Most Recent: Dubai
Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 2:06 PM
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Tal PinchTagged as: Golf, Dubai, Tiger Woods, Travel, Punta Brava, Mexico
Tiger Woods 18 Holes in Baja Have Put Our Plans for Dubai on Hold
On the cusp of returning from knee surgery (although he reportedly hasn't started swinging his clubs just yet), Tiger Woods is still busy as ever. With his second child on the way, Woods has already introduced his newest baby to the fairway-aiming world. The baby's name is Punta Brava, a new par-70 all-luxury course located about 65 miles south of San Diego. It?s not the first such project Woods has unveiled, but it could be the most interesting.
With his first pet project, Tiger Woods Dubai, slated to become the Arab world's top-tier golf resort thanks to its private residential lots and fine dining courtesy of chefs like Guy Savoy, Punta Brava has a lot to live up to. The fact that it's a short ride from the Mexican border already endears it to the typical high-end golfer, who may not be looking to fly halfway around the world to play 18 holes, even if it does have a private spa bungalow on site.
With water within site of every hole, Punta Brava already features a backdrop superior to Dubai's. We initially expected Dubai (which has a reputation for making a four-star property look like the Chelsea Hotel circa Sid Vicious) to crush any other property in terms of luxury amenities. But with the plans just being revealed, it looks like Brava might be more than just a gorgeous course.
Aside from the requisite upscale clubhouse, spa, and fine-dining, the new Woods project also features an intriguing combination of residential lots, villa residences, and villa hotel, each of which is expected to offer high-end amenities for the clientele, who will have the intriguing option of accessing the property via either air, land or sea.
Alright, so it looks nice, but Dubai is going to look nice too once it's all done. But Brava does seem to have a Tiger Woods signature on the course that his first private golf resort is lacking. During his Brava press conference, Tiger gushed over some of his favorite holes in a way nobody really seems to be doing with Dubai. He mentioned eight separate shots in which you'll have to blast your ball over water (which is cool) and a No. 12 that he thinks looks remarkably like No. 8 at Pebble Beach.
What's more, he told the Wall Street Journal that he'd be buying a home at Brava too, a home that the native Californian will arguably be seeing more than his Dubai club. With an estimated 2011 opening and sales beginning immediately, you've been given fair warning.
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Posted on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 4:05 PM
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Tal PinchTagged as: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bill Gates, Hotels, Travel, Carnegie Mellon University, Golf
Abu Dhabi is now running the English Premier League's Manchester City football club. Dubai is Disneyland for a new generation of global capitalists. And now neighboring Qatar is poised to become more than just the home of the Al Jazeera news network. The emirate's been drawing major non-energy investment from all over the world (though the current global economic uncertainty may slow that growth), and now Sotheby's auction house is building a Doha office. Opening in 2009, it will coincide nicely with the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art, a large-scale cultural project helmed by renowned architect I.M. Pei. Add it all to the recently opened W-shaped luxury W Hotel, world-class equestrian club, regional cruises, and Doha Golf Club, and there is plenty percolating. As if that weren't enough, Bill Gates will be making his first visit to Doha as a keynote speaker at next year's International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development. The Spring ?09 event will be hosted by Carnegie Mellon University?s overseas campus in Doha (just one American school pursuing Qatari expansion) and is expected to be a meeting of some of the world?s most advanced technological minds covering technology's role in everything from governments to corporations to non-profits. With Gates' address expected to attract convention and hospitality dollars, the conference takes place around the time Qatar launches the world's first commercial mobile TV deployment, an initiative of Nokia Siemens. Not bad for the area formerly known as the UAE's dorky middle child.
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Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 1:28 PM
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Tal PinchTagged as: Atlantis, Bahamas, Dubai, Hotels, Travel, Water
Could the Atlantis Dubai Make us Forget Paradise Island?
There was plenty going on (maybe too much) the first time we visited the Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Against the backdrop of a major poker tournament at the resort, we were stunned by the beauty of the property and the massive aquarium surrounding it, particularly the impressive collection of stingrays. There was also the odd family here and there on vacation there, which cramped our style only momentarily, but the experience overall was serene, especially for a poker tournament.
So when we heard about the new Atlantis in Dubai, we became curious about the new property, particularly the Middle Eastern take on the Atlantis Bahamas? legendary aquarium. Before we could start packing our things for the Middle East, the Daily Mail has took a look inside the new property. With dolphins imported from the South Pacific and $25,000-a-night suites, the 113-acre resort is one of the latest features on the Palm Jumeirah, one of the three man-made island shaped like a palm tree. Aside from the new Atlantis, Jumeirah also features a series of properties (Trump, Taj Exotica, Fairmont) connected by monorail and underwater tunnel. NEW PARAGRAPH The obvious question so far is if the Dubai property out-Atlantises the original Bahamas property? With sprawling luxury accommodations, the answer just may be yes, at least until Atlantis Paradise Island completes its latest renovations.
From the hallways to the suites to the massive cutting-edge bathrooms, everything appears bigger and even more luxurious. Plus, being in Dubai (not exactly a casino haven), you shouldn?t have to worry about a giant poker tourney causing even an ounce of stress. But what really captured the attention of the animal lover in us was that aquarium we mentioned. Until now, we had always assumed the seemingly never-ending Atlantis Bahamas? man-made ocean was the true standard bearer. But the absolutely massive aquarium (that seems to peek into practically every room of the property) makes the Atlantis Dubai look as if you?re actually living underwater. If you don?t like the water, this might not be a good thing, but otherwise it?s an impressive-looking new name over at the Palm.
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Posted on Friday, September 12, 2008 at 1:38 PM
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Tal PinchTagged as: Travel, Dubai, Las Vegas, Bellagio, Water, Downtown Burj Dubai, Oceans 11
One of the Las Vegas strip's most iconic fixture, not to mention the centerpiece of one of our favorite movie scenes, is about to be outdone. We're talking about the fantastic fountains outside the Bellagio, which for some time have been the world's largest water fountain. Wouldn't you know it, it's about to be outdone by a property in Dubai. The new Dubai fountain will be the focal point of the upcoming Downtown Burj Dubai project, a city-within-a-city concept that will house the world's largest shopping mall.
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Posted on Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 1:53 PM
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Tal PinchTagged as: Hotels, Travel, Saudi Arabia, Royal Suite, Jacuzzi , Dubai, Access
With areas like Dubai and Abu Dhabi upping the high-end ante considerably these days, we've managed to stumble upon a royal suite in Saudi Arabia that may be one of the Middle East's nicest. Look, we're not idiots, we're well aware that many people in this part of the world will never get to enjoy these kinds of luxuries. But it still bears mentioning that there are also a variety of world-class accommodations in parts of the region that some of us still might like to know about. Take this particular Royal Suite at the Rosewood Corniche in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for example.
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