Dubai - 12
As she travels around, Girlahead increasingly dislikes standardization. She’s already complained on more than one occasion about hotel photography that shows beds. Who cares what a bed looks like? It’s how a bed feels that makes the difference. It could be said that the official photographs of those who run hotels are not very good either – there are several rogues galleries of important-looking GM, sometimes so important they’re called CEOs, or at least MDs. Let’s campaign to have hotel GMs look attractive as well as professional, inviting business, and almost encouraging people to join the hospitality industry.
At Raffles the Palm Dubai, Girlahead’s camera, for some reason, went on strike (it’s been working too hard, darling, could be the answer). She therefore left the beautiful palace, for that’s what it is, without any specially taken shots. But check the boss of Raffles the Palm Dubai on ChatGBT, and you find a photo of Aaron Kaupp, above. that fits all the desirable traits. No, he’s not a movie star. He’s an incredibly well-seasoned and highly respected hotelier in charge of the 264-room property. You can’t call it a hotel. It is more a palace deposited in 2018 on Dubai’s man-made Palm Jumeirah, from which day it hit the ground running.
Suite 360 is like going into a Marie Antoinette environment. The L-shaped salon is about 12 metres deep, and more or less the same wide width, if you include the leg of the L-shaped space, which has circular dining with four very elegant gold damask-covered chairs. The carpeting is exquisite. The borders are pale periwinkle blue, with inner areas that are pale periwinkle blue, cream, and a soft terracotta. The two sofas, three seats each, are gold and damask, with lots of cushions, the centre one bearing coats of arms – perhaps those of the furniture artist, Francesco Molon? The room’s walls have panels inset with cream damask patterning. They bear illuminated architectural prints heavily framed in silver. Above there’s a cornice, gold leaf rising to an upper cornice around the whole. Even the doors are decorated with inset gold detailing. Curtains, by contrast, are simple pull-back. Sensibly, none of this aim a zapper at them. The carpets, curtains are deep terracotta with gold. Chandeliers are simple, multi-light, and more or less inset with the ceiling. Marie Antoinette, from beginning to end, though perhaps she would not have used the yoga mat so thoughtfully provided on the terrace. From there, look down at green gardens and, either side, six pool-topped three-floor terracotta villas.
Dinner was at Matagi, a cleverly lit space, bright enough to distinguish the Wagyu tenderloin and wagyu beef gyoza from the especially praised for flavour and quality Crispy rice topped with spicy tuna but not enough for your companions to see if you’ve acquired yet more wrinkles. Lighting is clever throughout – roof domes shine green at night, a reminder this is technically the Emerald Palace. It opened, back in 2018, with three floors of Alain Ducasse at the top. Now, if someone shows the money that heavenly space could, it is said, be yours, for 163 million something-or-others. For now, it’s a highly—stylish and comfortable smooth-operation modern palace with all the mod-cons of which even Marie Antoinette would approve.
