The $1m holiday in Abu Dhabi
The $3.2 billion (Dh11.7bn) Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi was one of the most expensive hotels ever built when it opened in 2003. Known for its affinity to luxury, the hotel recently launched what it claims is the most expensive hotel package holiday at a staggering $1m for seven days.
Included is a first-class return trip with Etihad from your location, a seven-night stay in the Palace Suite at Emirates Palace, a chauffeur driven Maybach and a daily treatment in the Anantara Spa.
The crème de le crème of the package is that you get to be whisked off in your own private jet to Iran and watch your own Persian carpet being made, then you can jet off to the Dead Sea in Jordan before you stop over in Bahrain for a pearl diving experience.
Janet Abrahams, director of sales and marketing, who came up with the idea, explains to Emirates Business why it is another way of extending the arm of service to the guest.
Why has Emirates Palace decided to offer a $1million holiday?
The reason it started was because we have guests from all over the world who sometimes come to the UAE just to stay at Emirates Palace. They will ask if we can arrange this and that so I thought maybe we could create one promotion with some of those requests and more.
How do you know it is the most expensive hotel package holiday?
The reason it ended up as a $1m break is that we have submitted this to the Guinness World Records and we are now awaiting the certificate.
As a hotel it gives us publicity and shows we can produce exclusive ideas. For the customer it means the first person to try it will have bought the world's most expensive hotel holiday.
Do people who have bought the holiday have to stick with your itinerary or can they make changes?
While you are here you have a private jet and you can basically go anywhere, as long as you have the time. But you can do a lot in one week. We put in our programme as a guide but for example someone may have a passion to go to Oman and that can be arranged. What remains is the first class Etihad tickets from their destination.
Has anyone shown an interest in the package yet and if so, will they want publicity?
We have had three enquiries now and one of them is from a business. So long as they are interested in the publicity we can make this happen but if it is a couple and they want their privacy then we will respect that. For a business the publicity alone is worth a million dollars.
What is it that you hope to achieve by this package holiday and when is it valid until?
The bottom line is that we are here to serve the guest and all hotels hope to exceed the guest's expectations. The idea here is that we can push the boat out and create dreams for people. The package is valid until the end of the year because if somebody wants to book, say in two years' time, then the prices would have changed.