Ajman : You can't miss it during the day — but at night it can be pretty hard to find.
The impossibly black Ramada hotel here is one of the most striking buildings in the UAE, residents said. The cluster of three 15-storey towers has become a landmark.
Located on Ajman's main road — Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street — the dark building stands out sharply against the sand-coloured towers nearby.
Blending into the night
But when the sun goes down, the hotel blends into the night sky.
Room lights too are tough to spot, because the windows are somewhat depressed in the building's outer walls.
Adding to the mystery, the hotel entrance is at the ‘back' of the building, not at the side facing the main road.
Only a big red neon sign along a corner gives away the destination's identity. To many, it looks half-finished and yet elegant at the same time. "I just found out that it's been open for months. But every time I drove by it I used to think: ‘When are they going to finish it?'" Abdul Bari, a 34-year-old Ajman-based businessman, said.
"It's so incredibly black. It looks like the stuff covering concrete walls in many under-construction towers, but it's shiny and clean."
Sabina, an Indian housewife from Sharjah, added: "The first time I saw it, I just went ‘what on earth is that!' "My husband told me it was a nice hotel. It grows on you after a while."
The hotel said in a statement "the lustrous black coloured exterior" was purpose-built to "stand out" visually.
Rooms there cost around Dh350 per night; the hotel is soon opening a banquet hall for 850 people.
