Thursday 17 March 2011

World’s Most Expensive Hotel Opens in Singapore

The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore ranks as the world’s priciest hotel, offering guests over 2,500 rooms, a 55th-story infinity pool, shopping center, fine dining, and a casino.

The $5.95 billion Marina Bay Sands Hotel recently opened its doors in Singapore and has ousted the Emirates Palace Hotel Abu Dhabi as the world’s most expensive hotel.
This towering new megaresort in Singapore features three curved towers with an unbelievable  Sands Sky Deck perched 200 meters in the air atop the towers. The 380 meter-long deck is massive–the equivalent of three football fields long. A 650-ft wide infinity pool, the largest outdoor pool in the world that high, hugs the edge of the deck so guests can swim laps while taking in the magnificent Singapore skyline. A botanical garden and observation deck proffer panoramic views of the waterfront. Jetsetters will be flocking to the Sky Park’s outdoor rooftop,
where the famous Ku De Ta lounge, that originated in Bali, is slated to open later this month.



Inside, the mega hotel includes an indoor canal with Sampan boats designed for cruising, a convention center, theater, casino, endless shopping options, and gourmet dining that includes a restaurant by renowned French chef Guy Savoy.
The hotel has more than 2,500 rooms and suites available. 
Room rates vary,  starting at $520 a night based upon the size of the room and category. Book online or call +65 6688 8888.
















Worlds Most Expensive Hotel Opens in Singapore with 55 Story Infinity Swimming Pool

Acrophobics Beware…If you fancy a dip in this pool, you’ll need a head for heights – it’s 55 stories up. But swimming to the edge won’t be quite as risky as it looks. While the water in the infinity pool seems to end in a sheer drop, it actually spills into a catchment area where it is pumped back into the main pool.

At three times the length of an Olympic pool and 650 ft up, it is the largest outdoor pool in the world at that height.  It is the main feature in this impressive, boat-shaped ‘Sky Park’, perched atop the three towers that make up the world’s most expensive hotel, the £4 billion Marina Bay Sands development in Singapore.

The infinity pool on the roof is in the ‘Sky Park‘ which spans the three towers of the hotel. The platform itself is longer than the Eiffel tower laid down and is one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Infinity pools give the effect that the water extends to the horizon. In reality, the water spills over the edge into a catchment below, and is then pumped back into the pool. The pools have two circulation systems. The first functions like that of a regular pool, filtering and heating the water in the main pool. The second filters the water in the catch basin and returns it to the upper pool


The hotel, which has 2,560 rooms costing from £350 a night, was officially opened yesterday with a concert by Diana Ross.   The Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, estimated to have cost £2 billion when it opened in 2004, was previously the world’s most expensive hotel.  But with its indoor canal, opulent art, casino, outdoor plaza, convention centre, theatre, crystal pavilion and museum shaped like a lotus flower, the Marina Bay Sands has taken its crown



The resort will employ 10,000 people directly and generate up to £48 million each year. Entrance to the casino alone is nearly £50 a day – but an average of 25,000 people have visited the casino daily since its initial phased opening two months ago.

Thomas Arasi, president and chief executive officer of the resort, said he expects to attract an astonishing 70,000 visitors a day once it is fully open.   It was due to open in 2009, but was delayed thanks to labor and material shortages, and funding problems due to the global financial crisis.






Emirates Palace Hotel Abu Dhabi.

The hotel, owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, took more than three years and reportedly more than $3 billion to build,
which would make it the most expensively constructed hotel in the world.

For the last several years, Abu Dhabi, the largest among the seven princely city-states that make up the United Arab Emirates, has been working to raise its international profile.
It has opened tax-free development zones to lure foreign investment, set up Etihad, its first airline, and founded a tourist board to entice recreational visitors.
And with the opening of the Emirates Palace, with its 114 domes, 1,002 Swarovski crystal chandeliers, 12 restaurants, nearly a mile of private beach, and 3.9 million cubic feet of imported marble, Abu Dhabi has cemented its image as one of the most luxurious destinations on earth.

The hotel's most modest rooms, each with several enormous plasma screen televisions and a personal butler, start at 2,900 Emirati dirhams a night, or about $773 at 3.75 dirhams to the dollar.
A Palace Suite, on the other hand, heavily decorated with silks and gold and silver leaf, and including a living room, dining room and three bedrooms, can run as much as 42,000 dirhams, or $11,200, a night.













The Centaurus Hotel in Pakistan

The $350 million, 7-Star Centaurus Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan will help to put this country on the map for international travellers once the project is completed around 2010. The complex is designed by WS Atkins PLC, whose portfolio includes the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai, and the Bahrain World Trade Center in Bahrain.
It is a project of the Pak Gulf Construction (Pvt) Ltd (PGCL) in Islamabad. Pak Gulf construction company is a joint venture between Al Tamimi (Saudi Arabia) and Sardar Builders (Pakistan). Besides serving residential, commercial, and business purposes, the complex is intended to symbolise the growth of Pakistan, and to enable it to host international conferences and seminars in Pakistan's capital city. The $350 million complex is planned to have a 37-story, 7 star deluxe hotel, with two 21-story residential towers, a 25-story corporate office tower, and a 5-story shopping mall..
The complex will have a parking lot to accommodate over 2,000 vehicles. It is designed to withstand up to 9.5 magnitude earthquakes and is scheduled to be completed in 2010.











Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai

Designer: TomWright (WS Atkins PLC), Khuan Chew
cost: $650 million
Cost per person: $1,000 to over $28,000 per night, $75 to have a glimpse from inside

Burj Al Arab is a 202-room, 5-star, modern luxury resort hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Situated  on Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach strip, just outside the the main city centre, it is Dubai’s most recognisable landmark and one of the most photographed buildings in the world.
Stunning in design, Burj Al Arab boasts the same in execution, standing on a man-made island that linked to the mainland by a slender, gently curving, causeway.

Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, which was opened in 1999, is unofficially billed as a 7-star hotel and is the world's most luxurious and tallest hotel.

Burj Al Arab is an all-suite hotel, with several different options that range from the luxurious to the palatial. The 1-Bedroom Deluxe Suite offers and apartment-sized 1,830 square feet of luxurious living space, featuring a beautiful spiral staircase in this two-floored room.
The lower level features Living room with large lounge, dining table for 4, private bar counter and guest washroom, while the upper level features Dressing room, bedroom with King-size or Twin bed and luxury bathroom with Jacuzzi.