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19 April 2024

Is your love worth $1 million this year's Valentine's Day?

Emirates Palace, Abu Dhabi. (SUPPLIED)

Published
By Keith J Fernandez

It's the million-dollar question: how much is your love worth? Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace hotel wants punters to answer that this year by booking what it calls a once-in-a-lifetime dream holiday.

Priced at $1 million (Dh3.67m), it is aimed at high fliers whose budgets have not been dented by the recent financial crisis.

"It's about having a whole range of choice, about offering something unique which you cannot just buy off the shelf," Janet Abrahams, the hotel's Executive Director of Sales and Marketing, told Emirates Business.

That heart-stopping amount includes return first-class fares from any destination serviced by Etihad Airways, seven nights' all-inclusive stay at one of the hotel's Palace Suites (the rack rate for which is Dh58,000 plus taxes), the services of a personal butler and a chauffeur-driven Maybach at the couple's disposal.

Also included are meals at any of the hotel's award-winning restaurants, in a private gazebo under the stars or served in-suite.

In addition, Abrahams said, guests can pick and choose from a range of add-ons, such as a romantic dhow cruise, camel racing, falconry, a Rolls Royce Golf experience, a helicopter tour of the emirate, the services of a personal shopper, bespoke perfumes and more. "The entire package depends on the person booking it and what he or she wants to have included," she said. The package can be booked from February 11 to the end of the year.

"Sure, last year there were difficulties, but people are still celebrating relative to their needs,"?Abrahams said, when asked about the wisdom of launching such a package on the back of one of the worst recessions.

"In Abu Dhabi we've had so much positive news because of the dynamic economy and in Moscow, for example, there are more millionaires than ever," she said. "And Valentine's Day is a very special occasion for people of all nationalities."

But for those romantics whose pockets don't quite run that deep, Abrahams said the hotel has a variety of deals. Dh2,230, for example, gets you a night's stay at the hotel with dinner at its Le Vendôme brasserie.

"Even in lean times, people want to celebrate, and Emirates Palace offers that. Already, our restaurants are filling up with advance bookings,"?she added.

 

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