ArabianBusiness.com

Only a quarter of people who took part in the latest Arabian Business survey said they though the AED100 ticket price to go up the Burj Khalifa was reasonable.

Saudi Arabia will help China build a $1.3bn luxury hotel modelled on Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, according to newspaper reports from Beijing. The People’s Daily Online quoted a senior official as saying that graphics and planning of the ‘seven-star’ hotel had already been completed. The announcement was made at a press conference on Wednesday.

In less than six months, Mohammed Alabbar has delivered two of the world's most eagerly awaited projects. How did he do it? The iconic Burj Khalifa tower opened in January, and four months later came the first ever Armani Hotel, built within the tower.

Using Khan's Bundled Tube structural engineering principles, the building takes its strength from the combination of nine main structures arranged in a three by three grid that make up the impressive complex. It's a clever arrangement. All towers rise to 50-storeys, where the northeast and southwest buildings stop. The remaining seven towers continue to the 66th floor where the northeast and southwest structures end, and at 90-storeys, the north, south and east floors top out. The two remaining towers, the west and central towers, then stretch to 110 floors, the building's top. A similar system of bundled towers was used by SOM to construct the Burj Khalifa.

There is little surprise at this hotel’s entry into the Top 10 Hotel openings of 2010. There were sceptics who claimed this was a “fluff” opening, but the noise surrounding the arrival of the world’s first Armani hotel couldn’t be ignored. All eyes were on Dubai for the right reasons — and quite a stunning hotel was the result. Room categories available include 24 Armani Studios, 44 Armani Classic rooms, 38 Armani Premiere rooms, 36 Armani Suites, six Armani Executive and six Armani Ambassador Suites, and five Armani Signature Suites.

The chairman compared Jeddah Gate with the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower built by Emaar in Dubai. “The two projects both began in May 2005,” he said. “Burj Khalifa was opened, while Jeddah Gate is still under construction.”

The shops in Dubai Mall that were forced to close following a leak in its huge aquarium on Thursday, opened back to normal business on Friday. According to The National daily, the viewing tunnel running through the middle of the 10 million-litre tank remained closed.

Room prices at Dubai’s Armani Hotel, which occupies the first six floors of the Burj Khalifa, are trading at 40 percent down from the published rates at launch, Arabian Business can reveal. Seven months after its opening, a standard room at the 160-room Armani hotel will now set back guests AED2,400 ($653) compared to a rate card price of AED4,000 at the end of April.

As the Burj Khalifa lit up the Dubai sky with fireworks in the early hours of 2011, the world’s tallest tower was days away from another anniversary – its first birthday. From his office on the 42nd floor of Emirates Towers, Eric Tomich wouldn’t have been able to see the fireworks, because although the southern side of the twin towers commands excellent views of the Burj Khalifa, Tomich’s office faces Sheikh Zayed Road and Dubai Creek.

Apartment sellers in the Armani Residences have listed a number of two bed room units for AED30m ($8.1m) each. Several units were put on sale in the past week, and the prices equate to AED13,500 ($3675) per square foot – nearly 20% higher than during the peak of the property boom in Dubai.