The new 1,539-room Atlantis Hotel is to open tomorrow on an artificial island in Dubai.
Much of the focus at Atlantis, modeled on a sister resort in the Bahamas, is on ocean-themed family entertainment.
The resort contains a giant open-air tank with 65,000 fish, stingrays and other sea creatures and a dolphinarium with more than two dozen bottlenose dolphins flown in, amid controversy, from the Solomon Islands.
But the hotel’s top floor aims squarely at the ultra-wealthy. A three-bedroom, three-bathroom suite complete with gold-leaf 18-seat dining table is on offer for £13,000 a night.
That nightly rate translates to over US $24,000 at current exchange rates. Three nights in that suite would cost almost as much as I paid for my present home and almost two acres of land!
I suppose if one’s wealthy enough, that sort of nightly rate doesn’t matter . . . but even if I won the lottery, I simply couldn’t justify spending that much for a single night’s lodging. It’s obscenely self-indulgent and “over the top”.
Peter
I’ve seen the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. It’s impressive.
Would I spend the amount of money I spent on my house for three nights in the luxury suite?
God no. And besides, I’ve seen the Travel Channel, Michael Jackson slept there.