Opulence loves company: the world’s tallest hotel, JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai recently opened its second tower.
Designed by Archgroup Consultants, the 72-storey JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest hotel in the world, taking the title from the 333 meters Rose Tower, also found in Dubai. The hotel draws inspiration from the Arabian date palm, a symbol deeply imbedded in Arabian culture. Stretching an impressive 355 meters above Dubai’s Business Bay area of Sheik Zayed Road, the new tower brings the total room count to 1 098 and adds some staggering figures to an already colossal hotel that is the epitomy of grandness du jour.
Think of it this way …
- The hotel can house almost the same number of passengers that were on-board the Titanic (1,324)
- It is just 26 meters shorter than the Empire State Building of New York City
- The highest room is almost twice as high as Kingda Ka, the tallest steel roller coaster in the world (139 meters)
- With 294 new rooms added in the second tower, the total room count in the hotel is 1098 and includes two ballrooms, five bars and nine restaurants
- SARAY, the hotel spa spans a tidy 4 000 square metres, with fluorescent lighting thats strangely calms, offers indulgences such as an Arabic coffee awakener or a pomegranate renewal treatment
- Rooms feature a king or two twin / single bed(s), marble bathrooms and lighted makeup mirrors and will set you back R 4 000 a night.
- Dinner presents the opportunity to gaze at detailed, wall-sized portrait paintings of geishas in the Japanese themed restaurant – Izakaya.
- On the subject of dinner, Prime 68 Boutique Steakhouse (On the 68th floor) caters to guests who have no problem forking out an average of R600 for a main meal. For those with an even more delicate palette and a sturdy bank account, a tasty 200-gram wagyu steak weighs in at a cool R1 900.
- And if you need to get away from it all, the hotel also arranges daily excursions to Petra, Dubai’s manmade islands, the millennia-old civilization of Jordan and the Red and Dead seas.
For something a little more reasonable, find affordable, local accommodation here
