Living the suite life in the world’s priciest hotel rooms
Year-end holidays don’t have to be all about tradition – if you choose to spend yours ensconced in these luxurious digs
Despite the rising popularity of budget air travel and increasing availability of reasonably priced 5 star hotel rooms, the precious exclusivity enjoyed by the well-heeled holidaymaker is still alive and well. Indeed, the crème de la crème of luxury hotel rooms has gotten sweeter and creamier as the world’s topend innkeepers pull out all the stops to create these ultra-tony digs for hire targeting the most discerning and deepest-pocketed guests. (Indicated per-night rates are in USD and may vary according to season, discounts and availability)
Though it cost a whopping $50 million to build, a night in the Ty Warner Penthouse at the Four Seasons New York will set you back a mere $45,000. Conceived by none other than designer Peter Marino and architect I.M. Pei (of the Louvre Pyramid fame) and commissioned by hotel owner Ty Warner (Billionaire who created ‘Beanie Babies’), the nine-room, 400-sq.m penthouse suite is dripping with fine art pieces and features a huge library, platinum and gold-woven fabrics, and an indoor-outdoor Zen garden—not to mention all-around views of the Manhattan skyline.
The choicest chamber at the Grand Resort Lagonissi Athens, the Royal Villa has hosted such discerning celebs as Mel Gibson and Leonardo DiCaprio, who likely batted not an eyelash at the at $35,000 a night tariff. The 410 sq.m stand-alone bungalow offers two master bedrooms, each with marble-clad bathrooms and their own steam baths, a private massage area, heated pool, and private beach-view deck. Butler’s quarters? Why, of course.
Overlooking this Chinese mega-polis’s heavily skyscraper-scaped Pudong district, The Presidential Suite at the Mandarin Oriental Shanghai goes for around $26,500. The luxury apartment layout includes two bedrooms and a private wine cellar, along with eye-popping 25th-floor views of the iconic Shanghai skyline.
If no less than a trio of bathrooms, each with a Jacuzzi, oversized shower and twin Sardinian marble vanities sound appealing, then the Hotel Cala Di Volpe in Porto Cervo, Italy has just the place for you. At about $28,000, the Di Volpe’s Presidential Suite is a live-in work of art. Along with the three bedrooms that go with those glitzy lavs, the suite boasts a solarium, its own pool and a private fitness area.
While just about any luxury hotelier can successfully cater to whims and fancies of elite VIP guests, it takes a special breed of inn to meet the lofty aesthetic, professional and logistical standards of the uber-demanding V-VIP traveller.
The Hotel President Wilson in Geneva is one such property, and its $65,000 Royal Penthouse Suite has the looks and the muscle that dignitaries, stellar-tier celebrities and power-players need to preserve their privacy and safety. Accessible only by private lift, the 12-room, 18,000 sq.m rooftop flat features a billiard room, library and private fitness centre, plus a Steinway grand piano—just because. Guests can gaze with confidence through bulletproof windows at the picturesque Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc and relax behind armoured main doors, while the exclusive helipad access and luxury panic room speak to the kind of movers & shakers that typically occupy this palatial fortress of a check-in goodness.