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

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 – Overseaspropertymall.

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
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.
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.

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.”

