Everything about the Emirates Palace Hotel is big but with understated taste and elegance. The hotel is owned by the Abu Dhabi Government as a status symbol but I emphasise again that this is not in an ‘in your face’, brash, glitzy way but with beguiling charm and elegance. The complex - because that what it is – comprises a huge central edifice housing reception rooms, restaurants and coffee shop etc. and two residential wings that stretch over a kilometre. It also has a private man made beach – that we were not allowed to photograph or visit - that imports white sand from Venezuela – talk about ‘coals to Newcastle’. One wing is permanently reserved for the Sheikh, members of his family and other senior dignitaries and is used to entertain foreign VIPs but the other wing is run as a normal hotel – by the Kempinkski Group - at rates of $300 per night. The whole building cost $3.5 billion dollars to build and as our guide put it ‘will never break even’ but its not meant to – its a symbol of oil wealth.
So I felt jolly privileged to be taking tea in this Palace even if initially we were turned away from the main entrance but only for the briefest of moments.
In the next few postings I will bring you some photos of the interior and the extensive gardens and fountains.
The photo is of the central lobby.
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