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- Dubai 04:44 05:59 12:19 15:46 18:34 19:49
Dubai’s latest ultra-luxury hotel, the Atlantis The Royal, built on the Palm next to the original Atlantis, is the world’s best hotel for visitors looking to document their trip on Instagram, Timothy Kelly, managing director and executive vice president of Atlantis Resorts told Arabian Business in an exclusive interview.
Kelly notes that “not a lot of integrated resorts have been built and opened in the era of social media,” and that Atlantis The Royal is filled with “Instagrammable moments … the design is qute special in that way.”
“No one in the world has anything like this, where you can actually come and see and document and have these captivating moments that you can share with the world,” he said.
“Our vibe, our energy is about being very chic, very sexy, very fashion, and very couples or singles orientated. It’s a place where it’s high-end ultra-luxury fashion. So we’re not here is like a party place per se. Our position is that medium of 30 to 60 plus years old. If you want a place where you can have ultra-exclusive, specialised bespoke experiences, we’re your destination of choice.”
For Kelly, the hotel has been built on five key pillars – the rooms, food and celebrity chefs, wellness, luxury retail, and entertainment.
On rooms, Kelly believes Atlantis The Royal boasts “the best suites in the sky that exist in the world and the best villa products in a tower in the world. Without question.”
Atlantis The Royal features 17 different restaurants, eight of which are being opened by celebrity chefs. Kelly’s favourite? “Jaleo and the Paella … it’s quite special and unique, and to me that’s my comfort food,” he said.
Over the past few years, the hospitality industry has been pivoting towards new consumer trends among hotel-goers, with wellness in particular taking centre stage as an important component of a resort stay. In this, Atlantis The Royal is little different, with the hotel featuring your standard fair of gym, sauna, pool, and spa, along with more esoteric offerings, such as a regenerative medical clinic and “holistic wellness” opportunities, “where you can sit and meditate with dolphins,” Kelly said.
“Where does that exist in the world? No one can offer something that’s unique and special as that,” he added.
Dubai’s economy has been on a post-pandemic boom over the past year, despite prevailing global economic headwinds. The success of the city despite macroeconomic uncertainty is one reason why Kelly believes the hotel can be a success. Indeed, Kelly pointed to the fact that in Dubai there only around 140,000 hotel rooms, compared to his native Las Vegas, which features for 150,000 rooms.
Initially set to open in October 2022, the launch was rescheduled for 2023. The hotel also pushed back its opening date for bookings which was supposed to begin in March, bookings are now being accepted starting February.
“For us, we believe that there is more room to grow, more room to evolve, and more experiences to evolve. I think that Dubai has come a long way in a very short period of time, but by no means is it even close to being over. There’s so much more to had here,” he said.
Atlantis The Royal is a 43-storey cantilevered building, and will feature 231 luxury apartments, 693 hotel rooms and 102 suites, all of which offer views of the Arabian Sea and Palm Island.
The property has multiple pools, including 44 private infinity pools attached to suites and penthouses, and two adults-only pools. The resort will also boast a helipad, “fire breathing” fountains and a tank with 4,000 jellyfish – described as the largest in the world.
Bookings can now be made for dates starting February 10 with the Sky Terrace Suite which starts at a price tag of AED17,417 per night.
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