World’s largest hotel to open in Makkah in 2017
Abraj Kudai, which is currently under construction, is modelled on a ‘traditional desert fortress’
The world’s largest hotel, boasting a total of 10, 000 rooms, may be ready to receive guests as early as next year.
Abraj Kudai, which is currently under construction a mile south of the Grand Mosque, is modelled on a ‘traditional desert fortress’. The hotel will feature luxury rooms for wealthy pilgrims, a wing for the Saudi royal family, shopping malls, more restaurants than you could visit in a month, and a lavish ballroom.
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The current record holder, in terms of total number of rooms, is the First World Hotel in the Genting Highlands of Malaysia. It has 7,351 - and has welcomed more than 35 million guests since 2006.
Makkah’s loftiest skyscrapers include the seven Abraj Al-Bait Towers, one of which is the world’s third tallest building at 601 metres. It features a vast hotel, the world’s largest clock face (141ft x 141ft), a prayer room with space for 10,000 people and a five-storey shopping mall. It looms over the Grand Mosque (the most expensive hotel rates, with views of the Kaaba, top £4,000 a night), and occupies the former site of the Ajyad Fortress, an 18th-century Ottoman citadel that was demolished in 2002 despite international outcry.
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Here’s Abraj Kudai in numbers:
The total number of rooms: 10,000
Towers: 12
Number of storeys in largest towers: 45
The number of floors that will be reserved solely for the use of the Saudi royal family: 5
Number of helipads: 4
Number of restaurants: 70
Cost of building: $3.5bn
The footprint of the building: 64,000 m²
The total floor area: 1,400,000 m²
The year it hopes to welcome its first guest: 2017
Number of pilgrims who visit Makkah each year for Hajj: 2,000,000
Total number of people who visit the city annually: 20,000,000
This article originally appeared on Telegraph
Abraj Kudai, which is currently under construction a mile south of the Grand Mosque, is modelled on a ‘traditional desert fortress’. The hotel will feature luxury rooms for wealthy pilgrims, a wing for the Saudi royal family, shopping malls, more restaurants than you could visit in a month, and a lavish ballroom.
These are the world’s best hotels
The current record holder, in terms of total number of rooms, is the First World Hotel in the Genting Highlands of Malaysia. It has 7,351 - and has welcomed more than 35 million guests since 2006.
Makkah’s loftiest skyscrapers include the seven Abraj Al-Bait Towers, one of which is the world’s third tallest building at 601 metres. It features a vast hotel, the world’s largest clock face (141ft x 141ft), a prayer room with space for 10,000 people and a five-storey shopping mall. It looms over the Grand Mosque (the most expensive hotel rates, with views of the Kaaba, top £4,000 a night), and occupies the former site of the Ajyad Fortress, an 18th-century Ottoman citadel that was demolished in 2002 despite international outcry.
12 unusual hotels you won't believe actually exist
Here’s Abraj Kudai in numbers:
The total number of rooms: 10,000
Towers: 12
Number of storeys in largest towers: 45
The number of floors that will be reserved solely for the use of the Saudi royal family: 5
Number of helipads: 4
Number of restaurants: 70
Cost of building: $3.5bn
The footprint of the building: 64,000 m²
The total floor area: 1,400,000 m²
The year it hopes to welcome its first guest: 2017
Number of pilgrims who visit Makkah each year for Hajj: 2,000,000
Total number of people who visit the city annually: 20,000,000
This article originally appeared on Telegraph