Should you use price comparison websites to get a few rands off the cost of your holiday hotel, you might want to look away now.
As TV presenter Giles Coren shows in the new BBC series of Amazing Hotels, there are some hotel suites clearly aimed at guests for whom money is no object. Forget free mini toiletries and sewing kits, here the perks include haute couture outfits to wear during your stay, bullet-proof windows and heated loo seats.
Here is a tour of the most eye-wateringly luxurious hotel suites on earth:
1. Royal Villa, Grand Resort Lagonissi
Most of us worry about putting on a few pounds on holiday. At the Royal Villa at the Grand Resort, where visitors have included Leonardo DiCaprio and Mel Gibson, each guest is presented with their own fitness trainer on arrival. And after a workout, you can call your personal butler for a refreshing drink before a pampering session with your very own beauty therapist.
Meanwhile, a limo driver is on standby should you ever want to venture out. The two-bedroom accommodation has a private deck over the sea with a personal massage area. There is also a pianist on call to play any requests. Guests have a choice of an indoor pool, a heated outdoor pool or a steam bath.
2. The Royal Penthouse Suite, President Wilson Hotel, Switzerland
Perhaps it’s no surprise that one of the world’s most expensive cities is also host to the most expensive hotel suite. It takes up the entire eighth floor of the President Wilson Hotel, so there’s plenty of space for a Steinway grand piano, billiard table and personal gym. All the beauty products in the marble-lined bathrooms are by Hermes — and there’s a Jacuzzi overlooking Lake Geneva.
The guests, who include Russian oligarchs and politicians such as Mikhail Gorbachev, can also enjoy the views of the Alps knowing that all the windows are bulletproof. There is also a walk-in safe and steel-reinforced door, as well as a personal butler on call 24 hours a day. After a day’s sightseeing, guests can also relax in front of the world’s largest Bang & Olufsen flatscreen TV.
3. Mandarin Oriental, Manhattan
No need to worry about getting your holiday wardrobe right if you stay at Suite 5000 on the 50th floor of the Mandarin Oriental in Manhattan, where celebrity guests have included Dame Helen Mirren. On arrival, guests are offered a specially tailored wardrobe from Christian Dior’s latest collection. The fashion house’s personal stylists, seamstresses and make-up artists are on hand to perfect the look.
As well as the exquisite Italian furniture, there is also an extensive art collection on the walls, curated by Whitewall (a glossy art magazine), and an in-room iPad to find out more about the pieces just in case you want to buy any.For entertainment, there’s a vintage vinyl record collection and record player as well as a 75in TV in the media centre. In the marble-lined bathroom, guests can soak themselves in a freestanding Art Deco-style bath, lit by a Swarovski crystal chandelier.
4. The Royal Suite, Hotel Plaza Athenee
When Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw flew to Paris in Sex And The City, the Hotel Plaza Athenee was the obvious choice to film her scenes — thanks to its direct view of the Eiffel Tower and ultra-chic decor.
At 4,843 sq ft, the Royal Suite is the largest hotel suite in Paris. It includes four bathrooms, two lounges, an office and kitchen, and is filled with furniture dating back to the Louis XV and Louis XVI periods.The bathrooms are stocked with Guerlain toiletries and lined with Italian marble.
There’s also a steam room and Jacuzzi.With security a priority, there’s no plastic key card — only a James Bond-style fingerprint entry system. So as not to spoil the classic Parisian elegance, the nine flat-screen televisions are concealed inside mirrors. On arrival, guests get a complimentary bottle of Krug champagne and a ‘pillow menu’, with a choice of de-stressing, ‘beautifying’, horsehair, osteopathic or synthetic pillows.
5. The Sultan Suite, Ciragan Palace Kempinski, Turkey
This was an Ottoman Imperial Palace before becoming a hotel patronised by the likes of Uma Thurman, Bill Clinton and Jennifer Lopez, who can arrive by yacht or helicopter. The hotel’s best room is the 4,930 sq ft Sultan Suite, furnished with 19th-century antiques and decorated with enough gilt and crystal to make Liberace blush. In the main bathroom, the taps are gold-plated and the walls are lined with three kinds of marble from different parts of Turkey.
At bedtime, guests can control the softness of their mattress on the vast four-poster at the touch of a button. Or, if they prefer, there is a butler on hand to do it for them. In the morning, guests wake to jaw-dropping views of the Bosphorus — and two continents, because the huge waterway divides Europe and Asia.
6. Ty Warner Penthouse Suite, Four Seasons Hotel
Thanks to its position on the 52nd floor of the Four Seasons Hotel, this 4,300 sq ft suite is New York’s tallest hotel room. Named after the billionaire owner of the Four Seasons Hotels Group, Ty Warner, the duplex took seven years and £35 million to build after the entire top floor of the hotel was demolished to make way for it.
It has four balconies to allow guests a 360-degree view of the Manhattan skyline. There is just one bedroom and for optimum comfort guests, who have included pop star Justin Bieber, sleep under a canopy made of Thai silk, threaded with gold, on a hand-stitched Swedish mattress, filled with layered cotton wool, mohair and horsehair.
Perks in the master bathroom, which is lined with Chinese onyx, include a glass-enclosed TV, a heated toilet seat and two sinks made of a single block of crystal. Then there’s the separate spa room for beauty treatments with a massage table and gym equipment, and a Zen room for meditation, complete with floor-to-ceiling waterfall. No expense is spared in the living areas, either, where the walls are decorated with inlaid mother-of-pearl.
Other high-end touches include a library filled with hundreds of art books, a baby grand piano and 18th-century Japanese silk pillows. The TVs are tuned to receive every global TV station and all international calls are free.If you ever want to leave, there are three private lifts to the ground floor where a Rolls-Royce and private chauffeur are constantly on standby.
7. The Brando Hotel, Tetiaroa
It’s little wonder this hotel was the honeymoon destination of choice for Pippa Middleton after her wedding to hedge fund manager James Matthews last May. Described as the perfect castaway island, guests arrive by private plane from Tahiti 30 miles way. Every villa is set on the white, sandy beaches, kept pristine by a beach sweeper, and has its own infinity pool looking on to the ocean.There’s also a full-time ‘coconut safety engineer’ responsible for picking ripe coconuts before they are able to fall and injure a passing guest.
The hotel was the brainchild of Hollywood actor Marlon Brando, who fell in love with the region when he filmed Mutiny On The Bounty in the Sixties. On the Hollywood star’s instruction, it’s eco-friendly too. Electricity comes from a coconut oil power station and the air-con uses sea water.
