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The water dance of The Address, Downtown Burj
Dubai has a 500-foot fountain, the centerpiece of the Emirate's 30-acre Burj Dubai Lake (the stunning 63-floor The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai hotel is on the left)
By: Mary Gostelow
The Dubai Fountain is an awe-inspiring choreography of lights, music and water dance.
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22,000 gallons of water are jetted 500 feet into the air from in-water faucets that stretch over a length of 900 feet, with five circles of varying sizes and two central arcs. The Dubai Fountain has been designed by California-based WET, the creators of the fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas (but this Fountain is 25 percent larger). Over 6,600 WET Superlights – the most advanced incandescent large fountain lights available today – and 25 color projectors create a visual spectrum of over 1,000 abstract attractions. The beam of light shining upward from the fountain can be seen from over 20 miles away, and will be visible from space. The Dubai Fountain performs daily, with the show repertoire including Sama Dubai; Baba Yetu, an award-winning song in Swahili; the Arab world’s top-selling dance number Shik Shak Shok; and the signature piece of world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Con te partiro (Time to Say Goodbye), www.emaar.com.
As it happened WOW.travel was staying at The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai, the very day the 196-bedroom property was given the 'best new hotel' award, for integrity of design and service excellence, at the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, AHIC.
Four days before our arrival an email attachment offered arrival and stay preferences, spa and dining preferences. On the day itself, the Bentley pulled up to a glass wall set at right angles to the fifth floor of this glorious matt stainless cone, with a conch-shell shaped cross section. Inside, a burst of color came from purple glass panels set into the four low-set check-in desks, which each had a pair of equally low cream chairs. Behind, people wore cream linen jackets, grey shirts and grey trousers, and behind them was a Dale Chihuly-like glass sculpture that English blower Amanda Brisbane calls Megareus (its 300 conch shell-shaped pieces are graded from purple at its base up to blue at its peak). Up at the ninth floor, several curved walkways led away from the elevators. Outside suite 927 we needed our 'keys', pressure pads, to open the door, and later, once inside, to activate power in the rooms.
Because of the conch-shaped floor plan, all rooms have radial walls from the outside corridor that are straight, others curved. Executive Suite 927, at 1,400 sq ft, gave a cream marble lobby, a big salon, a big bedroom and, behind it, a large bathroom (with half the connecting bedroom-bathroom wall missing, to reveal the freestanding oval tub, though this space can be covered with a vertical wood blind). There is a dining-height, two-seat oval table with cubist central leg, and two armed, cream dining chairs. A side-less upholstered plush chair would have been ideal for Pavarotti in his prime, and the long solid sofa, cream, which would easily seat three sheikhs, has a dark brown shawl over one arm, and, on the other, an L-shaped orange leather holder that has a pocket for the zapper for the LG flat screen, which is on the opposite wall. On the desk top is a tall orange holder holding black pencils, magazines are in an orange-lined floor-standing oversized handbag, the Nespresso Cube's sachets and teas are in an orange box,
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and in-closet horizontal orange tubes hold laundry bags. Oh yes, the tissue cover by the bedside is orange, as is the leather jewelry-tray in the safe. In the bathroom, color comes from the Acqua di Parma toiletries, and the orange-embroidered word SERENITY on the white neck-cushion in the bathtub.
To get from any bedroom to the gym requires going down to the lobby to change elevators but it is worth the effort as the gym has masses of Precor machines, with fabulous views down to the Dubai Fountain. That night, we dined back in the room - and had one of the best hamburgers ever. The meat patty was in a superbly healthy brown bun studded with seeds. A little round dish had tomato chutney, and diamond-shaped dishes held mesclun salad, and thin, crisp fries, unsalted as requested. It came with new Heinz pots of tomato ketchup and mayonnaise, and Edward Fallet Moutarde Dijon, and there were excellent warm bread rolls in a linen-lined fretted metal basket, and a foil wrap of Beurre Cru a la Baratte Bois.
The Address is all about 'Where life happens' and it was happening that night. It was the finale of the annual Arabian Hotel Investment Conference, generally known as AHIC. The 2009 event, held May 2-4, 2009, at Madinat Jumeirah, was organised as always by Bench Events, and MEED Events. It all provided excellent networking for the 700 delegates, and apart from the missing banking sector there were plenty of good people. The most impressive thing was the growing importance of Saudi Arabia, for domestic and regional family and religious tourism. On the leaders' panel, Bill Heinecke, chairman of Minor International, said, with his experience of the 1997 recession in Asia, that the key to survival now is, above all, communication, and forget profitability as it is all about cash. Several operators signed valuable management agreements with owners. President of Marriott International Ed Fuller a 1,614-rtoom JW Marriott Marquis for Dubai with its owner, Emirates Airline, Singapore-based Millennium Hotels & Resorts signed a 322-room hotel for Jebel Ali Free Zone, and Robert Gaymer-Jones, COO Sofitel Worldwide, signed two hotels in the region.
AHIC's lifetime achievement award was presented to Nakheel Chairman, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, by Sol Kerzner of Kerzner International. The opening evening reception was held inside at Mina A'Salam hotel, hosted by Jumeirah, and the following Emaar was the host, outside at The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai - which brings us back to the beginning of this Dubai roller-coaster.
The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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