resorts are still bucking the economic trend: they continue to launch new properties in all corners of the globe. Up next is the Anantara Qasr Al Sarab Resort & Spa, located in the state of Abu Dhabi but around an hour and a half's drive into the desert. It's in a spectacular region which apparently has sand dunes four times higher than the Leaning Tower of Pisa (although we hope the dunes look a little more stable).
Across the resort you'll find 196 rooms and suites, three restaurants and of course an Anantara Spa complete with an impressive marble hammam bath. They'll also set you up to go sand-surfing, camel riding through the desert or quad-biking if you prefer.
Their website will let you book rooms starting from October 25 this year, at least a full week ahead of the November opening we heard about earlier this year. The lower range of rooms start from 1,700 AED ($460) with a one bedroom villa going for 4,200 AED ($1,140).
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The Leaning Hyatt of Abu Dhabi Reaches Halfway Mark
As you can see from the on-site construction image above, the insane-crazy idea of building the world's most leaning structure as the Hyatt Abu Dhabi is well under way. In fact, it's more than under way, it's half done!
Officially to be called the Hyatt at Capital Centre, it will boast of 200 hotel rooms and 14 degrees more leaning than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. There will also be a swimming pool:
A gigantic internal atrium, including a tea lounge and swimming pool suspended 263 feet above the ground, has been constructed on the 17th and 18th floors, the halfway point of the 35-story, 525-foot tall tower. This milestone offered the designers their toughest architectural challenge and it is at this point that the unique lean of the structure becomes evident.
As if creating a glass-covered, gravity-defying structure wasn't gimmicky enough to attract tourists to this hotel of all of them in the UAE, they had to go and add a dramatic internal atrium. Okay—we've fallen for it; a suspended tea lounge sounds amazing, but we won't be rushing to book a leaning room here anytime soon. Such an innovative structure can't be completed quickly like a typical hotel; we're guessing 2011 for this baby.
[Images: Hyatt Abu Dhabi]
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Abu Dhabi Nears the Finish Line With Their Racetrack-Side Hotel
Remember when we hinted at Abu Dhabi's plan to compete with Dubai's entertainment by building themselves a Ferrari Theme Park, F1 racetrack and track-side hotel? Well, they've actually gone and started the thing; at least the hotel. The structure of it is complete, and currently the construction workers are hemming the glass cloak that will give the building a modular look (one that that reminds us of the Olympiapark in Munich).
The Yas, which will be the world's first five-star Formula One trackside hotel, is a monster with 500 rooms and a marina for docking your megayacht. All of this capped by the pivoting, diamond-shaped glass panels of the roof, which will produce "optical effects and spectral reflections that play against the surrounding sky, sea and desert landscape."
Tags: Hotel Breakfasts / Hotel Amenities / Westin Hotels / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Technology / → All Tags
Breakfast is Poppin' Up Wirelessly at The Westin Dubai
Imagine for a moment that you have just awakened to a bright Dubai morning, called up room service, and ordered a very leisurely breakfast to be served on your terrace. It arrives, and you follow the scent of pancakes and syrup onto the balcony where, unbelievable as it sounds, there is a toaster warming up some bagel halves and no power outlet in sight. Yes, you have just discovered one of the secret amenities of the Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Resort.
The "Flexi-Toast," as the portable unit is affectionately dubbed, ensures hot and crisp toasted awesomeness no matter your location. However, we guess that maybe somebody overlooked adding outlets on the terraces and the Westin didn't want to lose the ability to offer breakfast with toast out there.
Tags: Futuristic Hotels / Abu Dhabi Hotels / Hotel Technology / Green Hotels / → All Tags
Abu Dhabi Loving Some Hi-Tech Helix Design
With Abu Dhabi still trying to outdo big bro Dubai, the Gulf city has come up with a high-tech hotel that beats anything we've seen before. The Helix Hotel, whose winning design has just been announced, is not only bizarrely modern but it's also using technology to be environmentally friendly.
The shape is uber-modern, with a helix-shape floor space surrounding an empty core. Apparently this means that from inside the hotel you'll be able to look both up and down to see various public areas, and that includes looking up from underneath to see the rooftop, glass-bottomed swimming pool.
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Shangri-La Abu Dhabi Will Have Arabic Gondolas
Prior to these last couple years of explosive construction in the United Arab Emirates, we had only thought of Abu Dhabi as the mystical location where Garfield would ship Odie the dog when he was being especially annoying. Now, thanks to the proliferation of grandiose hotels in the area, it's somewhere to which we'd gladly ship ourselves, especially since the Shangri-La Abu Dhabi is about to get a sister with a Traders Hotel next door.
Tags: Hotel Spas / Dubai Hotels / Raffles Hotels / → All Tags
Raffles Dubai's Spa Will Fix Our Traveler's Palms
We would've gone just for the refrigerated pool pavement, but the Raffles Dubai has got a few more temptations up its sleeve: spa treatments that are going to make us so beautiful none of our friends will recognize us.
In conjunction with the launch of a Kerstin Florian line of products, the Dubai Raffles is promoting a few new spa treatments in their Amrita Spa. What grabs us, being frequent travelers, is the Traveler's Palm, which should refresh our skin and take away that over-traveled look; the Her Royal Highness facial also sounds like it'll take a few years off the ol' mug. The one we're not sure about is the Customized Corrective Skin Facial, mainly because the name is so not sexy. Yes, we're that superficial.
The Dubai Raffles has quite a big range of packages, but if the spa treatments call to you then the "Raffles Body & Soul" package is probably the one to pick; it's a two night deal with breakfast, a massage and spa access included.
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Versace Dubai Gets a Website, Will Have Simulated "Scuba Lagoon"
It's been a while since we've heard anything from the infamous Versace Hotel in Dubai, which, upon completion in April 2010, will pamper its literally well-heeled guests with a refrigerated sand beach. Now that they have only slightly more than a year to go, the Palazzo Versace Dubai has launched a website, hired interior decorators and saved us the trouble of tripping to Dubai by posting their own construction photos to the site.
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