In the lobby of the Atlantis about 2,000 guests sipped Dom Pérignon. Outside, A-list celebrities from Robert De Niro to Lindsay Lohan walked the red carpet. After the pop singer Kylie Minogue performed on stage the sky lit up with the world’s largest fireworks display, seven times greater than this year’s Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing and extravagant enough to be seen from outer space.
The price tag for the party even embarrassed Sol Kerzner, the chairman and chief executive officer of Kerzner International, who built the resort on the man-made Palm Island in partnership with Nakheel, a state-owned developer. “If I had to do it all over again, I might do it recognising the fact that we’re living through a bit of a tough economic environment,” Mr Kerzner, a South African billionaire, told The Times.
The timing for Mr Kerzner’s imposing hotel is not ideal. The emirate is groaning under heavy debt and banks have tightened lending, delaying new developments. Gulf stock markets have sunk to historic lows and analysts are radically scaling back economic forecasts for the region.
Since it opened its doors to paying guests six weeks ago, the hotel has been nearly 80 per cent full, Mr Kerzner said. Nightly rates range in price from $800 (£550) for a basic suite to $35,000 per night for the hotel’s signature suite, which features floor to ceiling views of Dubai. The 1,539-room hotel has two towers set in 130-acre grounds that feature an aquarium with 65,000 sea creatures.
High life
$35,000: cost of one night in the Bridge Suite
58,000 km of steel bars were used in the hotel’s construction, more than nine times the length of the Great Wall of China
46 hectares: the size of the Atlantis resort, equal to 64 Wembley pitches
This alone makes me wonder less about the getting there the fast way..if these people can make i sure can some day as far as there is life there is hope. i love this magnificent structure it is simply braeth taking. Dubai keep up the great works.
By: Derrick on अक्टोबर 25, 2010
at 10:10:27
hi I really wanted to viset atlantis
By: अज्ञात on सेप्टेम्बर 2, 2014
at 02:09:36