Inside the world’s tallest building the “Burj Khalifa” resides the Armani hotel. Opened on 27th April 2010, (coincidentally our Editor In Chiefs Birthday) this hotel is one of the newest in Dubai, and it seems that the wait was worth it.

The hotel has the operation of the first 9 floors including the concourse and floors 38 and 39, providing 160 rooms and suites, 8 restaurants a spa and the obligatory Armani boutiques, this is not only a truly a wonderful addition to the iconic tower and city of Dubai, but the start of things to come for the Armani brand with this being the world’s first Armani hotel and certainly not the last. The city of Dubai is a great place to showcase the brand of Armani with the famous and wealthy that will descend to the city, and as such is so obviously going to be the start of many more around the world if this proves to be a success with another 5 hotels around the world rumoured to be in the planning stages.

Every little detail has been personally selected by Giorgio Armani himself, to ensure that the quality of the rooms match the quality associated with the name Armani.  The rooms are designed with precious materials, luxury fabrics, handmade leather, marble and unique textures. All of this is to ensure that the passion put into the design, and the quality of the material used, will give the most wonderful feeling to its guests who are treated to so much luxury that it makes you feel like royalty.

Every detail has been is typical of Armani and Dubai. The quality and dedication that has been applied here has paid off, with the interest of the media from all around the world baying to see what has been achieved by the master of style and finesse. Armani was literally obsessed in getting the details perfect, from the fragrance of the complimentary toiletries to the colours on the wall, Armani was literally so obsessed in this project that he took 5 years planning everything prior to the project going live.

Once inside the hotel each guest is assigned a lifestyle manager whose job it is to attend to your every need from the moment you check in to the moment you leave. They may even be at the airport to receive you. The idea again was that of Armani to ensure that there are no unsatisfied guests as perfection is the key to the success of this venture. They are there to advise you on every aspect of what the hotel and Dubai can offer you, this is particularly nice when trying to sort out what food you would like to eat, and which of the eight restaurants will suit your taste buds. The restaurants offer food from across the world including Japanese, Indian, Mediterranean and Italian.

There are eight different choices of hotel living areas ranging, from the Armani Executive rooms which are found on levels 5 and 6 and offer 85 square meters of room, through to the Armani Dubai suite which comprises of a huge expanse over 390 square meters of high luxury residence in its living space, the suite is found further up the tower with the most stunning views across Dubai, with this costing in the region of $11,000 a night.

There is a cheaper option of room if there is such a thing at $470 a night, namely the Armani classic rooms which are mainly found in the centre of the tower comprising of 70 square meters.

If you are looking to do something more active, without leaving the hotel, the nightclub Armani Privé is in the hotel where you can enjoy the expensive cocktails from the bar, whilst watching one of the world’s largest LCD television screens.

This hotel optimises quality, finesse and shear luxury that you will be hard pressed to find anywhere in Dubai or anywhere else in the world for that matter.

The InterContinental Dubai Festival City is rapidly becoming a new landmark  and innovative hotel in the city of Dubai. With Dubai creek being the location of this hotel, having the most amazing views in every direction. With the hotel boasting 36-floors, the InterContinental has 501 specially designed bedrooms which include 124 suites of which three are presidential and one royal luxury suites. All of these rooms and suites have the option of views of the city, Dubai creek, festival marina or the shopping centre, all of the bathrooms have amazing panoramic views as standard.

The bathrooms also offer flat panel TV’s, freestanding baths and showers. And each of the bedrooms and suites come standard with high speed broadband, flat screen LCD TVs, complete with CD, DVD and VCD.

The two floor 40,000 sq ft conference centre can be divided into 8 separate meeting rooms, and can cater for up to 1800 guests. As with most downtown Dubai luxury hotels the Intercontinental not only offers excellent facilities to the tourist and business traveller, but also caters to both sectors of travelling guests with its prime location, with the following being in very close proximity to the hotel: the world trade centre, Burj Khalifa, Burj museum and the Al Mamzar Beach Park .

For those who need to relax and unwind, the hotels spa offers signature treatments, there is a gymnasium with free weights and a Kinesis wall, steam & sauna rooms, a 25 metre temperature controlled outdoor swimming pool and three spa pools.

The hotel has two stylish bars and four exceptional restaurants with views of the city to admire.

Restaurants

Anise

Anise serves multi-ethnic foods and is based on a stunning forest-and-ice design theme.

Bistro Madeleine

Bistro Madeleine has the feel of a cafe in France and offers freshly baked pastries and breads.

Al Sultan Brahim Beirut

This Lebanese restaurant serves the finest Arabic seafood, and has an outdoor terrace where you can partake in shisha pipes after your food

Reflets

Pierre Gagnaire a Three-Michelin-starred chef brings his style here to Reflets. The upmarket food menu provides you the chance to sample his personal favourite food menu here in what he describes as his “multi-sensory hits,” where he has blended unusual tastes and textures for you

Bars

Vista Lounge

Only the Burj Khalifa or a ship in the middle of the creek would offer you a better view of the harbour. This bar appears to hover over the water and is encased with glass the full height of the ceiling which is the view everyone wants in their camera. Afternoon or evening cocktails are very enjoyable accompanied with regular live piano music

Eclipse Bar

The eclipse bar is high up on the 26th floor which supplies you with breathtaking views of the city of Dubai. Contemporary decor and dark tones are perfect for this champagne bar to give an intimate setting to this bar, which is perfect for sipping champagne or cocktails before dinner and watching the day or night go by.

The onsite Golf Club Al Badia start the state of the art Performance Lab with a diagnosing your golf swing with motion capture technology at Dubai’s only Taylor Made golf swing Performance Lab. This session with our golf teaching professional and explores your swing and will design golf clubs to suit you to give you Taylor made clubs that will improve your swing technique and teach you how to change it to suit you to give you a better handicap .

You will then play on our par-72, 18-hole championship golf course, with the use of golf carts and driving range before you head out to warm you up. This course was designed with the upmost playing conditions in mind to challenge you with specifically designed risk holes, water hazards, a variety of challenges that will test you’re golfing to the limits. A round of golf at Al Badia will provide you with an excellent test of your ability, and then off to the nineteenth hole, the clubhouse, that matches the intrigue of the professional course with the facilities to match.

The hotel is internally connected to the wonderful shopping centre that has over 600 shops, 90 restaurants & cafés. It is also connected to the marina where there are 100 berths to park your yachts.