DUBAI: A new hotel is all set to unseat the city’s JW Marriott Marquis as the world’s tallest hotel.
The 77-storey Gevora Hotel, located on Shaikh Zayed Road, will tower a staggering 356.5 metres when it opens next month. That makes it three times taller than Big Ben and 56 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower.
The 528-room property is only a metre taller than JW Marriott Marquis but has five more floors than the current record-holder which opened in Business Bay in 2012. Not only will the hotel set a new benchmark in terms of height, it will also have the highest guest to employee ratio at 2:1.
Gevora will feature four restaurants besides swimming pools for adults and children, jacuzzi, health club and spa.
Ride to the top
An elevator ride here is an experience in itself. It took us over half a minute -- 38 seconds to be precise - to reach the top floor which offered panoramic views of the city and the Arabian Gulf.
While entry to the rooftop will be free for inhouse guests, plans are afoot to charge a nominal fee from others.
“We are a purely Emirati brand. Our design and concept of hospitality are based on Arab traditions,” said general manager Jairaj Gorsia who, along with manager Mohammad Kamal, helped launch Kempinski’s Emirates Palace in 2004. “We know exactly what guests want and what works for them,” said Kamal.
“Our room tariffs start from Dh550. The price for the junior suite is Dh1,100 per night while the two-bedroom suite costs Dh2,000,” said Gorsia. The hotel doesn’t have a ballroom.
Gorsia hinted they might use the rooftop to host weddings, dinner parties and other such occasions.
In addition to a rooftop pool lounge, the hotel will have a coffee shop and two dining outlets focused on continental and Mediterranean cuisine.
Gevora in numbers
1.The height of the building is 356.3 metres, a metre taller than JW Marriot Marquis and 20 metres than Rosa Rayhaan by Rotana.
2. The hotel has six elevators operate at the speed of 26 km/hr. It takes only 38 seconds from the ground floor to the 77th floor, top most floor.
3. About 10,000 sq metres of plain white bedsheets have been brought by Gevora
4. The hotel has the highest pools in the world, that collectively hold 424,100 litres of water
5. The hotel has a total of 3,859 stairs inside the premises.
6. The property has been under construction since 2008.
7. Gevora is three times taller than London’s Big Ben, 56 metres taller than Paris’s Eiffel Tower, 100 metres shorter than Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Twin Towers
