As you can see, it is very dated in décor. The building itself is very impressive, including the interior atrium. But the rooms…pretty brutal, and that is not even accounting for taste. They just look tired. Nevertheless, it was kind of cool to be a guest there, and to feel comfortable exploring the hotel. There was nothing particularly outstanding about the service. It was all competent good, but once checked in, you really felt that you were set adrift inside this cavernous place. It was so quiet and empty that you could hear a pin drop. Really, although I am sure they spent a lot of money on this hotel, aside from the structural aspect of it, there was really nothing particularly special about the service, facilities, restaurants, or anything else. It was all, rather “sterile”, as another FT’er commented previously in the Luxury Hotel forum, and underwhelming. The views however, were quite good.
Even the interior spaces, aside from a pretty neat water feature, also looked dated and sterile, albeit the sterility was painted in gold and red.
We asked to see the beach club, and were taken the two minute ride by buggy. It was so extraordinarily hot however (in late September), that we could not imagine sitting there at all. If one could bear the heat, perhaps at another time of the year, it seemed like this would be a fairly pleasant place to spend some time relaxing.
Thanks to booking through DavidO and Virtuoso, we had a massage each, which was good, but the spa itself felt like it was in an underground soviet bunker. We also had breakfast included, which was good, but nothing close to what one would expect from a hotel that holds itself out as 7 stars. All in all, this was definitely a worthwhile experience. If I didn't go this time, i would still have kept wanting to go one day, so it is of the 'to-do' list. Certainly it is impressive architecturally, and certainly it is iconic. But from a luxury hotel standpoint, this hotel could not hold a candle to some of the other ones that we would try out on this trip.