The over-the-top Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi is offering a $1 million, week-long stay which it claims is the world's most expensive holiday package. The Palace Suite package includes first-class airline tickets, a chauffeur-driven Maybach for the week, a personal butler, daily spa treatments, and day trips via private jet, the Gulf-based Khaleej Times Online reports. The offer is being made as an attempt to earn the hotel a slot in the Guinness Book of World Records, and part of the proceeds will be donated to charities in the U.A.E., the paper reports. The luxe day trips include jetting to Iran to weave Persian carpets and to Bahrain to dive for deep sea pearls, which will then be set for you in custom-designed jewellery.

Ugh, isn't Dubai full up of celebrity hotels, resorts, and developments already? Apparently not, as the latest celebrity to join the fray of "I have a hotel in Dubai" is Pamela Anderson.

Her hotel will apparently be environmentally friendly, although how exactly we're not sure -- except that she was quoted as saying "It's built with no fossil fuel at all... in Abu Dhabi - where they have all that oil."

Pamela was first inspired for the project after traveling to the area this past June with the Make a Wish Foundation. No word on what her hotel will be called, or when it will open for business.

The new Aviator hotel in Farnborough, England has dubbed itself the "UK's sexiest airport hotel." The hotel is located at TAG Farnborough, an airport that caters to private jets and business travelers. The Tines Online recently checked it out, finding that the building, which looks like a plane propeller, has a distinctive charm. The hotel, founded by the people behind the Malmaison and Dakota chains, has 150 rooms spread over three floors, with 19 suites on the fourth floor. Rooms include Bose sound systems, flatscreen TVs, large beds and wifi. Suites have both a bathtub and a power shower. The hotel includes two bars, one for the suite holders only and one for the rest, The Brasserie which serves seasonal menus.

The TImes Online reviewer deemed the hotel very stylish indeed but questioned whether those landing at Farnborough might just truck on to London instead. Now at least, weary travelers have the option of an elegant stay without a long car ride. Rates start at £195.

The One Key Travel Card is a like a membership card to a time share but more upscale. It includes first-class homes, personalized service, and local knowledge, without a significant outlay of upfront capital or whole ownership. Members have access to a worldwide portfolio of selected homes, as well as a dedicated member services representative. Cards are available by number of nights: 15, 25 or 45, for $34,900, $49,900, or $84,900, respectively. Use the nights in any combination. Pricing includes access to One Key Homes, daily housekeeping, and member services. Inquire about membership here. Choices of home style / themes include beach, city, mountain, leisure, and "hidden gems."

Ever since Thor Equities paid $230 million a while back for Chicago's famed Palmer House hotel, we've been awaiting the results of their $150 million revamp of the storied space. The original edifice, rebuilt after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, was frequented by presidents, robber barons and writers like Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. The current hotel, constructed in 1923, continued the opulent tradition but eventually lost some of its luster.

A fair amount of progress has been made on the project to date, including a chic restaurant called Lockwood and the new addition of Potter's (above), a bar / lounge named after the Palmer House's founder, Potter Palmer. In the style of a 1930s men's club, the wood and leather-bedecked space features oversized photos of past Palmer House patrons and Chicago icons like like Nat King Cole, football star Walter Payton, and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.

[via Men.Style]

Former Yugoslavian dictator Marshal Tito's lavish villa on Slovenia's beautiful Lake Bled has been refurbished and turned into a top-drawer hotel under the auspices of the famed Relais & Chateaux group. The white Dalmatian marble mansion, called Vila Bled, on 12 landscaped acres surrounded by the dramatic Julian Alps, was visited by the likes of Liz Taylor, King Hussein of Jordan and Prince Charles when it was the former president's retreat in the '50s and '60s. Now it's divided into 20 luxe suites with a vintage feel, with a newly-added spa featuring both Turkish and Finnish saunas and food prepared by the first Slovenian chef to earn a Michelin star. See the gallery for more.

[via UrbanDaddy]

Last year I wrote out about hotels getting rid of the Bible, now it looks like some are ditching another standard hotel item, the phone book. Omni Hotels has announced that they will eliminate phone books, recycling their current stock of 30,000 phone books will be recycled. The hotel chain found that no one uses the phone books and they just take up drawer space. USA Today also notes that Hyatt hotels, Hyatt Place, Kimpton hotels and several chains operated by Starwood Hotels, Westin, Sheraton, Aloft and Element, have also stopped having phone books in the rooms and instead offer them by request at the front desk.

These days travelers are more likely to look up what they need on a laptop or smartphone. Unfortunately Omni only offers free WiFi in the rooms for its loyalty program members, guests who aren't loyalty program members still have to pay $9.95 per day. I think it's fine if hotels get rid of phone books, I just wish they'd give us free WiFi instead.

American Express has launched a new travel series for members. Called the "Best Of," the series of travel packages pulls together the best from select cities around the globe. Each "Best Of" travel package allows Cardmembers to experience some of the world's greatest cities like a VIP. The "Best Of" packages, which can only be purchased using Membership Rewards points.

Their current offer is the "Best of Wynn Las Vegas" package. There are 15 packages available for members. Sponsored by Wynn Las Vegas Resort and Country Club, the package will take place from September 4 – 7. Cardmembers will receive round trip airfare from Delta Airlines, three night accommodations at Wynn Las Vegas' Tower Suites, a "Texas Hold Em" training session with World Series of Poker champion Chris Moneymaker, dinner for two at the restaurant, Bartolotta Ristorante di Mare, inside Wynn Las Vegas with a personal presentation by Chef Paul Bartolotta and tickets to LE REVE, the performance in the aqua theater at the Wynn. The package costs 280,000 Membership Rewards points. The next package will take American Express members to Milan, Italy.

Like Las Vegas, Atlantic City is steadily trying to move from being strictly a gambling destination into turning into more of an overall vacation spot. Two new hotels go a long way toward furthering that aim. The Water Club is a a $400 million, 800-room hotel built by the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa which opened earlier this summer. It was quickly followed by the 330-room Chelsea, a retro-modern hotel which has a 1950s/60s theme and is a $110 million makeover of two older hotels.

Both hotels feature lavish rooms, concierge services, spa treatments and fine dining without a roulette wheel or a slot machine in sight. Both are located near casinos, The Water Club is next to the Borgata and the Chelsea is next to the Tropicana Casino, but the focus is on the vacation not the gambling. Atlantic City also has one major advantage over Las Vegas, attractive beaches and ocean views.

Auberge Resorts is set to unveil their latest resort, Encantado. The resort is set against the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. The resort offers 65 casitas, a luxury spa, and a fine dining restaurant led by Executive Chef Charles Dale, who was named Best New Chef in America by Food + Wine Magazine in 1995 and twice nominated for Best American Chef in the Southwest by the James Beard Foundation.

The resort offers a variety of packages. The luxurious Too Much Of A Good Thing package includes three nights accommodation in a Casita or suite, a welcome spa gift, a couples Mountain Spirit Purification spa treatment, Moisture Drench facials for two, Encantado Classic Massage for two, private instruction in yoga, pilates or Tai Chi for two, a daily spa breakfast and a special turn down amenity. Rates start at $3380 for the package.

Despite the notorious delays of the Thompson LES (as in Lower East Side) hotel, the latest in hotelier Jason Pomeranc's lineup of luxury sleepover parties, a few teaser pics have surfaced thanks to Men.Style.com. Above is the LES pool, complete with a triptych of Andy Warhol photolithographed to the bottom. Now scheduled to open July 29, Thompson LES was designed by architect Ed Rawlings and sits high at 190 Allen Street, eighteen stories reminding the neighborhood that the times they are a-changin'.

I've seen a lot of luxury tent experiences but the new Mongolian yurts at Krug's Clos du Mesnil in Champagne is one of the priciest. The eight double-berth tents in Krug's famous Clos du Mesnil vineyard at Mesnil-sur-Oger in Reims cost £40,000 in total which works out to £2,500 per person. The yurts are luxurious with carpets, four poster beds, Egyptian cotton sheets, fresh flowers and candles but they don't include toilets or showers. Generators are cut off at 1am so late night forays have to be conducted by lantern light.

Decanter checked out the facility and has a video of the experience. The real perk is the Champagne, guests are served Krug Grand Cuvée, Krug Rosé, Krug 1996 and Krug Clos du Mesnil 1998 and the food is supplied by world-class chefs. The winery reports that they have already booked one package for August and expect that, despite the high price and relatively rough accommodations, others will want to sign up for this unique experience.

Jonathan Denby, who owns three hotels in England's Lake District, takes the food he feeds his guests very seriously. In addition to thriving kitchen gardens, he has an entire farm devoted to raising livestock. Now he's taken it to the next level by importing embryos of Japanese Wagyu calves. Denby plans to become a Wagyu breeder to provide the famous luxury steaks for his three hotel restaurants. Denby is continue the Wagyu-style tradition by pampering his calves with massages, classic music and tastes of the local beer. While most restaurants and suppliers in the UK import the meat from elsewhere, Denby would be one of the few to offer meat he raised himself. His first two calves were just born recently so it will be a bit of a wait for that steak dinner.

In Kuwait's plans for Silk City (Madinat Al Hareer), no one will ever be more than three blocks from water or gardens. A vast National Wildlife Refuge is in the works. And medical treatment along with fresh, healthy food will be accessible on foot for 80% of residents. The centerpiece of the hugely ambitious project will be the tallest building in the world, the Mubarak al Kabir Tower, at 200 stories and comprised of seven distinct "vertical neighborhoods." (Fun fact: the tower will reach to 1,001 meters, an imposing physical reference to the Arabian Nights tale.) Add to that the four main quadrants of the city: Finance City, Leisure City (I'm totally moving there), Culture City and Ecologic City, and what is ostensibly an architectural feat becomes an experiment in crafting entire ways of life. With government investment of $132 billion, London-based design firm CivicArts/Eric R. Kuhne are ready to break ground ... and continue its labors until the estimated date of completion for Silk City, 2023.

Investors in the project state that their hopes to renew Kuwait's cultural influence are highly motivational, and the idea is based on the crucial links established over a thousand years ago when Kuwait was a center on the silk trade routes. Now planning to link itself with cities like Damascus and Baghdad, stretching ultimately all the way to China, Kuwait intends to reestablish its connectivity in more than just symbolic measure.

Clearly imitative of nearby architectural playgrounds like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Silk City and all its outrageous goals does come off feeling a bit more commercial than its underlying motives might imply. They're tossing around terms like the "Arabian Riviera" and plan to incorporate such enclaves as "Film City" and multiple "pleasure facilities." Maybe it's that the intentions aren't just outrageous but highly-regimented. The planners are busy designing 28 different "lifestyle zones" specifically branded by interest (sports, film, media, etc.). While all the bells and whistles sound pretty awesome (in the true sense of the word) the overly manufactured quality of every detail -- especially the neighborhoods, oops "lifestyle zones," which force homogeneity not diversity -- make this huge community appear rather disconnected after all.

I guess we'll have to reevaluate in 2023. But judging from a fairly recent visit to Dubai, a model of speedy construction and ambitious contemporary architecture, I'd be willing to bet Silk City is operational much before then. Those oil prices don't hurt the timeline, either.

While workers put the finishing touches on buildings for the Olympics, Beijing hotels are dropping prices hoping to fill empty rooms for the celebration. Many hotels had raised rates hoping for a huge tourism leap before the Games, which start on August 8. The AFP reports that three- and four-star hotels are cutting prices by 20 percent or more. Five star hotels seem to be faring best, earlier this month the Beijing municipal tourism bureau said that they were 70 percent booked while four-star hotels bookings during the Olympics stood at 44 percent and rates for three-star hotels were even lower.