KEMPINSKI OPENS EMIRATES PALACE IN ABU DHABI

Kempinski Hotels & Resorts, the world’s oldest luxury hotel collection, has been chosen to operate the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, officially opening in March of this year.  Geneva-based Kempinski was selected because of its century-long experience managing legendary hotels such as the Adlon in Berlin, the Vier Jahrezeiten in Munich, the Baltschug in Moscow and the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul. “It is a great honor for us to have been invited by the rulers of Abu Dhabi to run this five-star-plus deluxe palace,” says Reto Wittwer, Kempinski president and CEO, “and it is both our Middle East flagship and our newest landmark hotel.”

Considered to be the most expensive hotel ever built, the Emirates Palace is monumental and enormous, opulent and plush, but never garish.  The design of the hotel incorporates the beauty of traditional Arabian elements such as the Grand Atrium dome finished in silver and gold glass mosaic tiles, and topped by a golden finial.  The color mirrors the shades of the desert.  Seen from afar, the Emirates Palace seems to rise from the shimmering sand itself, as if in a mirage.

The building is 1 kilometer in length and has, in reality, three interconnecting elements.  It is a 346-room ultra-luxury hotel, complete with private butler service for every guest.  It is also the Middle East’s most sophisticated convention center.  And it is the official guest palace of the government of Abu Dhabi, with 22 three-bedroom suites capable of hosting as many heads of state and their entourages – without one ever bumping into the other.

The Emirates Palace is unlike any luxury venue in the world, with:

 
• 1000 staff members representing 40 nationalities

 
• 114 domes, of which the largest – the Grand Atrium – is higher than the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome

 
• The Emirates Palace Archway, covered in Italian stone, and bigger than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

 
• 1002 Swarovski crystal chandeliers, including some of the world’s largest

 
• Over one million square feet of marble, imported from Italy, Spain, China, and India

 
• 200 fountains amid 600 acres of exotic park grounds, home to over 8,000 trees, and the palace’s private heliport

 
• A mile-long stretch of Abu Dhabi’s most beautiful sandy beach.

 

Throughout the entire palace, roses abound: in the rooms, in the public areas, in the private spaces – some 20,000 are used every day.  Two extensive landscaped pools are located on the grounds, and two sumptuous spas will shortly be open.  By the end of 2005, all 20 restaurants will be operating.

“The United Arab Emirates is home to many spectacular hotels,” observes Kempinski’s Wittwer, “but it is the Emirates Palace that brings a heightened level of opulence, refinement and grandeur to this part of the world.”

February 28, 2005   Posted in: Dubai