Palm Jumeirah

New Luxury Hotel Opens In Dubai

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas

Zabeel Properties recently opened the new Jumeirah Zabeel Saray hotel in Dubai. The hotel is managed by Dubai-based luxury hospitality company Jumeirah Group and sits on the west crescent of Dubai's Palm Jumeirah, the palm-shaped manmade structure off the coast of Dubai.

The five-star property has hand-painted frescoes, Turkish artworks and lavish murals meant to conjure up the magnificence of the Ottoman Empire. The centerpiece of the hotel is the Talise Ottoman Spa, a large spa with 42 individual spa rooms and suites, an indoor swimming pool and three authentic Turkish Hammams. The hotel's Mehteran Theatre & Event Centre will play host to live shows and events. There will also be 38 villas on the beach around a lagoon pool. The property has ten restaurants, bars, a night club, boutiques, tennis courts and a fitness center. This is the first hotel developed by Zabeel Properties to open its doors in Dubai.

The global economic crisis has resulted in a tourism drop in Dubai but the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing is hoping that 2011 will be a better year. A recent report said that hotel guests in Dubai in the first nine months of last year reached 5,991,660 guests, up six percent from the same period in 2009.

[Breaking Travel News]

Tags: dubai, jumeirah, jumeirah zabeel saray, palm jumeirah

Celebs Losing $100K a Week on Their Dubai Mansions

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Real Estate Developments, Wealth

One side effect of the implosion of Dubai's economy which my colleague Deidre Woollard reported on last month is the plummeting value of trophy properties owned by certain superstars. Celebs including David and Victoria Beckham (above), Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Michael Jackson are losing £80,000 or over $100,000 a week as the luxury real estate they purchased in the over-inflated Emirate plunges in value, the London Daily Mirror reports. Posh properties that were worth £3.2 million (or about $4.4 million) in October now on the market for £1.6 million (or about $2.2 million), i.e. only half as much.

"The Dubai market has fallen off a cliff," Jack Whisker of luxury agents Dream Property Dubai tells the paper. "The credit crunch hit us suddenly because all the foreign investors lost confidence. It has hit the higher-value properties the hardest." In January Deidre reported that the Beckhams, who have a luxury villa on the Palm Jumeirah complex, were considering purchasing a second property in the Burj Dubai tower, so they could be doubly exposed. Brad and Angelina reportedly own one of the artificial islands in the out-there development known as The World.

Gallery: Dubai

Tags: Angelina Jolie, AngelinaJolie, Brad Pitt, BradPitt, Burj Dubai, BurjDubai, David Beckham, DavidBeckham, Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, PalmJumeirah, pamela anderson, PamelaAnderson, UAE, Victoria Beckham, VictoriaBeckham

World's Most Extravagant Party in Dubai Will be Visible from Space

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Events

Later this month, billionaire tycoon Sol Kerzner will launch his lavish new resort in Dubai with a $25 million party featuring a fireworks display so massive it will be visible from space. The event, for the grand opening of the $1.5 billion Atlantis, The Palm, will have 2,000 guests and last four days capped by a performance by Kylie Minogue (her first in the Middle East), and is being billed as the world's most extravagant party, the London Telegraph reports.

The 1,500 room resort, located on the world's largest manmade island, the Palm Jumeirah, covers several square miles, features 16 restaurants including a branch of Nobu, and is partially bankrolled by the Dubai Royal Family. The fireworks display is being put on by the same pyrotechnics experts who produce the Olympics opening ceremony; however the Atlantis display will be ten times larger than the one in Beijing, making it visible from space.

Gallery: Dubai

Tags: Atlantis, Dubai, Fireworks, kylie minogue, KylieMinogue, Nobu, palm jumeirah, PalmJumeirah, Sol Kerzner, SolKerzner

First Residents Move Into the Palm Jumeirah

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

The first residents of the Palm Jumeirah, the massive palm-shaped island off the coast of Dubai, have moved in and as the AP reports they seem quite content so far. The AP profiles Andrew Dukes who was the first to move into his island mansion. Dukes, formerly an executive with a London-based Internet company, paid around $1.36 million for his house over a year ago and it is now worth nearly double. The new land which was made from sand dredged up from the sea and rock from nearby mountains, will also be home to hotels, including one by Donald Trump, a monorail, and a water theme park. Buyers of the development include citizens of the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries and speculators and residents from around the world. Part of the Palm Jumeirah also serves as a labor camp for the thousands of construction workers working on the project. The other projects by Nakheel including the ambitious "World" project are still under development.

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Tags: development, dubai, estates, palm jumeirah, PalmJumeirah, united arab emirates

Queen Elizabeth 2 To Become Floating Hotel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

The latest extravagance in Dubai will be the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship. The ship is being sold to the Dubai World firm by Carnival for a cool $100 million. The ship will be turned into a floating hotel located on a pier in the Palm Jumeirah development. The company plans to recreate the original decor and fittings of the ship that she had when she was launched in 1967. The ship has crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times and carried over 2.5 million passengers. She will be docked at the Palm Jumeirah and open for business in 2009.

[Thanks, Timothy]

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Tags: dubai, expire-images:2008-6-17, floating hotel, palm jumeirah, queen elizabeth, QueenElizabeth

How You Get To The Hotels At The Palm Jumeirah

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

I found this picture of the sub-sea tunnel project on The Palm Jumeirah fascinating. The Palm Jumeirah is the palm-shaped created land in the Arabian Gulf that will be home to luxury hotels and resorts. The tunnel connects the tip of the island's trunk to the crescent and will give access to those seeking to visit the over 20 hotels clustered along the island's breakwater. The project is impressive, involving reinforced concrete, steel and sand to create this engineering feat. To build the tunnel under dry conditions, the project required the construction dykes and a dam to keep the water out. Once the tunnel structure was completed at the start of 2007 the water could be let back in which what is shown in this picture. The entire project is expected to be completed in May 2007.

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Tags: concrete, construction, nakheel, palm jumeirah, tunnel

W Hotels In At The Palm Jumeirah

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Palm Jumeirah gets yet another hotel. Starwood Hotels have announced that there will be a W Hotel on the The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. The hotel is scheduled to open in late 2009, and is W's second hotel in Dubai. The hotels will have 400 rooms and have beach frontage and views of The Palm, the Arabian Gulf and the Dubai skyline (as will all the other hotels on this crowded manmade creation).

Other hotels headed for the Palm include:
The recently announced Kingdom of Sheba
Donald Trump's hotel
Taj Exotica Resort & Spa and Grandeur Residences

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Tags: dubai, palm jumeirah, starwood, w hotels

Trump's New Design For Dubai

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Nakheel and the Trump Organization are showing off the new design for the Trump International Hotel and Tower at the The Palm Jumeirah in Dubai. When the project was first announced back in October they showed off a golden building that was to resemble a palm seed. The new design is much more modern, a split linked tower of steel, glass and stone. The $600 million project is 48 stories and sits at the trunk of the floating palm tree of the Palm Jumeirah. The new design also allows views through the tower's open space. The older design is shown after the jump. What do you think, is it an upgrade or not?

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Tags: architecture, dubai, nahkheel, palm jumeirah, trump, uae

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