The World’s Grand Hotel Entrances
Dubai, Muscat, Budapest, San Francisco, Tokyo, London, Zambia
Some say hotels are judged on three criteria: location, location and location. BlueBook is adding another criteria that helps make a difference: A Grand Entrance. Here is our top 7 of breathtaking hotel lobbies.
1. Armani Hotel, Dubai
This is Giorgio Armani's debut in the hotel world, and it shows. The hotel occupies 10 floors in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building (829 m). The 160-room hotel offers a curved lobby atrium with four interlocking steel arches that rise almost 12 metres against a backdrop of creamy and gray colours.
2. Al Bustan Palace Hotel, Muscat
This is an all-time favourite of many business travellers: the Al Bustan Palace in Muscat, Oman, welcomes its guests in a reception area that looks much like a mosque dome. The lobby rises 39 metres to the top of the dome - which is three metres longer than the Taj Mahal dome. The centrepiece of this lobby is a 5.5 tonne crystal chandelier. Nice detail: guests are welcomed with the distinct scent of fresh Omani frankincense.
3. Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, Budapest
This wonderful The Four Seasons hotel offers a well-restored lobby area with al the Art Nouveau details from 1906. The 179-room property’s magnificent lobby has beautiful stained-glass windows and a glass cupola from which hangs a custom-designed chandelier made from hundreds of crystal leaves. And look down: the floor is covered with 1,021,200 mosaic tiles.
4. Hyatt Regency, San Francisco
A vast, impressive hotel lobby is the pride of the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. The hotel boasts the Guinness Book of World Records' largest atrium lobby, of over 42,000 square feet (12,000 sq m). The lobby is 17 floors high and makes for a wonderful venue for events. Interesting detail: the Hyatt Regency's atrium lobby served as the lobby of the Glass Tower in 1974's The Towering Inferno. The Hotel was also featured in the 1977 Mel Brooks Comedy High Anxiety.
5. Mandarin Oriental Tokyo
The best thing about the lobby of the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is the view. From the top two floors of the 28-storey hotel, you cannot help looking down all the time during your check-in.
6. Me London, London
In Me London, you will find what is probably the most modern design hotel lobby of this moment. In this Norman Foster-designed hotel, your check-in procedure will take place in a pyramid-shaped space with a glass roof. At night, different images are projected onto the walls, like floating jellyfish and starscapes.
7. Royal Livingstone, Zambia
What a grand entrance, for the most part shaped by mother nature! Guests at The Royal Livingstone in Zambia arrive to the property by water taxi and check in at the hotel's jetty. There they are greeted with a hand massages and a fruit cocktail… and a view that puts them right into the warm heart of Africa, surrounded by wildlife.
