Emirates Palace
Hi everyone.
Its been a while. Sorry I haven’t posted anything for some time. I’ve been
busy. I hope you all have been fine because I have been. Today, I’m gonna be
talking about the EMIRATES PALACE HOTEL ABU DHABI; the Hotel I stayed in during
my trip to UAE.
The EMIRATES
PALACE HOTEL IS A SEVEN STAR HOTEL LOCATED IN ABU DHABI on a 1.3 km of
private beach and surrounded by 85 hectares of gardens. It’s a 30mins drive
from the Abu Dhabi Airport and a 1hour 30mins drive from the Dubai Airport. We
landed at the Abu Dhabi airport so it was a 30mins drive but to me, it was more
than that because; we landed at the Etihad Airport, Abu Dhabi and paid for a
Limo pickup to our surprise, we saw a space-bus which they called a Limo… Was
funny but yeah, we had to use it. Getting to the entrance, it was like Heaven
on Earth; I was awe strucked…. The water fountain and all, it was a sight to
behold.
When I got to the Hotel, I was still in a state of Awe and I started
taking pictures; who wouldn’t? My dad and uncles went to Reception Desk and I
was sitted and one of the Hotel attendants came and gave me and my mum flowers,
I really did treasure the flowers and we were given a hot towel to wipe our
hands and served Arabian Tea; I was excited but did not like the taste so, I
gave it back. When we were fully booked we were taking to our room and it was
MAGNIFICIENT; even though it was 11pm UAE time I was stunned, I did not sleep
till 4am in the morning.
When I woke
up, it was 9am UAE time and 6am Nigerian time. Funnily, I kept sleeping with
Nigerian time till I came back because I was chatting with my pals. I went to
the dinning to have my breakfast it was a buffet service, as much as it was a
buffet service I couldn’t eat the food; I’m a Nigerian and it took me time to
get use to the food but I drank lots of juice.
The Wonderful View at the Entrance
The well placed cut out and arranged flowers
The Construction of the Emirates
Palace is something to talk about. The Construction of the Emirates Palace
began in December 2001. Over 250,000m³ of concrete was used, and it took a work
force of approximately 20,000 people three years to complete all phases of the
construction. The owner of the hotel is the Abu Dhabi Municipality, but it is
managed by the Kempenski group.
The project's architect was
Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo. The construction was undertaken by the Arabian
Construction Company (ACC), Arabien Construction, Belhasa Construction and
Actor Electromech. Project management was the responsibility of Projacs and
Turner Construction. Lighting planning was carried out by Wimberley, Allison,
Tong & Goo and the DEPA Group, while the lighting (luminares) were supplied
by Bin Moosa Debbas.
The Control gear was supplied by
Tridonic Atco. Al Naesar Trading, local partner of Fischer, delivered the
resign anchor, the ceiling nails, the bolt anchor and nail plugs for the
construction. All staircases in the building were built by FitWell.
The costs to build the hotel were
3.9 billion GBP or 11.02 billion AED or about 6 billion USD. The Emirates
Palace occupies 850,000m² of floor space. Underground parking allows housing
for 2,500 vehicles. There are two swimming pools and spas. The hotel has its
own marina and helipad. The Emirates Palace is the second most expensive hotel
ever built, only surpassed by Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
The Emirates Palace
has 302 grand rooms and 92 suites. The guestrooms include 20 Khaleej suites
(110m²), 20 Khaleej deluxe suites (165m²), four Royal Khaleej suites (110m²)
and 16 three-bedroom palace suites (680m²). There are three types of Palace
suites: Coral (110m²), Pearl (140m²) and Diamond (220m²). The Palace suites can
be divided into 48 single-bedroom suites. All of the spacious elegant rooms are
furnished to the highest levels of comfort and decorated in warm tones to
create a welcoming atmosphere.
This level of comfort is matched by the
high standard of service, for example, the 24-hour butler service; I enjoyed
the attention I got, he was awesome and friendly.
The Emirates Palace is also the
official guest palace of the government of Abu Dhabi, with 22 three-bedroom
suites capable of hosting as many heads of state and their entourages. The
highest floor has six rulers' suites, which are out of bounds to all except
members of UAE royal families.
Luxury
features of The Emirates Place:
The Emirates Palace also features
luxuries such as 'bath caviar'; $15,000 cognacs; Kobe beef in its Japanese
restaurant Mizona; real Albino caviar (only 6kg produced per year at £30,000
per kilo, of which the hotel has two kilos); and 52in plasma screens in each
room(When you turn on the Plasma your name appears, my dad’s name was there);
and a 61in LCD in all suites with a touch-screen pad that controls services,
from air conditioning to wake-up calls. Rooms are priced from $5,989 to $17,000
a night.
The hotel also features the Anantara
spa, which has seven treatment suites. The hotel has 1.3km private beach, which
offers water sport activities and leisure and recreational facilities.
Meeting and
conference facilities:
The Emirates Palace has 7,000m²
space for meetings and conferences, with facilities that include a 20m-high
auditorium accommodating up to 1,100 people, a grand ballroom with a total
seating capacity for 2,400, 40 meeting rooms with different facilities, and a
10,000m² outdoor function area.
The hotel also has a media and
business centre. All meeting rooms have sophisticated audiovisual equipment.
Dining at the
Emirates Palace:
The hotel has several restaurants
and bars. Le Vendome Brasserie restaurant, located on the fourth floor of the
hotel, offers international buffets.
The Sayad restaurant is located
on the first floor of the hotel and provides seafood dishes. Mezzaluna
restaurant, which is also located on the first floor, offers an Italian menu.
The Hakkasan is a Michelin-star Chinese restaurant.
Cascades is located along the
West Wing adventure pool. Diwan L'Auberge offers traditional Lebanese Cuisine.
Anar restaurant offers the
regional cuisine. Las Brisas is an open-air restaurant located along the East
Wing Relaxation pool and provides salads and grilled food. The Etoiles Abu
Dhabi provides offers a combination of fine dining and night entertainment.
Emirates
Palace atrium:
The Emirates Palace atrium is 60m
high, 42m wide and topped with the largest dome in the world. It is decorated
with 13 colours of marble, ranging from sunrise yellow to sunset red – to
reflect the many different hues of the desert. 22-carat gold leaf covers the
inside of the dome, making it the greatest gilded expanse ever created in one
building.
The entire interior of the hotel
is decorated with 86,114ft² (6,000m²) of 22-carat gold leaf.
Lighting systems:
Lighting for the Emirates Palace
was designed by Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo. Elegant chandeliers,
floor-standing lights and table lights are used in the guestrooms and suites to
create the right atmosphere, while the corridors and stairways are lit by
functional downlights.
As well as design considerations,
a major factor in the choice of lighting was its innovative technology. The use
of compact fluorescent lamps and PC PRO electronic control gear from
TridonicAtco ensures long lamp life and energy efficiency.
The luminaires were supplied by
Bin Moosa Debbas / Emirates Lighting, a valued customer of Atco Controls Dubai
who supplied the PC PRO control gear.
A further 3,500 PC PRO units from
TridonicAtco were installed for tubular fluorescent lamps in the offices,
kitchens and garages.
Architectural features:
The design of the hotel
incorporates the beauty of traditional Arabian elements such as the
42m-diameter Grand Atrium dome finished in silver and gold glass mosaic tiles,
and topped by a 20kg solid golden finial. The colour mirrors the russet, orange
and yellow shades of the desert. The building is 1km in length and includes the
following:
- 114 domes, of which the Grand Atrium is higher
than the dome of St Peter's Basilica in Rome
- the Emirates Palace Archway, which is covered in
Italian stone and bigger than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and houses a
museum
- 1,002 Swarovski crystal chandeliers, including
some of the world’s largest
- over one million square feet of marble, imported
from Italy, Spain, China, and India
- 200 fountains amid 600 acres of exotic park
grounds, home to over 8,000 trees, and the hotel’s private heliport
- 128 kitchens and pantries and 140 elevators
- an overall site area in excess of 222.4 acres.
Throughout the entire palace,
roses abound: in the rooms, in the public areas, in the private spaces – some
20,000 are used every day. Two extensive landscaped pools are located on the
grounds, and two spas opened in mid-2006.
It may seem
expensive but for the Luxury treatment its worth it. The Emirates Palace Hotel has hosted several
Celebrities and People of high
Caliber(That’s me); From The Late Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Jay Z (Too bad we
came in two days after Jay Z and Beyonce lodged out), Britney Spears, Kim
Kardashian, Kanye West, Bill Gates and several others, not forgetting Hesed
Sign.
My
experience there was one I’ld never forget…. I enjoyed the luxury for 5nights
and it was awesome and it was made possible by my dad.
Love you so much dad.
You can checkout my INSTAGRAM and see the pictures of my trip because network is pretty down here to upload all the pictures.
Thanks
for reading God Bless and Love You All.
