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Why an imitation Santorini has appeared on the edge of the desert

ination online — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:01:32 +0000

White, domed buildings cascading into crystal blue waters.

To the eye, it’s unmistakable. It’s the world-famous holiday destination of Santorini, Greece.

But, something feels different. Perhaps it’s the hotter desert-climate breeze, or the Arabic calligraphy across the signage. A few hints here and there point towards the resort’s actual location: Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

The Anantara Santorini Abu Dhabi Retreat opened in February this year and is an hour’s drive away from the capital’s downtown. The concept is entirely inspired by the renowned Greek island.

Inside and out, it’s a world of white, beige and blue, marked by arched corridors and doorways. Its bespoke artwork, ambient music and detailed embroidery on the linen all add up to a Mediterranean fantasy.

Yet, beyond the intricate décor, for Rachid Bakas, the property’s general manager, it’s Abu Dhabi’s natural beauty that truly draws the link between both locations.

“You see the color of the sea next to us, and then the concept really comes together,” says Bakas. “The idea of Santorini really fits within this location, and that’s what makes this design immaculate.”

Replicas are not usually marketed as a luxurious experience. But, Anantara Santorini could be an exception. Its lowest-priced room costs approximately $800 per night. That’s double the average of Greece’s Santorini hotels during high season, according to Tripadvisor.

If the price isn’t an advantage, why would a traveler prefer to visit the hotel in Abu Dhabi, and not fly to Greece?

“It’s exclusive,” says Bakas.

“This gives you that intimacy, this gives you that privacy. It’s a hideaway – which you might not have actually in Santorini because especially in summer, everywhere is packed, everywhere is busy.”

Structurally, the hotel is divided into 22 rooms, accommodating a maximum of 44 guests at a time. All rooms lead to a living room-like common area, purposefully giving a very homey atmosphere, while encouraging visitors to walk through the facility’s different environments.

“The element of surprise is within the hotel itself and from the moment you walk, you keep discovering some nice corners and spaces,” says Bakas.

Anantara Santorini offers a range of experiences, including a cigar lounge, a cinema, a spa and yoga sessions by the pool or beach. Yet, more than entertainment, the hope is that guests can simply enjoy calmness and tranquility.

“Sometimes, people just want to be left alone, they don’t want to be asked to do activities all the time, and this is the balance that we offer,” the manager explains.

One more factor contributes to the facility’s quietness: a restricted age group. The minimum age for check-in is 18, even if accompanied by parents or guardians.

“You can really unwind, and feel away, and relax,” Bakas says. “It was not an easy decision, but we really wanted to be on a different level [than other resorts in the region].”

While hoping to leave an impression on the guests, the hotel staff also work hard to remove certain marks. The white walls are kept impeccably white, and there’s a team dedicated to just that.

“We have two painters on site, and their daily job is to go around and do touch-ups,” Bakas reveals.

The painters go around the rooms in between check-outs and check-ins, making sure all the surroundings are not gray, beige or eggshell – just white.

“After the touch-ups, you need to make sure that the color looks the same, we want to make sure people don’t see different strokes, so really, it’s a crazy big part of our preventive maintenance,” Bakas sighs, as he looks at the walls and ceilings, with a smile.

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These are some of Dubai’s most expensive luxury hotel rooms

ination online — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 13:56:41 +0000

The City of Gold is known for its all-out glitz and glamour — and with good reason: Dubai is bursting with five-star hotels that ooze opulence. With over 150 luxurious resorts located across the city, travelers who are willing to splash the cash are spoilt for choice.

But if you want the crème de la crème, the money-no-object exceptional experiences, some of the city’s luxury hotels offer extravagant suites, penthouses and exclusive villas that are amongst the city’s, and the world’s, most expensive hotel rooms — costing up to $100,000 per night.

From $3,800 per night: The Royal Malakiya Villa at Jumeirah Dar Al Masyaf

The Royal Malakiya Villa is the ultimate in indoor-outdoor living. On its ground floor, expansive Arabian-inspired living spaces including a dining room and multiple lounge areas open onto a serene patio with a private plunge pool and cabanas. Upstairs, both bedrooms have large terraces overlooking the resort’s gardens and waterways, and on the roof, there’s space to dine, unwind, and sunbathe. To help them make the most of the space, guests here also have access to a private butler service, a dedicated “Abra” boat station, and access to the resort’s private beachfront.

From $8,860 per night: The Grand Atlantis Suite at Atlantis, The Palm

The Underwater Suite at Atlantis, The Palm, is probably its most famous room— but take your stay to the next level with the Grand Atlantis Suite, the hotel’s largest at 4,617 square feet (429 square meters). The suite’s private entrance is flanked by two giant fishtail fountains, and its terrace wraps around three sides of the building to provide views of both The Palm and the Arabian Gulf. Guests can enjoy butler service and 22-carat gold amenities, and soak in the outdoor hot tub or Jacuzzi. The room rate includes return airport transfers, daily access to Aquaventure Waterpark and The Lost Chambers, and access to the hotel’s exclusive Imperial Club (which offers breakfast, afternoon tea and sunset happy hour) and private beach access.

From $13,600 per night: The Marina Royal Suite at The Lana

This two-bedroom suite has one of the most coveted views in Dubai: the Burj Khalifa. The primary bathroom, with a standalone tub beside the window, overlooks the iconic downtown skyline. With a private terrace stretching almost the entire length of the suite and multiple entertainment rooms — including a lounge, dining room, and private kitchen — it’s the perfect party pad. The hotel is also home to one of the city’s only dedicated champagne bars and the UAE’s first Dior spa, so those with expensive tastes will be well catered to.

From $20,420 per night: The Royal Penthouse at Mandarin Oriental Jumeira

The newly renovated, 9,149-square-foot (850-square-meter) Royal Penthouse oozes luxury from the moment you step into the private elevator. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer seascapes from every corner of the bedroom and living space, while the private roof terrace boasts its own private 7-meter lap pool with panoramic views of the Arabian Gulf. A sunken outdoor fire pit, a 16-person dining room with a chef’s kitchen, and a private gym are all part of the exclusive experience here.

From $21,800 per night: The Royal Suite at Four Seasons Dubai

The 6,458-square-foot (600-square-meter) Royal Suite offers palatial living for couples accustomed to the finer things in life. This one-bedroom penthouse suite has an all-marble bathroom with an enormous round stone tub, a vast column-studded living room with a stocked bar and baby grand piano, a private gym with massage tables, a wood-paneled study, and a TV room. Accessed via a private elevator, this enormous suite also has an expansive terrace overlooking the resort’s palm-fringed pool and the Arabian Gulf.

From $32,700 per night: Presidential Suite at the Jumeirah Burj Al Arab

At this so-called “seven-star hotel,” the word luxury doesn’t seem sufficient. The walls and floors use 24,000 square meters of marble, the same kind used to carve Michelangelo’s David, and the all-suite hotel is also home to the world’s biggest Swarovski crystal ceiling, with 21,000 crystals worth 1.3 million UAE dirhams ($354,000). As standard, all guests at Jumeirah Burj Al Arab can request airport transfers in the hotel’s fleet of Rolls-Royces, and there are complimentary Hermès amenities in every room. So what’s left to add for the hotel’s most extravagant room? The two-bedroom Presidential Suite is a gold-gilded, velvet-clad, palatial duplex, spanning 7,179 square feet (667 square meters). It boasts butler service, a private personalized bar, and a nine-choice pillow menu. To top it off, the two primary bathrooms are kitted out with full-size jacuzzi tubs, surrounded by Roman-style gold marble columns.

From $100,000 per night: The Royal Mansion at Atlantis, The Royal

The most expensive room in Dubai, and one of the priciest worldwide, The Royal Mansion is the best of the best. The expansive 11,840-square-foot (1,100-square-meter) duplex has hosted entertainment royalty, including Beyoncé and Jay Z. Split across the 18th and 19th floor of the vertical resort, the suite has double-height floor-to-ceiling windows with a 360-degree view of the Palm and the Gulf. With a private entrance, elevator, and dedicated butler, the room is designed for the ultimate privacy. Guests can host dinners in the 12-seat dining room, and chefs from the resort’s 17 restaurants — including its celebrity chef venues — are available to cook in the suite’s private chef’s kitchen. There’s a ping-pong table made by Louis Vuitton and limited-edition board games made by luxury crystal ware brand Baccarat. Every single stay is customized, so the starting price is on application only — but it’s roughly estimated at $100,000 per night.

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Former Nazi bunker turned into hotel and leisure complex in Germany

ination online — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 04:51:41 +0000

At 58 meters tall – just a little taller than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but with considerably more heft – the St. Pauli bunker in Hamburg, Germany, has dominated the city skyline for just over 80 years.

Built using forced labor during Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime, it’s a relic of the darkest period in Germany’s history – but this concrete hulk has had a surprising rebirth.

The relaunched Hamburg Bunker is now packed with two restaurants, a five-story Hard Rock Hotel and a newly built pyramid-like rooftop bar and garden from which greenery flows abundantly over the concrete facade.

The REVERB by Hard Rock is a fitting addition to a city with an impressive musical history – this is, after all, where The Beatles began their career at the start of the 1960s.

The Karoviertel neighborhood in which the fortress-like bunker sits is a cool enclave filled with stylish coffee shops and vintage stores, plus the Knust nightclub in a repurposed abattoir.

The amenities

Rooms in the 134-key REVERB range from 180 euros for a classic room, with amenities including a 55-inch flat screen TV and Alexa in-room assistant, to 269 euros for a suite with sweeping citywide views.

The hotel also has the kind of modern details you’d expect in any self-respecting hip hotel, such as self check-in, smart technology and co-working spaces.

You don’t have to be a hotel guest to enjoy the bunker’s amenities, however. On the ground level, there’s the Constant Grind coffee shop and bar, and a Rock Shop for those seeking Hard Rock merch.

Bar-restaurant Karo & Paul, by German TV chef Frank Rosin, opened as a bar in April 2024 and occupies the first three levels of the building. The restaurant area is still coming soon.

The restaurant La Sala – Spanish for living room – is open for business on the fifth floor, offering lofty views and an international menu.

Finally at the top is the Green Beanie roof garden, with bar and walkway looping round the building, which can be accessed by the public for free.

The challenge

The Hamburg bunker was one of eight flak towers – above-ground anti-aircraft bunkers which doubled as air raid shelters – which Germany built after British air raids on Berlin in 1940.

The history the Hamburg Bunker wears is heavy, but a 76,000-tonne concrete behemoth with walls 2.5 meters thick can’t be easily demolished or ignored.

The only flak tower to have been completely destroyed is one at Berlin’s zoo, as the others are in heavily populated areas where the explosives involved would be too great a risk, AFP reports.

“The idea of raising the height of the building with greenery was to add something peaceful and positive to this massive block left over from the Nazi dictatorship,” Anita Engels, from the Hilldegarden neighborhood association which supported the project, told AFP.

The association has helped with this new chapter in the Hamburg flak tower’s history by collecting testimonies from people who lived in the wartime bunker as well as records of the hundreds of forced laborers who built it.

An exhibition on the first floor now tells the full story of the building’s history.

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The world’s best hotels for 2024 revealed

ination online — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 04:47:55 +0000

he Capella Bangkok didn’t have the easiest of beginnings. It opened in 2020, in the first year of a global pandemic that had the hospitality industry on its knees.

However, just four years later, this sanctuary overlooking the Chao Phraya River has taken the top spot in the second edition of the World’s 50 Best Hotels list, which was announced at an awards ceremony in London on Tuesday night.

All of the hotel’s 101 rooms are spacious and light-filled, but the riverside villas, all with private gardens and plunge pools, are a unique highlight of this five-star offering in Charoenkrung, Thailand’s oldest neighborhood.

“When you come to Bangkok, it’s crazy, it’s chaotic, it’s funky, it’s noisy,” general manager John Blanco told CNN Travel after the ceremony in London’s Guildhall, “but when you come to the hotel, you’re in this little moment of Zen: the sanctuary, the garden with beautiful trees full of birds.”

Capella Bangkok’s director of marketing Josephine Png told CNN Travel her favorite spot in the hotel is “on the terrace by the river under the trees.” By day, it’s “super tranquil,” she said, but by night, the river comes alive with the spectacle of passing party boats.

Opening during the pandemic was a blessing in disguise, said Blanco, as it gave them time to get to know their neighbors. “Covid gave us an opportunity to really get warm and fuzzy and close with the Thais, who are amazing customers.”

Now the rest of the world has been discovering the hotel too – and many of them are making repeat visits, Blanco said. “Thailand is one of those destinations, it’s very sticky. It’s a destination that you fall in love with and you need more of. It’s almost like a drug.”

Asian success

Capella Bangkok was one of four hotels in the Thai capital to make the Top 50, with the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok and Four Seasons Bangkok at Chao Phraya River appearing at No. 12 and No. 14 on the list respectively, while The Siam was at No. 26.

It was very much Asia’s night, with seven out of the top 10 hotels being from the region.

Hong Kong was represented by the Rosewood at No. 3 and The Upper House at No. 5, while the 137-year-old Raffles Singapore – birthplace of the Singapore Sling cocktail – was in sixth.

In eighth place, Soneva Fushi in the Maldives was also winner of the Lost Explorer Best Beach Hotel Award 2024. After all, this is a resort so dedicated to barefoot luxury that guests hand over their shoes on arrival, and they are not returned until it’s time to leave.

The 45-story skyscraper Bulgari Tokyo, at No. 22, won the Nikka Best New Hotel Award 2024.

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