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. ]]> JetSetCD 2011-10-21T16:02:26-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2011/6/14/141624/111

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]]]> juliana 2011-06-15T17:13:37-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/2/10/162525/361

In Dubai money still seems to trump religion and culture. The teeny tiny sliver of a country is a mere desert road trip from Saudi Arabia and Oman, and just an abra jaunt from Iran and Iraq. But Dubai is more green zone than red zone. Dubai's like Macau without the gambling. Disneyworld and Kings Dominion by the Arabian Sea. And again, the Las Vegas of the Middle East. It's also a great place to find yourself slinging back shots with a Sheik -- indoors that is.]]> shiralevine 2009-02-12T09:59:58-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2008/2/20/34342/2575 <![CDATA[<p> <i>Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? <a href="tips@hotelchatter.com">Send the story our way</a>.<p> In this episode, Hotel Maven <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/user/annabel/stories">Annabel</a> wants luxury in Dubai. Enjoy.</i><p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/admin/burjafar.jpg" class="imgborder"><p> When the World Travel Awards names a hotel the world's best (in 2007), it's enough Annabel 2008-02-20T17:42:19-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2007/2/26/153918/871 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/3/burj.jpg"><p><i>Inside, this place looks like "tacky Vegas."</i><p>Once again, HotelChatter's tentacles have sent dispatches to the mother ship from abroad. This time, the report comes from Dubai where our source snooped around the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Burj+Al+Arab/local/14"><b>Burj al Arab</b></a> which despite magnificent architecture it is, in short, un désastre.<blockquote><p> The architectural structure from the outside and even the inside is gorgeous. The interior is a disaster. The public areas are not Arabic like Al Qasr, but tacky Vegas style. The only nice things inside are two beautiful tropical fish tanks. Even the bar on the 27th floor is a disaster. I would not want to stay there even for half the price of my room at the Park Hyatt. I could not juliana 2007-02-26T15:52:01-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/