The royal entrance to the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, with part of the hotel beyond. The sprawling hotel has 60 acres of interior space.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, March 10 - At roughly $3 billion, the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, which just opened to the public, is said to be the most expensive hotel ever built. A billion won't buy what it used to, of course, but three seems to do just fine.
Although it has fewer than 400 rooms, the hotel features 128 kitchens and pantries, 1,002 custom-made Swarovski crystal chandeliers (requiring a full-time staff of 10 just to keep them clean) and what Willy Optekamp, the hotel's general manager, says is the world's largest dome over the lobby.
"Think about coffee," he says, and obviously he has. "We serve coffee on a silver tray with rose petals, crystallized sugar, a linen napkin, marzipan croissants, a bottle of imported water and the coffee. The ladies get a rose."
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While war and civil unrest make headlines elsewhere in the Middle East, a number of small countries rich in oil remain peaceful places primarily consumed with disposing of their enormous surplus of cash, which has multiplied with the rapid increase in world oil prices. The Emirates Palace, owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, is perhaps the ultimate case in point.
The $3 billion price tag is actually an estimate. But a few hundred million is a rounding error for this tiny emirate: with 92 billion barrels in proven reserves, every time the price of a barrel of oil rises by a dollar, as it has in the last few days, Abu Dhabi could build 30 more of these hotels.
During turndown service, the staff puts a sachet of lavender between the sheets to perfume them. When they are done, they tuck the lavender under the pillows so the fresh scent will waft over the guest at night. The hotel, which is managed by an upscale German hotelier, Kempinski Hotels and Resorts, has bath butlers standing by to prepare one of seven baths listed on the bath menu. If you're prepared to go off menu, you can get your tub filled with champagne for a few thousand dollars.
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Rooms, which range from an almost embarrassingly modest $625 a night to $13,000 (subject to a 20 percent service charge), come with floors of inlaid marble and soft carpeting. Recessed ceiling lighting almost imperceptibly illuminates a muted color scheme inspired by the desert sands outside.
Full Details: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/17/international/middleeast/17dhabi.html?hp
