New Fairmont Hotel Features World's Tallest Clock Tower

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 2nd 2010 at 4:02PM

Fairmont Hotel & Resorts has announced the opening of the Fairmont Makkah Clock Royal Tower, A Fairmont Hotel in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The new hotel is located near Masjid Al Haraam and the Holy Ka'aba Islam's most sacred site and is designed to provide high-end luxury for the millions of pilgrims that head to the city every year.

The hotel is part of the Abraj Al Bait Complex, a King Abdul Aziz endowment project to upgrade the precincts of the Two Holy Mosques. Makkah Clock Royal Tower is the tallest concrete building in the world, with 76 stories reaching over 1,800 feet and housing 858 rooms and suites. The 130-foot clock is more than five times larger than Big Ben in London and announces daily prayers to the Muslim world through amplifiers. The Tower also houses a lunar observatory center and a museum for Islamic icons and objects of arts. The property's 76 elevators will provide comfortable transfers during Azan (calls to prayer) and high-occupancy Umrah and Hajj seasons and the hotel also features easy access to the Haram, as well as two large prayer rooms for male and female guests. Guests at Makkah Clock Royal Tower will enjoy a variety of international cuisines including the innovative "Al-Dira", which offers local flavors from the various districts of the Kingdom and will introduce guests to the culture of oriental Saudi cuisine.

Tags: fairmont hotel, makkah, makkah clock tower, saudi arabia