Splendidly Excessive

Over-the-top could be a description of Atlantis the Royal Dubai. Unique’s another one. The design, certainly, says wow. Think of a Brobdingnag pile of books deliberately placed slightly askew, one atop the other. This is the 795-room Kerzner-managed hotel, which comes with 231 residences, all privately owned.

Fortuitous Fate

Tom Roelens, Belgian Managing Director of this empire, arrived here by luck. At 14, he told his engineer father he wanted knives (well, he was going to be a chef). Two years ago, as a Four Seasons General Manager, he was holidaying in Dubai and coincidentally bumped into the relevant Kerzner boss.

Beautifully Bulbous

This is today’s luxury lifestyle. Art – Roelens here sits in front of a 25-ft high bulbous silver sculpture, Jeff Koons style, by another American, Mike McLeod. Entertainment – Beyoncé famously declared the complex open on 21st January 2023. Experiences – an outside water ballet, 17 restaurants, celeb chefs and a 960-seat Gastronomy with 18 different food types. Glass-walled boutiques - Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton and Valentino. Fifth Avenue in the Gulf. To make it all work, there’s a team of 2,200. 126 nationalities.

Golden Touch

Success is in the detail, says Roelens. Room maids wear crisply-starched white aprons. Bathroom toiletries, in gold-edged leather boxes, hold brushes and combs, toothbrushes and razors. All gold.

Symphony of Taste 

Razzmatazz, but the hotel plays like the Berlin Philharmonic doing Beethoven’s Ninth. At breakfast, servers remember coffee idiosyncrasies. One hotel guest will never forget blueberry-topped muffins eaten outside in January as a blood-orange sun comes up over The Palm.