News on Youtube Oct 1 2017

Luxury Vacations: Stay at the Only 7-Star Hotel in the World

There's only one hotel in the world that offers a truly luxurious experience, and that's

the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

But just how luxurious IS luxurious?

Technically speaking, there's no such thing as a seven-star hotel – international bodies

will only award hotels with up to five stars (some organizations, like the AAA, award hotels

with diamonds instead of stars).

There isn't even a six-star rating.

And yet the Burj Al Arab in Dubai is regarded as the first and only seven-star hotel in

the world – unofficially, of course.

Officially, it "only" has five stars, a rating that only the world's best and

most luxurious hotels are awarded with.

Even the hotel's management company, Jumeirah Group, doesn't use the seven-star description

they've been lauded with in their marketing efforts which, according to a spokeswoman,

emerged when a British journalist visited the hotel on a pre-opening press trip.

In the journalist's article, she described it as "above and beyond anything she had

ever seen and called it a seven-star hotel," and it just kind of stuck.

But just how luxurious is the Burj Al Arab exactly?

Just what made that journalist laud the Burj Al Arab a seven-star hotel?

Well, put it this way: it was the first hotel in the world to offer a butler service for

every single one of its 202 duplex suites when it opened in 1999.

And get this: it employs the largest brigade of professionally trained butlers than anywhere

else in the world with a fleet of 1,600 stewards attending to your every need during your stay.

In other words, there's a butler-to-suite ratio of 8:1.

Still not impressed?

(I mean, seriously.

There aren't just one or two but eight butlers to a room here, and if that really doesn't

constitute as grounds for being impressed in your book, then I really don't know what

will).

Fortunately, however, the Burj Al Arab has plenty to boast about, like the fact it's

the third tallest hotel in the world at 1,053 feet.

It's also one of the most expensive hotels in the world: staying here will put you back

about $1,400 just for a night – and that's in the smallest and cheapest available room!

So, what exactly makes this "seven-star hotel" the ultimate destination for the

luxury vacation many of us only ever dream about?

What makes it the luxury hotel of all luxury hotels?

A Luxurious Welcome Your luxury vacation at the Burj Al Arab begins

with a rather luxurious welcome.

Whether you arrive in your own private car or in a taxi, you'll immediately "retreat

into a state of privacy in an environment of spectacular elegance and sophistication."

After you've gotten over the fact you're standing in an impressively 590-foot-tall

atrium, a dedicated butler will check you into your room (in your actual room, of course),

help you unpack, and will even shine your shoes, all while you enjoy a complimentary

bespoke fruit basket, Arabic sweets and dates, and a bottle of wine or grape juice.

Meanwhile, if making an entrance is kind of your thing, the hotel can help you arrange

the entrance of the century, one that won't be forgotten any time soon.

For just AED 10,000 (about $2,725), you can choose to arrive by helicopter straight from

the airport (plus AED 1,500, or about $410, for every additional passenger).

The seven to ten-minute journey offers a breathtaking birds-eye view of the city and a truly unforgettable

experience.

If, however, you and heights don't do well together, you could instead opt for the equally

luxurious white Rolls Royce Phantom airport transport (rates start from AED 900, or about

$245, depending on the season).

A Suite Fit for a King You don't have to be royalty to stay at

the Burj Al Arab (you only have to be rich, really), but you'll certainly feel like

it – especially if you're planning to stay in the $24,000-per-night Royal Suite,

blissfully located on the 25th floor of the self-described most luxurious hotel in the

world.

Each of the hotel's 202 suites is a luxurious duplex room – we use the word "room"

lightly; a better word for choice would be "palace" – but the Royal Suite is quite

something else: it perfectly demonstrates why the Burj Al Arab belongs on every list

of the 'most expensive hotels in the world' it's ever been featured on (usually in the

coveted top spot).