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TOP 5 HOTELS |
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Hotel Martinez:
The Hotel Martinez is a renowned Grand Hotel in the Art Deco style, centrally located on the Croisette Boulevard in Cannes. It was opened on 20 February 1929 by its founder and owner Emmanuel Michele Martinez, from Palermo, Sicily; the son of Giuseppa Labiso Costanza and Italian Baron Giovanni Martinez, scion of an old noble family with Spanish roots
Emmanuel Michele Martinez was buoyed by the trust shown in the Martinez name throughout the luxury hotel business after he had acquired a solid reputation as the managing director of luxury hotels in London and Paris. While acting as Director of the Cannes Luxury Hotel Association, Martinez resolved to build a grand hotel of his own on the Côte d’Azur, on the French Riviera. Thanks to family connections to the nobility, Martinez purchased the Villa Marie-Therese from Prince Alfonso of Bourbon on 22 September 1927. Martinez bestowed his own name on the hotel, still displayed in tall blue neon letters on the hotel roof.
In the course of the Second World War the Hotel Hôtel Martinez was occupied consecutively by the armed forces of various nations: the French army, the Italian army (the armistice commission), the German army, and, following Liberation, by the US Air Force.
During the Cannes Film Festival, the hotel offers a haven to the stars. It has a private beach (“Zplage”). The Hotel Martinez is the hub of the glamour, film stars, directors, producers, and film world of Cannes.
One suite is claimed to be the most expensive suite in the world. An entire floor of the hotel is devoted to its luxurious Spa Martinez.
The Martinez is both generous and extravagant in its design. It possesses an extraordinary infrastructure with regard both to accommodations – 412 rooms and 27 suites – and facilities offered. It has three restaurants: La Palme d’Or, a 2-Michelin-starred gastronomic restaurant; Le Relais Martinez, and the Zplage beach restaurant. There are also a piano bar, a wide private beach, a heated pool, and fifteen meeting rooms and reception lounges totaling 2,500 m²; all this places the Hotel Martinez is only barely superseded by the Palais des Festivals congress center when it comes to reception capacity in Cannes. Among the hotel’s chief assets is its reception infrastructure; and large-scale conventions, seminars, and other social, festive, or professional events – most of which are international – can be hosted at any time of the year.
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Hotel Georges V:
The Hotel Georges V is a famed Parisian luxury hotel located on Avenue Georges V, not far from the Champs-Élysées. Opened in 1928, it is an eight-story building erected by Joel Hillman at a cost of US$31 million. Subsequently the hotel was owned by François Dupré, who also owned the Plaza Athénée at 25 Avenue Montaigne in Paris and the Hotel Ritz in Montreal. The Georges V has 245 guest rooms.
Hotel amenities include four restaurants and bars, banquet and other reception rooms, a spa with 11 (private) treatment rooms, a pool, sauna, steam room, fitness center, a boutique, and a delicatessen.
Since 2008 the hotel has been managed by Four Seasons Hotels and is owned by Kingdom Holding Company, the investment company controlled by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud. The Michelin Guide conferred two stars on the hotel’s restaurant Le Cinq (three stars in the past). Christopher Norton is the hotel’s general manager and Four Seasons regional vice president.
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TOP 3 |
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The Burj al Arab:
The Burj Al Arab (“Tower of the Arabs”) is a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is managed by the Jumeirah Group.
At a height of 321 m (1053 ft) the Burj Al Arab is the fourth tallest hotel in the world. It rises from a manmade island 280 m (920 ft) out from Jumeirah Beach. A private bridge curves out to the island from the mainland. Shaped to resemble the sail of a dhow – a local Arabian ship – billowing in the wind, the structure is an architectural landmark.
The beachfront site of the Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel used to be known as Chicago Beach. The island the Burj Al Arab stands on, actually reclaimed land, lies offshore from the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel, whose name lived on after the old hotel was demolished in 1997. “Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel” was retained as the public project name during construction of the Burj Al Arab Hotel until Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the new name.
Construction of the Burj Al Arab commenced in 1994. W S Atkins plc, the United Kingdom’s largest multidisciplinary consultancy, served as architect and engineering consultant for the project. South African construction contractor Murray & Roberts built the hotel.
Several feats of complex engineering were required to achieve some of the attributes of the hotel. As it rests on reclaimed land, to secure the foundation the builders drove 230 concrete piles, each forty meters long (130 ft), deep into the sand.
Reclaiming the land for the island from the sea took three years; the building itself was subsequently completed within less than three years. Over 70,000 m³ (92,000 yd³) of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel went into construction of the building.
The Burj Al Arab is the second tallest hotel worldwide – mixed-use buildings not included (the structure of the world’s tallest hotel, Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, is 9 m (30 ft) higher than the Burj Al Arab). The ceiling of the atrium floats 180 m (590 ft) above the floor. In spite of its size, the Burj Al Arab was designed around only 28 double-story levels accommodating 202 spacious duplex suites, ranging from 170 m² (1,830 ft²) for the smallest suite to 780 m² (8,400 ft²) for the largest.
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TOP 4 |
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The Plaza Hotel:
The Plaza Hotel, New York City, is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel. 76 m (250 ft) high and 120 m (400 ft) long, it sits on the western edge of Grand Army Plaza – which gave the hotel its name – and extends eastward along Central Park South in Manhattan. The eastern edge of Grand Army Plaza lies on Fifth Avenue. The hotel is managed and operated by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
The Plaza is the second hotel of that name to rise on this site. The château-like structure was designed in the French Renaissance style by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh and opened to the public on October 1, 1907. Construction cost US$12.5 million. In those days, a room cost only US$2.50 per night (US$59 in present-day dollars). The same room would cost a minimum of US$695 today.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission granted the Plaza landmark status in 1969. In 1978 it was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL). The only other hotel in New York City to have been so distinguished is the Waldorf-Astoria. The Plaza offers public tours of its interior.
Long a home away from home for celebrated performers and other guests, the Plaza has also provided a forum for key political events.
During the Beatles’ first visit to the USA in February 1964, they stayed at the Plaza.
In September 1985, a meeting took place at the Plaza among ministers of several industrialized countries to discuss matters of finance; they acknowledged their agreement by signing the Plaza Accord, or Plaza Agreement. Its signatories, the finance ministers of the USA, Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, thus agreed to depreciate the US dollar in relation to their respective currencies.
Numerous facilities are available to the guests and residents of the Plaza Hotel, e.g. a butler on every floor; baby-sitting and concierge services; a spa, a fitness center under the management of Radu, the well-known trainer; and a shopping mall; Then there are the Palm Court beneath its restored stained glass ceiling, the Oak Room Restaurant and Oak Bar, the Rose Club, the Champagne Bar in the hotel lobby – with views of Grand Army Plaza – ; the Edwardian Room, the Grand Ball Room, the Terrace Room, and other reception and conference rooms.
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TOP 5 |
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Hotel President Wilson:
Hotel President Wilson is a 5-star luxury hotel located in Geneva, Switzerland. It offers 180 rooms and 48 suites.
The hotel opened in 1963. The Tamman family purchased the President Hotel from Swissair and Nestlé in 1989. The hotel reopened in 1996 as the new President Wilson hotel and a 190 million Swiss Franc investment. Member of the Luxury Collection of Starwood Hotels and Resorts since 2000, Charles Tamman, Chairman and General Manager, has set the hotel on the tracks of success. Hotel President Wilson has completed a €26 million (CHF 40 million) renovation of its lobby, public areas and guest rooms. The renovation, which started in autumn 2007, gives the iconic Hotel President Wilson a modern new feel and ensures the property is a unique expression of its location. The new design was conceived by acclaimed Swiss architects Atelier d’Architecture 3 BM3 and was inspired by the Hotel President Wilson’s magnificent setting on the banks of Lake Geneva.
In February 2011, the hotel set a new record for the most expensive hotel suite in the world. The 1,680 square meter Royal Penthouse Suite, which costs 75,000 Swiss Francs ($81,000) to stay in per night, features a fitness area, a jacuzzi with views of Mont Blanc, 12 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a 250sq meter salon, a Steinway grand piano and private terrace. The suite also includes one of the world’s largest televisions measuring 103”.
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