There are some things money can’t buy; happiness, love, true friendship. For everything else, such as totally awesome hotel room, money will do the trick quite nicely. For a bill measured in tens of thousands of dollars a night, you can live in the lap of luxury with your own cook, butler and concierge while taking in the most amazing views from your private balcony.
Hey, if you’ve got the cash, why not? Just in case you ever find yourself on receiving end of a hefty lottery win or discover a sizeable oil deposit in your garden, here are the most incredible hotel designs money can hire:
For $18,200 a night you can grab a suite at the Ritz-Carlton, Moscow and enjoy your own private library, bar, boardroom and even grand piano. The views are so amazing that you have the floor to ceiling windows from which to enjoy them and the furnishings are so luxurious you will feel like royalty. The suite is 232 square meters in size and has heated flooring throughout so although Moscow may be cold, you certainly won’t be.
Dubai has always been a place of luxury and opulence where the rich go to play and nothing fits the bill better than the Burj Al Arab. If you are looking for a hotel room, this is not the place for you as individual rooms are not on offer. A suite on the other hand is available with the Royal Suite topping them all at just under $19,000 a night.
For just under $25,000 a night you can experience one of the most impressive hotels in Paris. Full of expensive antiques and artwork, the Royal Suite has a private balcony overlooking the fountain of the Three Graces. If that isn’t enough for you the marble bathroom and walk in wardrobes may just swing it instead.
This beautiful suite is priced at $22,000 a night however there are ten bedrooms in it which can sleep two people so it is almost affordable if you all put some money into the pot. The suite has amazing 360 degree views around Paradise Island and is rumoured to have been the choice of many celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Celine Dion. However, we really think that the big draw of this hotel is its exterior. The hotel quite literally occupies an island paradise that’s just breathtaking.
This villa is as famous as the man himself and has been the location of many celebrity parties and events, as well as being featured on numerous television programmes. It has a distinct Playboy theme and guests can enjoy a rotating bed, rather rude artwork and a huge bath, perfect for a romantic soak. For just $35,000 a night you can enjoy all this while absorbing the view over the famous Las Vegas strip.
If you are looking for all out opulence and elegance, Westin Excelsior is the suite for you at $29,000 a night. There are several balconies with beautiful views, amazing furnishings and expensive art adorning all the walls. It cost $7 million when redesigned in 1998 and also has a Jacuzzi like no other and stained glass windows. The mini bar is one of the most impressive elements to this suite with over 150 vintage wines and not a salted peanut in sight.
For an amazing $65,000 a night you can stay at this luxurious twelve bedroom suite which has amazing views of Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc. It has bulletproof windows and a security system fit for a president meaning that it is favoured by powerful political leaders when they visit the city. It also has a library, office, gym and several reception rooms perfect for politicians to conduct meetings.
The most innovative design in the world today is mostly found in the hotel sector. The smart designers, architects and artists are already hard at work in this market redesigning and redecorating a fleet of boutique and design hotels all over the world. In these financially malevolent times it is often boutique hotel owners who are willing to take new risks in architecture and interior design as a means of making their mark in a crowded marketplace – as a result, have become some of the best patrons of the arts today.
Some new players even dispense with the most basic elements – guests pay for and open their rooms with iPhones. Others have no fixed location. The entire hotel is loaded on the back of a truck and transported… Paris one day, the Swiss Alps the next. For these new hotel owners it is not about prestigious designers any more. Today the top hotels are fresh and unique. In fact, it is not unusual for artists, poets and designers to be given free rein in the decoration of guest rooms.
The movement has given rise to new niches. The eco-lodge movement, for example, combines sustainability, social enterprise and design to create new thoughts in tourism – they are carbon neutral, benefit the local community and source produce from their own organic gardens. Art hotels are further pushing the boundaries functioning as both galleries and hotels.
The Japanese capsule hotel is the single biggest (or smallest) revolution to come out of Japan since someone thought that, instead of cooking fish, the best thing would be to cut it up very small and put it on a some sticky rice. The idea was to provide a bed for people who may not require a full hotel service. The West has been slow to catch on to these hotels but is starting to come around.
Here are five of the best:
When was the last time you got a full nine hours blissful slumber? These luxury pods come with an en suite shower and a fully controllable ambient environment… basically, a lullaby for big boys.
Guests leave their shoes and clothes in lockers and are provided with slippers and dressing gown in this old-school style capsule hotel. It is male only which is not so unusual in Japan as most capsule hotel customers are men.
Flatscreen media centre, iPod dock and more bandwidth than Queen Latifah’s trousers, this is a pod hotel for the media generation. From the team behind “Yo!Shushi” these hotels rent rooms for 4-24 hours, perfect for resting up between connecting flights.
First opening its doors in 1979, the original capsule hotel provides segregated accommodation for males and females and traditional Japanese saunas. Communual areas stock Mah-Jong sets, massage chairs and vending machines.
Different to the traditional capsule hotels in as much as you stay in a “survival pod” like the one James Bond drank champagne in the final scene of “The Spy Who Loved Me”. In homage to this moment the capsules are decorated in 1970s glamour with disco balls and white rugs.
