Hanging with Roger Federer at the Burj al Arab

Although I have not stayed at the majority of hotels on this planet, I don’t believe there is a single one that can compete with the Burj al Arab - billed as the only seven star hotel in the world.  The idea of “seven stars” is a marketing ploy.  Hotels are only rated up to five stars, so it is impossible to receive seven.  However, we have stayed at five star hotels before - such as the Hyatt Regency in Kauai that is considered one of the top ten in the world.  Compared to hotels like the Hyatt, the Burj al Arab is in a complete class of its own.

First, the logistics.  This is the tallest building in the world used solely as a hotel.  While there are hotels located in taller buildings, those buildings also have office spaces and other uses.  The other detail is every room in this hotel is a suite.  Unlike the huge Las Vegas hotels with thousands of rooms, this hotel has only a bit over three hundred.  Even getting a close look at this hotel can be a challenge.  Every entrance to the hotel is blocked from several hundred meters by security personnel.  A select few visitors are allowed to see the inside of the hotel each day for fifty dollars a person.  Photography, though, is strictly forbidden.  Luckily, photography is not forbidden for guests.

The inside of the hotel features the tallest hotel lobby in the world.

Each floor has its own lobby and private butler.  When we first arrived in our room, we were given a “tour” for over half an hour.  Our room had a two story view and was 250 square meters in size.  When we first entered the room, we thought this must be the lobby!

The desk in the front had a laptop and printer available for use whenever we wanted.  Going passed and around the stairs we came to a bar and our living room.

The TV has multiple uses - from getting the standard (amazing variety of) channels, to getting free on demand movies, to seeing who is at the door when someone rings the bell.  The boxes on the tables contained a variety of sweets and dates.   The fruit bowl was filled each day and we received complementary copies of not only newspapers, but a variety of magazines.  The following is the view from the upstairs.

I love the touch of the projected clock on the wall.  Turning around there is the bedroom.

Although the bed looks small, it is huge.  If the pillows on the bed aren’t suitable, a “pillow menu” was available from which you can choose your ideal pillow.  We tried ordering a number of different pillows to test them out, but wound up kicking most of them off the bed.  The bed faces another full featured television and, in our room, a view of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel - which before the Burj al Arab was considered the best hotel in Dubai.

The bathroom was even more impressive.

By the sink was a complementary set of a complete line of Hermes products for him and her.  These weren’t tiny bottles - but were instead the full sized products.  Just the Hermes products would normally cost over $300 in a store!  The stand up shower had jets that hit you from the sides (very nice) and in the back was a huge Jacuzzi.

As nice as the room was, the service completely blew it away.  Our butler constantly brought us interesting snacks to try - such as some of the most delicious cookies I have ever had, to wonderful fruit drinks, to foie gras (”duck paste”).  All of this, as with everything else, was complementary.  While the hotel is expensive, they don’t nickel and dime you to death as they do in other hotels. 

Every time we left our room, the room was completely remade.  I heard that the entire staff of the hotel meets every morning and discusses their guests.  It seems like everyone knows you there and they are all beyond friendly.  One time we mentioned that we were going to take a walk by the beach.  Our butler quickly dropped off some complementary beach sandals and a beach bag in case we wanted to buy something.  We took a rather quick walk and came back up to find our room completely made.  On our bed was foot balm - in case our feet were hurting from the walk.

For breakfast, the food was exquisite and included pastries and fruits flown in from Europe and elsewhere in the world.  Perhaps the best breakfast I ever had was there.  I was glad that I booked the room with breakfast included - as the normal price was $100 per person.  The silverware, by the way, was Christofle ($20,000 for a set) and the plates were made exclusively for the hotel by a well known company that I have since forgotten.

Not only did the hotel have its own private beach and pool (with a life guard literally every 3 meters - there were so many life guards it was comical), but we had free access to the Wild Wadi amusement park.  This is a rather small park, but it makes up for its size in quality.  The tube ride is an interesting concept - where you sit in tubes and are jetted to the top of the hill where you then slide down.  That’s right - no walking up wooden stairs like in most other water parks.  Obviously I did not have my camera there, but I did get this shot of the super slide from a distance.

I had the opportunity to walk around the hotel and get some shots.

In the front of the hotel are fireballs that they have every so often.  The Burj al Arab was clearly the best hotel that we have ever stayed in, and we are planning to return there in 2011, when we will get to compare it with the new Burj Dubai - already the tallest building in the world and still growing.

One detail I forgot to mention before, while we were staying there Roger Federer was also a guest - in the same type of room that we had.  Of course, we did not get a chance to meet him.  Shortly before we checked in, Will Smith checked out.  A few weeks before we arrived, Madona stayed there.

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Tags: burj al arab, dubai, hotel, photography, vacation