After an agonizing wait and 5 long years of development, the world’s first Armani Hotel finally opened on April 27, 2010 in the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. 

Giorgio Armani cuts the ribbon to open the Armani Hotel Dubai

Giorgio Armani personally cut the ribbon along with Mohamed Alabbar from Emaar Properties – partners in Armani’s first foray into hospitality. Let’s take a peek inside the Armani brand’s flagship fashion hotel.

The Burj Khalifa is currently the world’s tallest building, and the Armani Hotel Dubai occupies floors concourse to 8 and levels 38 & 39.

The hotel offers 160 guest rooms and suites, along with eight restaurants, branded retail outlets and a spa. Everything from furnishings to restaurant menus and in-room amenities has been exclusively designed by Giorgio Armani himself.

The ‘Armani experience’ includes a personal Lifestyle Manager assigned to each guest to serve as a personal contact from reservation to check out and even afterwards.

Marc Dardenne, Chief Executive Officer of Emaar Hotels & Resorts, explained that the hotel’s opening was a “culmination of a journey of innovation in hospitality, design aesthetics and style.” That would be the design elegance of Armani and the aesthetics of the Burj Khalifa coming together in a functional and very swanky hotel.

Not just hype, as you can see in the pictures below. Read More »

 The opening of the world’s first Armani brand hotel in the world’s tallest building has been delayed again – from April 21 to April 27. This time the blame lies on the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.

Giorgio Armani & Burj Khalifa in Dubai

Apparently Giorgio Armani is unable to get to his own hotel’s opening in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, since the volcano’s eruption sent a dark cloud of volcanic ash over Europe, resulting in the cancellation of thousands of flights to and from Europe.

With the ash cloud preventing Giorgio Armani and invited guests for the opening from making it to Dubai, a spokesman for Armani Hotels & Resorts put out this statement:

“Due to the unforeseen closure of European Aerospace and the subsequent cancellation of international flights, the much anticipated grand opening of Armani Hotel Dubai has been postponed.”

Much anticipated is right, and the grand opening better be grand, after all the hype and delays.

This is the third date in the last two months that Armani Hotels and their Dubai based partners Emaar have announced for the opening of the Armani Dubai.

The launch was initially scheduled for March 18, then postponed again to April 21 because Dubai was facing some financial woes and the building apparently wasn’t as ready as they thought it was. Now they tell us its been pushed back to April 27.

Note to Armani - We understand your pain, since Dubai going bankrupt or a stupid volcano that chose this particular moment to wake up and start burping ash is absolutely not your fault.

But this dog eat the homework routine isn’t fun anymore, and if your hotel doesn’t open on April 27.. let’s just say we’re about ready to give up on the opening of the world’s first Armani Hotel which refuses to open.

Giorgio Armani photo by Jan Schroeder; Burj Khalifa picture – Joi

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Ready-to-Sleep Fashion 26 in New York

New York’s fashion world finally gets what the world’s fashion capitals Paris, Milan and even Dubai already have – a fashion hotel with a creative mix of designer decor, art and cutting-edge hotel technology.

Fashion 26

Fashion 26 is a 280-room Wyndham hotel in Chelsea, located in a 22-story glass and steel tower across from the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Designer Glen Coben has added some fine touches, such as the custom-designed wooden reception desk in the hotel’s lobby, made to look like a fashion studio cutting-room table.

The corridors are lined with exhibits of photography created by FIT students, topped off by the hotel’s own installation made up of spools of colored thread – a very sophisticated touch which combines both art and fashion.

Fashion 26 seems to take great pleasure in turning simple things like getting out of a car, opening a room door and eating a burger into a big production. 

The hotel has it’s own private driveway where you can pull in and out at your own sweet pace, unlike most other hotels in New York where you and your luggage get dumped on the sidewalk when you arrive or leave.

A radio-frequency key opens your room door with a wave of the hand, and the RARE Bar & Grill is, as per the hotel - a tribute to the great American hamburger. Read More »

The world’s first Armani Hotel in the world’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai, will not be opening as scheduled on March 18, 2010. Instead, the opening has now been pushed back – possibly to April 22, and maybe not even then.

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Neither Armani nor its Dubai-based partner Emaar has said anything about it so far, and there was no prior intimation that the opening was being delayed.

According to this report, the delay has to do with the building’s facilities not being fully ready, even though the Burj Khalifa was opened in Jaunary.

Shortly after the opening, the observation deck on the 124th floor was shut down after a high speed elevator stalled and stranded visitors inside. The observation deck is still closed.

Also to be noted that Dubai is going through a financial crisis, and just before the $1.1 billion Burj Dubai opened, they were bailed out with $10 billion by rich neighbor Abu Dhabi.

The tower was then hastily renamed as the Burj Khalifa, to honor Abu Dhabi’s ruler Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

These lingering issues and the lack of official announcements from both partners in the Armani Hotels project suggest that the opening might possibly be delayed even beyond the April 22 date.

The Armani Hotel Dubai occupies eleven floors of Burj Khalifa, and features a  luxury Armani Spa, swimming pool, library, fitness center, business center and eight restaurants, in addition to chocolate and flower shops.

The hotel was supposed to be the first in a series of Armani hotels scheduled to open in Milan, Paris, New York, Tokyo and Shanghai. 

Photo by Joi

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