Dubai's ultra-luxury Atlantis the Royal resort to open early 2023
Opening in January, Atlantis the Royal will be a new mega-resort in Dubai complete with floating pool, 2km of private beach and theatrical restaurant-bar concept by Heston Blumenthal. Olivia Palamountain reports
With its eye-catching Tetris-like architecture, Atlantis the Royal is a new landmark on Dubai's Palm, a hotel of extreme luxury in a city already renowned for opulence and excess. It describes itself as "the most ultra-luxury experiential resort in the world".
Now open for bookings for stays from 2023 onwards, the 43-storey hotel will host a show-stopping "Grand Reveal" in January with a star-studded line up in attendance (rumours are that Beyonce is performing), echoing the launch of Atlantis the Palm in 2008, where guests included Robert DeNiro, Gerard Butler, Kylie Minogue and Priyanka Chopra.
The 795-room high-rise resort soars over the Arabian Sea and Palm Island and is made up of six towers brought together by a 90-metre long Skypool on the 22nd floor.
Forming part of an outdoor entertainment experience called Cloud 22, it features VIP cabanas with private plunge pools, a swim up-bar and a glittering head-shaped DJ booth. Adjacent Pan-Asian, day to night venue Ling Ling will tempt partygoers from across the city, with a culturally rich, multi-sensory, dining and after-hours party experience. A whopping 44 suites and Signature Penthouses are the crowing glory of the hotel, each of which comes with its own private infinity pool. However, as one would expect, all the rooms have been designed to elicit awe, designed in a contemporary style and finished with extravagant details such as chic walk-in wardrobes and dressing rooms, hand-sculpted textures, hand-stitched mattresses by Hypnos and bespoke amenities crafted exclusively for Atlantis the Royal by Hermès, Graff and Frette. There are endless options for connecting the rooms and making the space your own – including privatising entire floors – and the hotel is digitally optimised throughout, allowing guests to control their room’s thermostat, lighting, television and other amenities via their mobile phones. Guests will also be able to personalise their room with technology that loads the most popular streaming media and other accounts to in-room TVs.To help make the most of premiums stays, a butler service is also offered in the suites and Signature Penthouses. It comprises luxuries such as unpacking luggage, clothes pressing, a private resort orientation and setting up exclusive experiences.
Guests will even be invited to browse a mini pillow menu before deciding where to rest their heads, featuring miniature versions of seven types of pillow supplied at Atlantis the Royal, including a "cool down" option, memory foam pillows for head and feet and body, a buckwheat pillow and a pregnancy pillow.Elsewhere, the hotel will be crammed with spectacles such as a the largest jellyfish aquarium in the world at 6.5 meters high, home to 4,000 moon jellies, and "Skyblaze", a water fountain and show that breathes fire – a first for the Middle East. (Let's hope the aquarium doesn't explode in the way that the one at the Radisson Blu in Berlin recently did.) The dining options at Atlantis the Royal will combine pioneering chefs with show-stopping experiences across 17 restaurants and bars. Signature restaurants from culinary stars include Gaston Acurio, Ariana Bundy, Costas Spiliadis and Jose Andres.
At the same time, Nobu will be opening their first ever pool and beach club and Heston Blumenthal will introduce Dinner, as well as his debut bar, Resonance, a hymn to memorable culinary experiences through considered, meticulously crafted and complex cocktails, food and "purposeful theatre".
Tim Kelly, managing director of Atlantis Dubai, says: “This is it. Our moment is finally here to reveal Atlantis the Royal as the world’s most ultra-luxury entertainment resort.
"Openings of resorts like this one only come around once or twice in a decade, and we can’t wait to share it with the world. As these new images demonstrate, this is a resort like no other and the building itself will become an instantly recognisable icon of the Dubai skyline.”