Luxury travel and fashion unite inside the Armani Hotel Dubai

by Melanie Nayer on

Cities often serve as a mecca for fashion trends. From New York City to Milan to Paris, fashion knows no limits when it comes cat-walking down the boulevard. Each new season boasts a new must-have fabric, cut or hemline, but there’s more to fashion than what you wear. While most bank accounts can’t justify the $1,000 gladiator sandals or an Alexander McQueen ostrich feather dress (starting price at around $10,000), many travelers will make a case for spending money on vacations. Thankfully, as more fashion designers are expanding their brands and offerings, the travel industry is reaping the rewards.

The Armani Hotel, built inside the world’s tallest building, gives new meaning to the term ‘high-fashion’. Italian designer Giorgio Armani dug deep into the fashion treasure trove for its new hotel in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and created an experience fit for a fashion icon and his followers. In addition to the eight on-site restaurants, the hotel features an exclusive Armani boutique, an Armani Dolci (candy shop) and an Armani Fiori (flower shop). The hotel also houses the world’s highest mosque, and swimming pool and spa. The 160 rooms in the Armani Hotel Dubai are designed in earth tones and accented in creme colors.

A glimpse at the hotel’s website offers descriptions of the various rooms:

Armani classic: The classic rooms are 70 square meter-bedrooms (approximately 753 square feet) in the center of the tower.
Armani executive: Located on levels 5 and 6 of Burj Khalifa, the rooms are slightly bigger at 85 square meters (914 square feet) and offers views of The Dubai Fountain.
Armani signature: Personally designed by Giorgio Armani, these suites are a spacious 235 square meters (2,529 square feet) and are located on Levels 38 and 39.Armani suites: Located across all floors, Armani Suites range from 70 to 95 square meters (approximately 700- to 1000-square feet) and are located across all the tower wings.
Armani studio: The bedrooms are 45 square meters (484 square feet) located on all floors and next to the elevators.
Armani premier: Located on all floors, the Armani Premiere rooms cover 95 square meter and are designed by Giorgio Armani.
Armani ambassador: These capacious suites, located on levels 5 and 6, are 150 square meters (approximately 1,600 square feet).
Armani Dubai suite: The Armani Dubai Suite is one of its kind with 390 square meters (over 4,000 square feet) of space and elegance and designed by Giorgio Armani.

In a press release at the grand unveiling yesterday Armani said, “Yesterday when I arrived and saw the hotel, I felt really emotional… After five years of working on this project, I finally saw how it all came to life. Working with me is not always easy, I think everyone here would agree because my standards are very high.”

The hotel is a collaboration between Armani and Emaar Properties, but it’s not the last we’ll see of the Armani hotels. Milan, Marrakesh, Paris, New York City, Tokyo and Shanghai are also on the hotel horizon.

So, what’s all this fashion cost? Certainly more than a pair of shoes, but less than a designer dress.

A standard room in the hotel starts at around 4,000 dirhams ($1,089 USD) a night, while the suites ring in around 40,000 dirhams (approximately $10,000 USD). A table at the the hotel’s Prive lounge and nightclub, which is home to the world’s largest LCD screen, will cost at least 3,000 dirhams (approximately $800 USD).

Is it worth it? I’d bet my gladiators on it.

Are hotel star ratings getting out of hand?

by Jeremy Kressmann on

At one time, staying in a “four-star hotel” meant you were experiencing the peak of luxury. Luxurious rooms, top-notch accommodations and plenty of amenities. But increasingly a four-star hotel is no longer enough, with uber-high-end properties in Europe racing to claim six or, in the case of the Burj-al-Arab in Dubai, even seven-star ratings. At what point do the hotel stars become meaningless? The BBC took a look at the hotel-star “ratings game” in a recent article, noting the jumble of competing systems and confusion it causes for consumers.

According to the BBC, the ratings have become a subjective measure of amenities depending on the place. In much of Europe for instance, stars are assigned based on random factors such as whether the property has an elevator or includes breakfast, not by factors like building age or cleanliness. There’s similar confusion in the United States, where competing organizations like AAA and Forbes Travel offer customers conflicting systems. Those in the hotel ratings business acknowledge the confusion, though minimal steps have been taken to change the process.

The next time you check into that “Five-Star Hotel,” make sure you know what you’re paying for. In a world of increasing hotel rating inflation, there’s still plenty of room for debate.

Galley Gossip: Flight attendant is sent to prison for sexy texting

by Heather Poole on

Recently someone said to me, “I travel on international flights all the time to visit family and I’ve noticed that the women who work for the airlines are getting older. Is this okay?”

Is this okay? Is this okay! I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or throw whatever was in my hand at the time. Instead I took a deep breath and replied, “Of course it’s okay! Women age. So do passengers.”

I mean really!

After it hit me that the man was probably a foreigner and not used to the ways of airlines in the U.S., I added, “I plan on being one of those flight attendants who use the beverage cart as a walker. Because in the United States flight attendants are allowed to age. We’re also allowed to gain weight, get married, and have children.”

Crazy, I know!

Wanna know what else flight attendants are allowed to do? Send sexy text messages. It’s true! Not that I’m a sexy text-er or anything, but if I wanted to send a sexy text I could, and I could do so without worrying about getting sent to prison for three months. Ya see here in the good ole US of A life is pretty darn nice. Especially if you’re a flight attendant.

What in the world am I talking about? In case you haven’t heard, an Emirates flight attendant and supervisor were recently sent to prison for three months for sending sexy text messages to each other. MSNBC reported that “the pair were convicted of ‘coercion to commit sin’ over messages and were initially sentenced to six months in jail”

Gulp.

MSNBC also reported that there is grave concern about the rapid growing population of foreigners in the deeply conservative area which may be threatening their social and religious identity.

So how did the sexy texts even come to light? The husband of the flight attendant. He’s been battling her for a divorce since 2007. I guess it only makes sense he would turn her in so she could be sent to jail.

Nice, eh?

Flight attendants aren’t the only ones getting thrown into the slammer for sexually related activity. “a British pair caught kissing in public in Dubai is appealing a month-long jail sentence handed down after an Emirati mother complained her child had seen their indiscretion,” Cynthia Johnston, the MSNBC correspondent covering the case, wrote in the article Airline workers face 3 months in jail over texts. Then she goes on to discuss three more cases involving British couples either going to prison or narrowly escaping prison for similar actions.

When I mentioned this story to Bob, the singing pilot, he asked, “What is considered a sexually explicit text in that part of the world?”

Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not so sure I even want to know.

Photos courtesy of Telstar Logistics and Jrodmanjr

British couple in Dubai faces jail time for kissing

by Annie Scott on

PDAs (Public Displays of Affection) can make some people a little uncomfortable, but in Dubai, they’ll send you to jail.

Until recently, Dubai was booming. Tourism and business travel were growing at at an exponential rate, and Dubai became a household name-destination seemingly overnight. One of the dangers of a boom like this is that some new visitors think every place has the same rules, and that what’s okay in their own country will be okay in any country. Not so — and if you’re the offender they decide to make an example of, you’re screwed.

The incident in question actually took place last November; a British expat and a female friend were arrested for kissing and “intimate touching,” as well as consuming alcohol, in public. According to Reuters, “the case is the third time in under two years in which Britons have hit the headlines by falling foul of decency laws in Dubai.” Dubai attempted to send the couple to jail for a month and subsequently deport them.

This Sunday, a lawyer for the pair appealed by going whole-hog and saying there wasn’t any kissing. “There was no lip kissing. It was just a normal greeting that is not considered offensive,” lawyer Khalaf al-Hosani told the court, adding that the two in question are “just friends.”

The couple is currently free on bail and have paid their $272 fine for illegal alcohol consumption. The verdict deciding whether or not they’ll go to jail is expected April 4.

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Gadling TV’s Travel Talk 003: Black Boxes, Body Scanners, Vegas, Wedding Bells, & Sushi done right!

by Stephen Greenwood on


Gadling TV’s Travel Talk, episode 3 – Click above to watch video after the jump

We’re back! And this time we’ve brought you a show straight from the Vegas strip.

In this week’s episode – we discuss a new ban on Indian rail rooftop travel, monitoring pilot’s conversations in the cockpit, where the first body scanners will appear in the United States, and a little history behind America’s favorite playground.

Bruce has packing tips for one of the most remote destinations in the West; Aaron will show you the right way to prepare sushi, and only one of us ends up getting married in Vegas; stay tuned to find out who…

If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

Subscribe via iTunes:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Travel Talk feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

Links:
Vegas Adventure Weddings (Vegas Chapel)
Elvis In A Flash (Chapel Priest)

Chaiyya Chaiyya (Bollywood Train Music Video)
Dubai Aquarium Leak

Hosts: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea
Special guest: Bruce!, Onja, & Elvis Presley.

Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea
Special thanks: Vegas Adventure Weddings, Brad Collin (as Elvis Presley), Virgin America & the Fly Girls.

Music by:
Electric Touch
“Sounds from the Underground”
courtesy of musicalley

Arlin Godwin
“Boy Seventeen”
courtesy of musicalley

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