Emirates Palace
The Emirates Palace (Arabic: قصر الإمارات) is a luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Built as a landmark showcasing Arabian culture, Emirates Palace offers luxury hospitality. Situated on 1.3 km of private beach and surrounded by 85 hectares of gardens and lawns, with 114 domes that are 80 meters high, Emirates Palace comprises 394 rooms and suites.
Based on its luxury, it describes itself as going "beyond 7 star"[1] being a palace instead of just a hotel. Although a journalist has described it as a seven star facility, it falls officially in the 5 star hotel category.[2]
Construction
The building was designed by architect, John Elliott RIBA, who was Senior Vice President at Wimberly, Allison, Tong and Goo, (WATG) an international firm specialising in Luxury Hotels. It opened in March 2005 but certain restaurants and facilities did not open until 2006. The hotel was built by and is owned by the Abu Dhabi government, and managed by the Kempinski The costs to build the hotel were 1.9 billion GBP or 11.02 billion AED or about 3 billion USD. The Emirates Palace is the second most expensive hotel ever built, only surpassed by Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The hotel also had higher construction costs compared to the Burj Al Arab in neighbouring Dubai.
Rooms and facilities
The hotel has 302 rooms and 92 suites spread over two wings and a main central building. Many of the suites offered are furnished in gold and marble. The main central building houses an expansive marble floor and a large patterned dome above, picked out in gold. The topmost floor has six Rulers' Suites which are reserved solely for royalty and dignitaries.[3] The hotel also contains a large conference centre with an auditorium capacity of 1100, in addition to over 40 meeting rooms and six large terraces.
The Beach Club boasts a six-kilometre cycling/jogging path, two outdoor pools, watersports, tennis courts, cricket, a rugby pitch and soccer facilities.
Events
Christina Aguilera performed at the venue during her Back To Basics Tour on October 24, 2008. The show had an audience of 15,000 people, attracting great media attention to the hotel. The hotel also appears in the new Fast and Furious 7 film, which was released in 2015.[4]
Image gallery
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Dome above the lobby area -
Restaurants and main lounge