UAE

Rolls-Royce Flagship Showroom Debuts in Abu Dhabi

Rolls-Royce has 82 dealerships around the world. But the largest of them isn't at its factory in Goodwood. It's not in London, either, nor is it in Manhattan or Beverly Hills. It's in Abu Dhabi.

The latest of eight dealerships in the Middle East, the new Abu Dhabi showroom encompasses some 10,000 square feet of floorspace, including uncluttered display for five cars (Rolls currently only makes four model variants) plus a coffee bar, customer configuration lounge and adjacent service center.

Tags: abu dhabi, emirates, luxury car, rolls-royce, uae, united arab emirates

The Classicist: VO Guns Debuts the Falcon, World's Most Expensive Rifle, for $820,000 [EXCLUSIVE]

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Sports, Men's Style, The Classicist, Wealth

Swedish gun and rifle maker VO Vapen, founded in 1977 by master gunsmith Viggo Olsson, fashions the world's most exclusive handmade hunting rifles. Their newest creation, the VO Falcon Edition (above), is the world's most expensive priced at about $820,000. The VO Falcon Edition is a tribute to the deep rooted traditions of falconry in the Arabian world, covered by beautiful engravings of Peregrine and Saker falcons among other luxurious finishes.

Tags: bespoke, falconry, guns, gunsmith, hunting, luxury goods, most expensive guns, rifles, shooting, sports, Sweden, UAE, Vo guns, VO Vapen, vo+falcon+rifle, vofalconrifle, worlds most expensive

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Dubai and Abu Dhabi Battle for Polo Championship

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Sports, Wealth

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Battle for Polo Championship

The Dubai Falcons and Abu Dhabi Polo will battle it out in the final of the Threadneedle Polo Gold Cup to be played at the Dubai Polo and Equestrian Club today. The UAE's moneyed elite are divided in their support for the two area teams, both strong contenders for the championship with four wins each going into the contest. "We are up against a very strong team in the final and we just hope to continue with our winning streak in this tournament," Dubai Falcons' star player Tommy Iriarte tells the Gulf News. "We have managed to keep a clean slate in this tournament so far," notes undefeated Abu Dhabi Polo captain Fares Al Yabhouni, "so there is nothing like going for an all-out victory and making this a terrific debut participation for us." The Threadneedle Polo Gold Cup is the latest in a series of high-profile equestrian events taking place in Dubai this season.

Gallery: Polo in Dubai

Tags: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Equestrian, horses, polo, sports, UAE, wealth

Waldorf-Astoria Announces United Arab Emirates Hotel

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts has announced its second hotel in the Middle East the Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah. The hotel is located in the United Arab Emirates about 40 minutes away from the Dubai International Airport. The new hotel will have 349 rooms in an Arabian-themed palace hotel with outdoor swimming pools, 10 restaurants and bars, a new spa concept, meeting and ballroom space and more. The hotel is part of a development that will also have an 18-hole golf course, a private beach and a convention center with capacity for 3000 people.

Guests will also have access to the recently opened shopping mall located within the Al Hamra development. His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Saud Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Al Hamra Group dubbed Al Hamra "a stunning oasis of luxury and tranquility, where guests can come to relax and unwind." The hotel is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of this year. Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah will be the second Waldorf Astoria property to open in the Middle East. Existing Hilton Worldwide properties in Ras Al Khaimah are the Hilton Ras Al Khaimah Resort & Spa, the Hilton Ras Al Khaimah and the soon-to-open Doubletree by Hilton Ras Al Khaimah.

The hotel group takes its name from originalThe Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York. All of the branded Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts offer a luxury experience including spas and culinary excellence to world-class golf and hotels extend from Orlando to Shanghai.

Tags: al hamra, ras al khaimah, uae, united arab emirates, WaldorfAstoria

Home Team Wins Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Sports, Wealth

Home Team Wins Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge

The home team emerged victorious for the second year running at the Cartier International Dubai Polo Challenge on Friday. Four pro-am polo teams competed in the prestigious event at the Desert Palm Polo Club under the patronage of Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, wife of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Desert Palm team edged out Cartier's own team to capture the top prize. The other two teams were fielded by Swiss bank (and Wikileaks target) Julius Baer and the UK's Guards Polo Club. Desert Palm patrons Clive Reid and Tariq Albwardy received the impressive trophy from Sheikh Majid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the son of Dubai's ruler. Cartier suffered a setback early in the final when their best player, Salvador Ulloa, was injured though another Cartier team member, Nico Petracchi, was named Most Valuable Player.

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Tags: Cartier, cartier+international+dubai+polo+challenge, cartier+international+dubai+polo+challenge+2011, cartier+polo+dubai, cartierinternationaldubaipolochallenge, cartierinternationaldubaipolochallenge2011, cartierpolodubai, Dubai, equestrian, horses, Julius Baer, polo, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE, wealth

Qatari Pagani Zonda Uno Listed for Sale at $2.3 Million

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Wealth

Qatari Pagani Zonda Uno Listed for Sale at $2.3 Million

A one-of-a-kind Pagani Zonda Uno custom-built for Qatar's royal family – the ones who recently paid $2 billion for Harrods – has been listed for sale in Italy via global online luxury marketplace JamesList for about $2.3 million. As my colleague Noah Joseph reported last summer, the supercar borrows elements from the exclusive Zonda Cinque and blends them with parts from the track-only Zonda R (see video below) for a truly unique creation. The 690-horsepower 7.3-liter V12 engine paired with plenty of carbon fiber make it a barely street-legal beast that burns fuel like mad but has lots of fun doing it. It's painted a pretty garish shade of turquoise like all the Qatari royal vehicles, including the Lamborghini they crashed back in November. We have no idea why they're selling this one but we somehow doubt it's because they need the cash.

Tags: carbon fiber, custom cars, Harrods, JamesList, Pagani, Pagani Zonda, Pagani Zonda Uno, Qatar, supercar, UAE

James Bond's New Bentley

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Books

It may be a while before everyone's favorite spy is back on the silver screen, but fortunately for Bond fans, there's a new series of books to keep our interests piqued. But while 007 drives an Aston Martin in the latest movies, in the books (old and new) Bentley is his ride of choice.

The latest book Carte Blanche is set to launch in the UK on May 26, but its author Jeffery Deaver recently stopped by its setting in Dubai to check out the new Bentley Continental GT in white over red which Bond drives in the book. Not a subtle choice, to be sure, but neither is Dubai. See for yourself in the image gallery below.

Gallery: Jeffrery Deaver & the Bentley Continental GT

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Tags: 007, bentley, bentley continental gt, bond, carte blanche, dubai, emirates, james bond, jeffery deaver, uae

Emirates Hotel has Second Thoughts on $11 Million Christmas Tree

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

In keeping with the holiday spirit or making a mockery of it? Those are the questions being asked by observers of the $11 million Christmas Tree at the Emirates Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

As you may recall, the 42-foot tall artificial tree – worth about ten grand on its own – was decorated with all manner of gold, silver and precious jewels (some 180 pieces of jewelry in all) to bring its value up to $11 million, making it the most lavishly adorned tree on record. But with many people asking if the Emirates didn't go overboard this time, the hotel is reportedly distancing itself from the display. Which is pretty hard to do considering it's sitting inescapably in the hotel's main lobby.

Is this an early sign that the Gulf Emirates are beginning to tone down their famous opulence? Possibly, but in a hotel that features a gold bar vending machine and a million-dollar vacation package, we wouldn't take too much stock in the reports just yet.

[Source: The Huffington Post]

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Tags: abu dhabi, christmas three, emirates, emirates hotel, tree, uae, united arab emirates

Qatar Royal Crashes Lamborghini in London

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Wealth, Crimes and Misdemeanors

Qatar Royal Crashes Lamborghini in London

Back in August we told you about the Qatar royals' $2.5 million in customized baby blue supercars which were clamped by the cops in London outside Harrods, which they bought for $2.2 billion last spring. Now a member of Qatar's ruling Al-Thani clan has crashed one of them, the $550,000 Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce (above) in London as well. The car was nearly totaled at Hyde Park Corner after a high-speed chase involving a white BMW M5, which got the worst of it. "The BMW smashed into the central reservation, bounced off and then hit the Lamborghini," an eyewitness told the London Evening Standard. "Both cars were definitely traveling very fast." There were no injuries and no arrests following the incident, which came after most of the Arab playboys had taken their toys home again after a high octane summer. "We thought it was going to quieten down but it's picking up again," solicitor Bruce Beringer, who lives in the posh neighborhood, told the paper. "It's like a second season. We are kept up until 4 am because of the noise of these people revving their engines and racing down the street. These Bugattis and Ferraris make a huge amount of noise."

Tags: BMW, Bugatti, car crash, Ferrari, Harrods, Hyde Park, Lamborghini, London, Qatar, supercar, UAE, UK

Flavio Briatore to Open "Billionaire's Square" in Dubai

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Real Estate Developments, Wealth

Italian playboy Flavio Briatore, (above, with his much younger lingerie model wife Elisabetta), has signed a deal to open a new Billionaire's Square complex in Dubai catering to those with unapologetically extravagant tastes. Building on the success of Briatore's Billionaire club for the super-rich on Sardinia's swank Costa Smeralda, the $150 million Billionaire's Square development will be constructed on the site of Dubai Media City's Palladium entertainment venue. The complex will include a boutique luxury hotel, a Billionaire Bar and Grill along with several other restaurants and bars, a VIP fitness club and a boutique selling items from Briatore's ostentatious Billionaire Couture line, maker of items like a $50,000 crocodile skin umbrella. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. As my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported last year, Briatore's colorful career as a Formula 1 impresario linked to supermodels like Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell came to an end in the wake of a race fixing scandal.

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Tags: billionaire, Dubai, Flavio Briatore, Formula 1, luxury hotels, playboy, Sardinia, UAE, wealth

Hotel de Crillion Bought by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal?

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wealth

As my colleague Deirdre Woollard reported the other day, Paris' famed Hotel de Crillion (above), one of the world's most luxurious hotels with a clientele of celebs and royalty, is being sold to unnamed Saudi investors with ties to the country's royal family for about $354 million. Now an insider tells us that Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the world's richest men with a fortune of $19.4 billion, has a big stake in the deal. The Prince already has significant luxury hotel holdings including an interest in the Four Seasons and Fairmont groups. Back in January 2009 Deirdre reported that the Prince was preparing to embark on a major spending spree via his company Kingdom Holdings to acquire more hotel assets. Earlier this year he also sold off the Raffles Hotel in Singapore for $275 million.

The Crillon acquisition is part of the Prince's new plan for diversification, we're told. Constructed in 1758 as a government building commissioned by Louis XV, the palatial edifice near the Champs Elysées on Place de la Concorde was converted into a hotel 100 years ago. Its Leonard Bernstein suite, on the top floor with a wrap-around terrace, features one of the late maestro's pianos. Other luminaries past and present who have patronized the Crillon include Marie Antoinette, King George V, the Shah of Iran, Winston Churchill, FDR, Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie O, Mariah Carey, Madonna and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Starwood Capital, the property's sellers, took over the Crillon in 2005 as part of its €2 billion acquisition of Taittinger's hotel and champagne empire.

Tags: billionaire, hotel, Hotel de Crillion, luxury hotels, Paris, Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, royalty, Saudi Arabia, UAE, wealth

Harrod's to Open Luxury Hotel on Its Rooftop?

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Luxury Shopping

Back in July we reported that following its $2.2 billion acquisition by Qatar's royal family in May, luxe department store Harrods has some heady expansion plans in the works. In addition to a new Shanghai branch the famed retail mecca is considering opening a luxury hotel on the rooftop of its landmarked London flagship (above) in Knightsbridge. Harrods managing director Michael Ward says the hotel scheme is one of a number of options being considered to maximize the brand's potential. "Are we looking at it? Yes. Have we considered it? Yes. Is it something we would do? No plans have been put forward but it is one of them," he tells Vogue UK. "There are a number of ideas of equal magnitude." If plans do go ahead, the hotel could mean Harrods' top floor, which currently houses childrenswear and its young fashion department, would be converted into a restaurant.

Tags: Harrods, hotel, London, luxury hotels, luxury shopping, Qatar, store, UAE, UK

VIDEO: Arab Playboys Race Their Supercars Around London

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Wealth, Video

It seems that Bloomberg News finally caught up with our report last month on the cabal of mega-rich Arab playboys who made London the world's supercar capital this summer, shipping an estimated $80 million worth of eye-popping vehicles to the city while waiting out the heat in the UAE. As we noted at the time, Bugatti Veyrons have been seen cruising in Knightsbridge and making Mayfair seem more like Le Mans, while both the Bugatti a Pagani Zonda Cinque, one of only five in the world, are often parked at the Dorchester Hotel where some of the super-rich studs are staying. Rolls-Royces, custom Mercedes-McLaren SLRs, Lamborghinis, Koenigseggs, Ferraris and more are commonplace in certain posh neighborhoods, where protest groups have been formed to combat the problem. Of course, all those powerful machines in a densely populated area sometimes leads to trouble. Check out some of the video footage assembled by Bloomberg on the subject.

Tags: Bugatti, London, Pagani, Rolls-Royce, supercar, UAE, UK, wealth

UPDATE: Buyer of $308 Million Monaco Penthouse Was Dubai Royal

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wealth

It seems we were not in full possession of the facts when we relayed a report the other day that the world's most expensive penthouse, the $308 million former Safra property in Monaco (above), may have been sold to Greek billionaire Constantine Alexander-Goulandris. While Alexander-Goulandris was indeed involved in the sale, an insider now tells us it was actually in an advisory capacity and that the real purchaser was a member of Dubai's royal family, the Al-Mahktoums, headed by the immensely wealthy Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. Though incredibly expensive the purchase is seen as a wise investment by the Al-Mahktoums, we're told. In the wake of Dubai's financial difficulties, which caused Sheikh Mohammed's personal fortune to plummet by $7.5 billion last year, the family has been advised to acquire more (and more stable) assets outside of the UAE rather than sinking it all into Dubai's volatile economy. Alexander-Goulandris, being a resident of Monaco and an intimate of the Al-Mahktoum family, strongly urged the purchase of the Safra penthouse for the sake of diversification. It's not a bad place to hang out in either.

Gallery: $308 Million in Monaco

Tags: billionaire, Constantine Alexander-Goulandris, Dubai, Lily Safra, Monaco, monaco+penthouse, monacopenthouse, penthouse, royalty, sheikh, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE, worlds most expensive

$308 Million Monaco Penthouse Purchased by Abramovich Associate? [UPDATED]

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wealth

A well-connected Luxist follower has written in to inform us of the identity of the buyer of the record-shattering $308 million Monaco penthouse (above) we just reported on. The new owner of the world's most expensive apartment we're told is Greek billionaire Constantine Alexander-Goulandris, a close friend and business associate of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. According to Wikipedia, the American-born Alexander-Goulandris, 47, who's based in Monaco, is an influential adviser to the Saudi royal family and the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait, as well as the leaders of the UAE and many of the world's largest oil companies.

In addition to Abramovich he's also close to Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin. Though not on Forbes' list of the world's richest people, he's said to be worth an estimated $15 billion thanks to investments in petroleum and energy shipping and real estate, including the Olympic Tower building in NYC. In addition to Monaco Alexander-Goulandris reportedly maintains residences in Paris, London, Antibes, New York and Hawaii. He also owns one of the largest yachts in the world, the Dubai-registered, 279-ft. Delma, and jets around on a Boeing 767 and two Gulfstream G550s.

UPDATE: The buyer was in fact a member of Dubai's royal family; Alexander-Goulandris acted as an adviser - read more here.

Gallery: $308 Million in Monaco

Tags: apartment, Dubai, Lily Safra, Monaco, most expensive, oil, penthouse, real estate, Roman Abramovich, Saudi, UAE, Vladimir Putin, wealth, worlds most expensive