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So the kids have gone off to the Hamptons for the weekend. The golf course is rained out, the Lambo is getting a tune-up. What is a poor billionaire to do? Get away from it all, of course. A little fritter in Vegas? A private island resort? Hmmm, that’s all very well and good but sometimes it pays to treat yourself to a little bit of luxury for a change. Come on, you know you deserve it.
Costing well over three billion American dollars, the Emirates Palace is the most expensive hotel in the world and if that’s anything to go by, one of the world’s most luxurious. We’re not talking your three star state highway inn, here. Nope, the Emirates Palace, based in Abu Dhabi, takes things to a whole new level.
The palace began construction in December 2001 and didn’t open until February 2005 during which time, a work force of approximately 12,000 people worked on the project.
But even with that many people over that much time, things were still busy. The 243,000-square-metre building sits on a land plot of one million square metres of exotic park comprising of landscaped gardens, beach, marina and a helipad. It required 250,000 cubic metres of concrete, 110,000 cubic metres of marble (13 types from Italy, Spain, China and India); spans one kilometre from wing-to-wing; contains 302 deluxe luxury rooms and 92 suites, 7,000 doors, 1,002 crystal chandeliers, 140 elevators and114 domes (the largest of which – the Grand Atrium dome – is 42 metres wide with a surface finish of silver and gold-coloured glass mosaic tiles and a solid gold finial weighing 42 kilograms).
If all this talk of work has you a little hot and bothered, the palace has two landscaped pools: a leisure pool by the East Wing for relaxation, and an adventure pool by the West Wing, which features water slides and a jet- propelled river for well… adventure. If a drink is more your cup of tea (so to speak), the Emirates Palace ballroom has a capacity of up to 2,800 for cocktail receptions. Or if you would prefer to just crash in front of the tele, there are a total of 755 plasma televisions.
If you are a workaholic billionaire, the conference centre houses the most technologically advanced meeting facilities in the region with facilities including a 1,200-seat auditorium, over 40 meeting rooms, a media centre and a business centre. In addition to this, six large terraces and a variety of pre-function areas provide many possibilities for breaks, cocktail receptions and banquets. All suites come equipped with a laptop and a scanner/printer/fax unit, whilst all areas of the palace including its 1,300-metre long beach, pools, marina and gardens are covered by a wireless internet access network.
And if for very good reason you are worried about getting lost in this myriad of domes, doors and gold finials, you can rest assured that you’re bound to pop into one of around 2,000 staff members who are specially trained in shepherding lost guests (all employees undergo a thorough orientation programme before commencing duty) or one of the 30 interactive touch screens with maps and directions that are spread in strategic locations throughout the hotel.
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