Set on the idyllic 35-acre island of Manafaru, The Beach House sits at the most northerly tip of the Maldives, in the pristine, lagoon-ringed Haa Alifu Atoll, little explored by foreigners and totally un-polluted by the noise of passing speedboats.
The Beach House offers unparalleled luxury to the discerning few :
Each of the 68 villas and suites offer a private pool, complete privacy and a personal butler to pre-empt and exceed your expectations. 
All of the villas feature every modern technological convenience, while maintaing traditional Maldivian style World-class cuisine from all corners of the world combined with countless on- and off-shore recreational facilities round up the truly supreme character of the The Beach House at Manafaru Maldives.
In addition to luxury suites he resort also features a fully equipped hi-tech gymnasium, tennis and badminton courts, beach volleyball, billiards, table tennis, a free form and infinity pool plus a PADI diving centre.
Seven nights at The Beach House start at from £1,779 per person.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Beach House at Manafaru Maldives
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Ithaa : Undersea restaurant
Ithaa, which means pearl in Dhivehi, is the world's premier undersea restaurant, secured five metres (15 feet ) below sea level, surrounded by a coral reef , at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island in Rangalifinolhu, Maldives (The award-winning Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa became Conrad Maldives Rangali Island on 18 December 2007 - This is in line with Conrad's positioning as the luxury brand within the Hilton Family, with services & facilities). 
The five-by-nine meter restaurant is encased in R-Cast acrylic which is a transparent acrylic roof offering 270° panoramic view to its customers. Only 14 individuals can dine at one time and the menu is considered to be Maldavian-Western Fusion. Meals range in cost from US$120 to US$250.
The amazing experience begins right from the start as you reach the restaurant by going through a wooden walkway.
The restaurant, which cost around $5 million to build, was designed by M.J. Murphy Ltd. - a design consultancy based in New Zealand - and was opened on April 15, 2005. The structure was built in Singapore and shipped to the island on a massive barge equipped with a giant crane to lower it into position in the sea
Carsten Schieck, the General Manager said : "We have used aquarium technology to put diners face-to-face with the stunning underwater environment of the Maldives. Our guests always comment on being blown away by the colour, clarity, and beauty of the underwater world in the Maldives, so it seemed the perfect idea to build a restaurant where diners can experience fine cuisine and take time to enjoy the views without ever getting their feet wet." (source)
Indeed, as the fish swim freely on the outside, diners are the ones occupying the aquarium ^_^
MayFair Hotel Suite for one Year
For those who frequently travel to London, booking a deluxe hotel room a few times a month can become costly. This is why London's MayFair Hotel is "selling" one of its Signature Suites for an entire year at a discounted price.
For $585,000, you'll have full access to the suite for 365 days, compared with the regular nightly rate of $5,200. (60% discount.)
The one-bedroom suite includes a Harrison & Gil hand-carved headboard in the bedroom and an Italian marble bathroom with a limestone egg bath.
The sitting room features Chinese antiques, a full-size Cattelan dining table to seat 10 and a remote-controlled fireplace
Via forbesWednesday, July 9, 2008
Le Provençal Hotel on the Côte d'Azur to reopen as luxury apartments
This post is really meaningful to me. When I was a student, I used to live in Juan Les Pins, everyday, on my way to school, I was fascinated by this huge abandoned hotel and I really wanted to explore it. Le Provençal was the hotel that actually embodied a golden age on the Côte d'Azur.
“The 256-bedroom Art Deco palace and its "bright tan prayer rug of a beach" were, in the 1930s and 1940s, the symbol of the French Riviera. Coco Chanel and Marilyn Monroe ranked among the sun-worshippers; and on one balmy July evening, Ella Fitzgerald threw open an upstairs window and sang to the crowds at the world-famous Jazz à Juan festival in the park below. […] Built by an American millionaire Frank J Gould in 1925, with tennis club and jetty, restaurants, bars and luxury suites, the hotel marked a new way of life: la dolce vita.”
(copyright : Telegraph)The London Telegraph reports that Developer Cyril Dennis is transforming the 45,000-sq.ft. beachside property, built in 1925, into 56 luxury units :
“Some have 360-degree views, and indoor pools, as well as outdoor pools and gardens; they will be fitted out with Porche kitchens, marble floors, Turkish baths, aquariums and separate staff lifts and entrances. Music, heating, lighting, flowers and shopping can be computer-controlled. Landscaped gardens, replanted each season, will feature fountains, ponds and an infinity pool with 360m terrace”
He describes the Provençal as "the last jewel in the Cap d'Antibes," an area where top-drawer villas now go for over $200 million thanks to an influx of superrich (Russian) oligarchs. The luxury apartments will cost between €2million and €40million ($60 million)… 
Via telegraph.co.ukTuesday, July 1, 2008
The World's Most Expensive Hotel Rooms : The Peninsula Hong Kong
Opened in 1928, during an era when everything was grand and opulent, the Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong has long been considered one of the world’s finest hotels. It offers the ultimate in luxury accommodations with the most spacious hotel rooms and suites in Hong Kong.
The 26th-floor Peninsula Suite at the Hong Kong Peninsula has been regarded as the most luxurious suite in Asia. The 26th floor suite offers panoramic views of Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong Island. It was built with spooks in mind. Since many of the visitors to the suite are diplomats and heads of state, both the CIA and M15 were consulted on the design to ensure maximum security.
The room has direct access to the hotel's helipad for quick getaways, and there is also a security guard's room down the hallway.
Guests of the suite also have access to a 24-hour butler and a Rolls-Royce on standby. The suite has one master bedroom but can be converted to a seven-bedroom spread with adjoining rooms.
The rooms are sleek and modern, with double-height ceilings and liberal use of pale, natural materials such as marble and limestone. The windows in the sitting area are floor-to-ceiling and offer views of the city, and the suite also has a fitness room, private study, dining room and kitchen as well as a terrace.
In addition, the Peninsula Shopping Arcade – located on the basement, ground, and mezzanine levels – is comprised of 80 shops. You’ll find the best designers here, including Prada, Louis Vuitton, Versace, Jimmy Chen, Christian Dior, and many more. (source)
Price : $40,000 HKD ($5,000) per night
Related articles :
Monday, June 30, 2008
Stress free travel in Bangkok
The Metropolitan Bangkok, sister to the chic Metropolitan outpost in London, has launched a new package specially designed for passengers passing through Bangkok on their way in and out of Asia, who find themselves at the city’s Suvarnabhumi Airport with a lengthy layover.
The new package allows for a stress-free stopover at the hotel, permitting guests to relax and recharge in style while waiting for the next leg of their flight.
A limo transports guests directly from the airport to the hotel, where one can immediately profit from the relaxing facilities at COMO Shambhala Urban Escape (including an extensive gym, hydro pool, steam rooms and outdoor lap pool) and an indulgent one-hour COMO Shambhala Massage.
Guests can enjoy A revitalising lunch or dinner (three courses, including fresh juice) at the Metropolitan’s healthy restaurant, Glow, where Executive Chef Daniel Moran serves light and nutritious COMO Shambhala Cuisine. Based on fresh, organic ingredients, menus provide an ideal energy boost for fatigued travellers (Bangkok is a common gateway for travel to Thai beach resorts, as well as The Maldives and Bali.)
"Touchdown at the Met" is available for US$200 per person (if travelling alone), US$150 per person (party of two), US$134 per person (party of three) or US$125 per person (party of four), excluding tax and service charge.
Note a minimum five-hour stopover is required to make time for this package.
(Source : alice marshall PR)Friday, June 20, 2008
Amazing hotel swimming pool
The highly anticipated Joule hotel opened in Dallas in May and hotel guests will have the chance to check out the amazing opportunity to swim in the pool ! but this is no ordinary rooftop pool! With this new attraction, the hotel went above and beyond… literally.
The pool extends beyond the building, out over the sidewalk above the 1500 block of Main Street! This infinity-edge pool will not only provide guests with a refreshing place to cool off and relax, but it is also another eye treat adding to the cutting edge excitement downtown.
Passers-by below can see swimmers, plus a nighttime light show from the 132 fiber optic lights in the pool. 
Hotel owner Tim Headington, declined to say how much the project cost.
Rooms at the Joule, which is part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide LLC's Luxury Collection, start at $380 a night, with the 20th-floor penthouse rising to $5,000.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The world's largest swimming pool
Already drawing the crowds in the South American resort of San Alfonso del Mar in Chile, this artificial lagoon and swimming pool has been acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the the biggest and longest swimming pool in the world.
The pool is 1013 metres (3,324 feet) long and covers an area of 8 hectares (19.77 acres), had a 115ft deep end and holds 66 million gallons (250,000 cubic meters ) of water. It is even navigable in small boats !
The idea to create this resort came as far back as 1997, when Chilean real estate developer and biochemist Fernando Fischmann, wanted to create a revolutionary resort. The motivating factor to create such an immense pool was the Pacific Ocean itself. The waters of the Pacific Ocean coast of Chile is cold, unclean and dangerous, so Mr Fischmann wanted to create a place for people to swim and enjoy water sports in a comfortable and safe environment. Rather than creating just another small swimming pool, he wanted something totally extraordinary.
The water is pumped in from the Pacific Ocean and treated before being pumped into the pool. The water temperature is kept at 26°C. It is 9°C warmer than the adjoining sea, allowing it to be used on cold days
Source : reutersFriday, June 6, 2008
World’s First Luxury Airship
French industrial designer Jean-Marie Massaud believes that slow cruising in an airship could be the next step in air travel and he is partnering with Onera, France’s space agency, to create the world’s first luxury airship.
"Manned Cloud" will have a top speed of 170 kilometers per hour, but will generally travel at 130 kilometers per hour, a more comfortable speed for sight-seeing. The vessel, which will be 210 meters long, 82 meters wide and 52 meters high, will only require re-fuelling after 5,000 kilometers and will be able to remain airborne for roughly three days.
Massaud Studio is promoting the futuristic vessel as an ecologically friendly way to travel. Landscapes will be enjoyed from above rather than being disfigured or damaged by tourist infrastructure.
A restaurant, bookstore, fitness studio and bar will provide entertainment, should watching the world go by through the enormous panorama windows, or tanning on the sun deck on the top of the vessel, become boring.
Intrigued by Massaud’s spaceship-like design and the possibility of a new aeronautics market, Onera has been testing the aerodynamics and flight-control capabilities of a scale model for the past year.
This spring, the agency recommended a slightly less grand version of the airship, capable of carrying 15 passengers and traveling at 80 mph. Massaud hopes the new design will attract the attention of private investors, from whom he aims to secure as much as $15 billion to begin building the Manned Cloud, with a sail date of 2020.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Hotel Unique, Sao Paulo, Brazil
A reference in modern architecture and originality, Unique's spacey, green copper façade alone makes this hotel unlike any other. The imposing hotel, shaped like a modern Noah’s Arkbalances on two thin concrete walls, which anchor the semi-circular monolith to the ground.
Located in the well-heeled residential area of Jardins, and just meters from Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo's largest green area, the building rises like a gracious ocean liner in dry-dock.
The funny thing is that when pharmaceutical heir Jonas Siaulys decided at the last minute to scrap a shopping mall project and build a boutique hotel instead, his architect Ruy Ohtake delivered new sketches within 48 hours. “I think he realized that the possibilities for a hotel were greater than for a mall,” says Siaulys. “And he knew that we’d give him creative freedom.”
Shielding dark glass and a desert garden of mini, sand-toned cubes of rock, palms and agaves are the first impressionsthat the hotel offers. Dramatic high internal spaces such as the lobby are excentuated and illuminated with walls of beige marble, and sharp, geometric themes make the spectacle even grander.
In the rooms, the bathrooms borrow a page from the driver’s manual of a Ferrari convertible. Pop open the vertically sliding divider and guests can soak in the bathtub with a full view of the bedroom and television. Pop it closed for privacy.
And when the time comes to go for a swim, backstrokes can be done in a slender red pool on the top floor. The sun deck offers a privileged view of São Paulo’s imposing skyline.
Source : designhotel
A great article about Unique Hotel
Monday, May 12, 2008
Morgan Plaza Beijing
The Morgan Plaza is a super-luxury 7 star hotel under construction in Beijing, China. Although it was set to be finished last month’s, there has been no official confirmation of it completion yet but it definitely going to be completed in time for the Beijing Olympics.
When completed it is rumoured to be possibly more luxurious than the Burj Al Arab and has been considered to be the official landmark of China, still in competition with the Shanghai World Financial Center.
The plaza will contain two pavilions, a temple, the world’s best Japanese restaurant and a 600 meter long corridor.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Bridge Suite at the Atlantis Resort
The "Bridge Suite" ranks third in terms of most expensive hotel rooms in the world, at $25,000. Even with its large price tag, the suite currently has a five-year waiting list, and requires guests to stay at least four nights in the suite. It is located in the span that connects the two Royal Towers.
This is the hotel's presidential suite, which has ten rooms with more than 5,000 square feet (460 m²) of living space. The Bridge Suite comes with its own butler and cook, and the kitchen has its own entrance so that the staff never bothers the guest. The suite include gold chandeliers, a baby grand piano, and balconies on both sides.
The architecture and décor feature murals, sculptures, and fountains. The Great Hall of Waters lobby has a 70-foot (21 m)-high domed ceiling covered in golden shells, and opens on one side to the Marina. The other side leads to underwater streets filled with fish and Atlantean artifacts. The top four floors of the Royal Towers are known as the Imperial Club.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Belfast hotel serves up the world's most expensive cocktail
The price of a round of drinks may be getting ever more expensive nowadays, but it's a snip compared with what is on offer at Belfast's Merchant Hotel. At £750, an original Trader Vic's Mai Tai isn't within everyone's budget, but its hefty price tag has been enough to secure it the official title of the world's most expensive cocktail. [...]
The Merchant owns one of only six bottles in existence of 17-year-old Wray and Nephew Rum, which was used by trader Vic Bergeron to create the original Mai Tai over 60 years ago. "Nobody else in the world can do this cocktail, we're the only bar," explained the Merchant's Bar and Potation Manager Sean Muldoon. And although the 750ml bottle itself may look rather nondescript, it is worth a whopping £26,000. "Due to the popularity of the Mai Tai when it was invented in 1944 the 17-year-old rum was used up and wasn't made any more," said Mr Muldoon. [...]
However, a special batch of the 17-year-old rum was created recently, ostensibly for private gifts, but one of these was acquired by the Merchant. [...] "When this bottle goes we will never be able to get another one," said Mr Muldoon. For more information on the Merchant Hotel visit themerchanthotel.com
Thursday, May 8, 2008
One-Room Hotel in Paris
Hotel Everland, the creation of Swiss artists Sabina Lang & Daniel Baumann, on the roof of Palais de Tokyo is an art consisting of an actual one-room hotel. It offers 1970's-style glamour, a turquoise-tiled bathroom, a record player with a collection of vinyl discs, & a spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower but remember no TV.
If you are interested in the room in the hotel, you can actually stay in it & is offered at a price of 333 Euros per night during weekdays & 444 Euros at weekends. But do remember it will remain atop the Palais de Tokyo until the end of 2008 only.
Via Crooked BrainsWednesday, May 7, 2008
The Palazzo Versace Hotel in Dubai
The Palazzo Versace Hotel in Dubai will ultimately be one of 16 luxury branded resorts located around the world, which will take Gianni Versace inspired ostentation to a new level.
The completed hotel will incorporate 169 private flats all decorated and furnished in the Versace style.
Some of the more interesting features will include Hand cut mosaic floors, Communal areas will have immense seawater aquariums with exotic Red Sea fish and also under beach cooling system to ensure you don’t burn your feet.
This market seems to be defying the global doom with 100 units already sold. Kate Hudson is reported to be one of the purchasers having bought a 2,210 sq ft flat for £2.23 million ($4.46 million).
Palazzo Versace already have a resort on Australia’s Gold Coast with other’s planned for Goa, Abu Dhabi, India, China, Russia, Paris, London, New York and Rome.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Indoor City - Crystal Island in Moscow
At 1500ft (450m) high, the Crystal Island project won’t be the tallest piece of architecture on the planet, but covering 27 million sq ft (2.5 million sq. m) of floor space, it will be gimungeous.
Basically, the structure in Moscow will be a city within a building and will have its own weather system. London’s prestigious Foster + Partners have designed the mega-structure incorporating solar and wind energy systems, making it eco-friendly.
The $4 billion dollar structure that looks like an enormous crystal Christmas tree will have 3,000 hotel rooms and 900 apartment units. Other amenities include an international school, a theatre, cinemas and a sports centre.
For comparison, the Burj Dubai, the structure that holds the record for world’s tallest building (810+m) for the foreseeable future will contain about 3,595,100 sq ft (334,000 m²) when completed. So, the Crystal Island project will have 7.5 times the indoor space.
It’s expected to be completed between 2012 and 2013.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
A Louis Vuitton Store Inside a Marriott
Hotels are slowly moving beyond the bar, nightclub and restaurant trend to add some hip retail spaces in their properties. Of course, this is nothing new as some hotels have been doing this already for a long time. But what is news is the report of a Louis Vuitton store opening inside the JW Marriott Bucharest Hotel.
The store will open in June and offer customers the standard LV leather goods as well as the opportunity to design their own travel trunk based on their "requirements and taste."
As for why LV would open in a Marriott, international senior VP for LV said :
"We looked on Calea Victoriei and on other boulevards in Bucharest but chose the Marriott because it is a visually safe and controlled environment, where you know who your neighbours are and do not risk having a sex shop open next door."
Friday, April 4, 2008
The $300,000 dinner at Bangkok's Lebua Hotel
The 10-course feast is being touted as a "once-in-a-lifetime inspirational dinner." On April 5, Bangkok's five-star Lebua hotel will treat 50 favored guests to a repast prepared by a glittering array of Michelin-starred chefs. To thank the guests for their loyalty to the hotel, Lebua plans to spend $300,000 for the meal. Accustomed though they may be to showy p.r. stunts, social activists are nonetheless up in arms over this particular act of epic extravagance. The reason? The banquet comes with a pre-dinner commitment to what the Lebua's p.r. mavens have dubbed "emotional tourism." Hours before digging into truffles and foie gras, the 50 diners will fly by private jet to a village in central Thailand to see how impoverished Thais manage to get by without regular infusions of Brittany lobster and Bresse chicken.
Originally, three Michelin-starred chefs — Alan Soliveres, Michel Trama and Jean-Michel Lorain — were to have catered the dinner, for a fee of $8,000 each. But the trio pulled out last month after European media assailed the hotel group for not committing any of its own money to helping the indigent Thai villagers. Lebua responded by saying it hopes the rural visit will spur some of the assembled guests to donate cash of their own. And the hotel assures potential diners that it has found Michelin-starred replacement chefs — although it will not release their names, presumably for fear that they, too, might be pressured by negative publicity into withdrawing from the event.
Lebua certainly knows all about hosting lavish feasts. Last year, the hotel organized an event it modestly titled "The Epicurean Masters of the World," a Michelin-starred extravaganza at a cost per head of 1 million baht (around $28,000). Despite the hefty check, the dinner event was fully booked — and it received its share of official criticism, coming at a moment when Thailand's then-ruling military junta was unveiling an economic policy based, in part, on scaling back ostentatious shows of wealth. The dinner also mystified many ordinary Thais, who are used to dining on some of the world's tastiest street food for no more than a dollar a plate. [...]
Sunday, March 16, 2008
acknowledged as the best hotel in the world...
The Burj Al Arab Jumeirah resort in Dubai, is acknowledged as the best hotel in the world.
The stellar customer service starts the moment you land in Dubai, with a chauffeur picking you up in the Rolls Royce that will be yours for the duration of your stay. When you arrive at the breathtaking hotel which stands 321 meters tall in the shape of a sail, you are taken directly to one of the 202 suites where you are checked in, a service that guarantees your privacy.
Each sprawling suite is two levels, and has floor to ceiling windows providing breathtaking views of the Arabian Gulf. Some of the listed in room features are, a private elevator, private cinema, a rotating four-post canopy bed,a separate butler entrance and a study area with a library.
Should you venture out of your palace, activities made available to guests include hot air ballooning, horse back riding, golf at the world class Montgomerie Golf Course, desert safari day trips, chartered yacht trips and helicopter tours. After working up and appetite you are invited to dine at one of the hotels award winning restaurants.
The signature restaurant, 'Al Mahara is frequently listed as one of the top ten restaurants in the world and offers the finest seafood and Mediterranean cuisine in an underwater setting, complete with a mock submarine ride. Unparalleled luxury, set in paradise... truly a once in a lifetime experience, especially when you consider the prices.
An evening at the Burj Al Arab will cost you between $3,000 and $5,000 per night!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Lunar beauty to bedazzle Azerbaijan skyline
Heerim Architects has attempted to reinvent the skyscraper beyond the traditional with two lunar inspired projects in the central Asian republic of Azerbaijan. The Korean firm has dreamed up Full Moon Bay and Caspian Plus that includes Crescent Place on neighbouring peninsulas in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku that look on to the Caspian Sea - the two projects on opposite extremes of the same bay acting as gateway markers.
Hotel Full Moon is essentially a disc with rounded edges and a hole in one of the top corners that appears radically different to the view depending on the angle it is seen from. The frontage thanks to the bulging centre makes it appear more like a glass death star whilst the side profile is more than a little gherkinesque. Changing appearance depending on the view is reinforced by the cladding treatment the architect has selected.
The front will have a glass diagrid whilst the back will be covered with hexagonal honeycombs. This main building will be a 35 storey luxury hotel with 104,182 square metres of space for only 382 rooms, a relatively small amount of rooms given the sheer size of the internal space on offer. It will reach a maximum height of 158.68 metres.
The hotel is linked via a zoomorphically shaped podium that snakes curvaceously around the boundaries of the site to two residential apartment blocks entitled Palace of Wind 1 and 2. Acting as the counterpoint to Hotel Full Moon is Hotel Crescent, part of the Caspian Plus redevelopment that stands as a curving arch similar to a crescent moon.
The arch-like nature of the building is revealed by the fact that the structure isn't a pure crescent on its inside relying on more regularly shaped columns to help provide it with support. At 32 floors tall it will also be a luxury hotel, this time with 221 rooms. There will also be 128 serviced apartments in the building. Floor space will 128,140 square metres. Behind it will stand a further four tall buildings, three of which will be residential with the tallest of the quartet being a 43 floor office building standing 203 metres tall. Heerim Architects have not long been established in Azerbaijan.
They only opened their office in the country in July 2007 and yet have already secured these two major projects that face transforming the capital of one of the world's fastest growing economies.
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