Facebook / Atlantis The Royal
In November 2008, Dubai’s first Atlantis hotel opened to much fanfare - a $5 million firework display, A-list guests from around the world and a performance by pop star Kylie Minogue.
Fourteen years on, Atlantis The Royal - just a short stroll away from the original resort - opened this weekend along with much of the same extravagance. Beyonce performed to a VIP audience for a reported $24 million and fireworks lit up the sky above the city’s famous artificial tree-shaped island of Palm Jumeirah.
Heading to the stage for her first live show since 2018, Beyonce wowed the audience with her daughter Blue Ivy Carter.
Beyonce opened the gig with Etta James's 'At Last' followed by some of her biggest hits and mid-way through the concert was joined by Blue Ivy for a performance of 'Brown Skin Girl'.
The by-invitation-only event drew in numerous celebrities including Kendall Jenner, Rebel Wilson, Liam Payne, Winston Dukes, Ellen Pompeo, Letitia Wright, among others.
The ultra-luxurious hotel, which cost about $1.5 billion to build, is made up of what appears to be interlocking Lego blocks, includes 44 suites with their own infinity pools, as well as one on the 22nd floor, a fire-breathing fountain show, celebrity chef restaurants and the world’s largest jellyfish aquarium. The 231 ultra-luxury residences in the building have already been sold.
Guests will have to pay an average of $1,000 a night to stay in one of its rooms. The hotel also has more than 100 exclusive suites, with the top suite going for $100,000 a night.
"We are very optimistic on travel and extremely bullish on luxury,” Kerzner Chief Executive Officer Philippe Zuber said in an interview from the hotel lobby that’s dominated by a huge silver sculpture and lined with floor to ceiling fish tanks. "We believe in those areas, people will not compromise. We understand that the market may face some recessions and might have some challenges, but the appetite to travel, the appetite to be together and to have qualitative vacations - that will not stop.”
