Do you favor the colorful showiness of Versace or the attractively reserved grays and beiges of Armani? From next year this will be a quandary opposite not just well heeled shoppers but also those wishing to book a luxury hotel room or buy a luxurious apartment.
For the two Italian fashion giants are going head to head in the hospitality sector as they prepare to open hotels in Dubai – and both will be striving to out-strut the other in terms of style and panache.
But while the two mega-brands battle it out, for Dubai it is a win-win situation as the city gains two more exciting additions to its growing list of stunning luxury hotels.
Armani will be first on the catwalk when it opens its property in August 2009. It will be spread over eight floors of the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai.
Meanwhile, Versace says its Palazzo Versace beach resort and condominiums will offer the ultimate in brand value and luxury. Features such as a chilled beach – cold air will be pumped through pipes under the sand – are not mere novelties but are intended to ensure the hotel exceeds guests' expectations, says the firm. Hand-cut mosaics will line the floors of each individually designed flat. The communal spaces will feature giant aquariums full of fish imported from the Red Sea. The temperature-controlled flooring will, like the beach, stay at a constant 20°C to ensure guests do not burn their perfectly pedicured feet on the way down to the sea.
Versace already has one hotel, the Palazzo Versace on Australia's Gold Coast, but the Dubai property is to surpass all previous standards of luxury and opulence. "Everything is personally selected," said Anne Jameson, group general manager of the Emirates Sunland Group, which is developing the hotel. "If you order a coffee it won't arrive in a black, yellow or white cup – you will be brought a special piece of porcelain designed for Versace," she had shared with the media.
The Dubai property will include 215 suites, restaurants, a spa and 204 luxury homes fully furnished with specially designed products from the Versace Home Collection.Living in a Versace condo is an experience only a privileged few will have. Actress Kate Hudson will be one of them, having apparently bought a 2,210 square feet flat for Dh16 million. Of course all this luxury will come at a cost. Prices range from Dh13 million for a two-bedroom, 1,825 sq ft flat to Dh85m for a six-bedroom, 10,000 sq ft penthouse. The furniture alone, included in the price, costs between Dh1.5m and Dh2m per flat.
And to take advantage of the hotel facilities you'll have to pay almost Dh200 per sq ft per annum, plus more than Dh35,000 a year if you want a daily cleaner.Each residence will come equipped with everything from cushions and cutlery to water glasses and bed linen. The larger ones will have a private cinema, a library and a sauna – and, in the case of the most expensive, its own mosaic-lined 26ft by 13ft pool, spa bath and outdoor terrace. About 90 per cent of the flats will have views of the Creek with the remainder looking out onto the manicured gardens.
Armani is planning to expand rapidly, with hotels in Marrakesh and Milan set to follow the Dubai one and plans for further openings in London, New York, Shanghai and Mumbai. Each will be designed "to the finest detail" by Giorgio Armani himself and will feature furniture from the Armani Casa collection together with precious materials and sophisticated finishes, including zebrawood, stone, fabric, Venetian plaster and leather wall coverings. There will be 160 hotel rooms plus 144 one- and two-bedroom flats for sale. Prices have not been disclosed.
The residences will have smart technology, including 100 per cent automated systems for temperature and drapery control, security, lighting and air-conditioning.Every floor of the Armani Residences will have its own elevator access, with full-glass panoramic windows offering spellbinding views of Downtown Burj Dubai.
The hotel entrance will be on the first floor but some of the rooms will be on the 39th floor of the tower which, at more than 600m, is already the tallest man-made structure in the world – with work continuing.Giorgio Armani had said about his new acquisition: "This marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Armani story, which will bring to life the our philosophy of style and design in a collection of exclusive hotels and resorts. Today fashion has expanded to encompass our way of life, not just how we dress but where we live, which restaurants we eat at, where we holiday and which hotels we stay in."
Armani is spelling out the exclusivity of the project by hand-picking apartment owners. Gabriella de Biase, media manager for the hotel, says the chance to buy a flat will be by invitation only, with names drawn from the Armani database. "Not everybody is allowed to participate in this product," she said at the launch of the property. "We want to address a select audience." So the race is on. Armani and Versace are adding further glitter to Dubai's realty – whether on the chilled Arabian sands or half a kilometre up in the sky.
