by Brianna Crandall — March 29, 2013—Emporis, the international provider of building data, has weighed in with data on the world’s highest hotels following the recent grand opening of the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, which holds the new Guinness World Record as well as designation from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) for the world’s tallest all-hotel tower. Emporis reminded readers that there are other hotels higher than the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, although the buildings they occupy are not exclusively hotels.
At 355 meters in height, the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai superseded the 22 meters shorter Rose Tower, home to the luxurious Rose Rayhaan by Rotana, as the tallest building solely used as a hotel. Both skyscrapers are located in Dubai and provide their guests with an impressive view of the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa.
But according to Emporis, the true leader in sky-high accommodations remains the Ritz-Carlton located in Hong Kong’s 484-meter-high International Commerce Centre, currently the fifth tallest building in the world. All the rooms in what Emporis says could be considered the world’s highest hotel are to be found on floors with three-digit numbers, and reportedly offer a magnificent view of Victoria Harbour and the city’s skyline from well over 400 meters up. The very highest luxury, in a twofold sense, is enjoyed by guests staying in the 415-square-meter Ritz-Carlton Suite on the 117th floor, adds the company.
Research by Emporis shows that in fact several hotels around the world exceed the 400 meter mark: the Park Hyatt Shanghai in China is located on floors 79 to 93 of the Shanghai World Financial Center, the city’s tallest building at a height of 492 meters and a total 101 stories; in Shenzhen, China, the top 26 floors of the 442-meter-tall KK100 are home to a St. Regis-Hotel.
The highest hotels are, however, not just to be found on the uppermost floors of skyscrapers. The Makkah Clock Royal Tower might be the world’s second-tallest building, but its Fairmont Hotel only occupies the lower two-thirds of the tower. The top third consists of an enormous clock tower whose face can be seen from as far as 17 kilometers away.
According to Emporis, a boom in skyscraper hotel construction is particularly evident in Asian cities, and the future will not see a reduction in the number of sky-high hotels opening there: three of the buildings in the list were only completed in 2012, and further hotels of superlative dimension are already in the starting blocks, among them the controversial Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea. The 330-meter-tall building, which has been under construction since 1986, will not now have the 3,000 rooms originally planned, but, in housing a Kempinski Hotel, will introduce the first Western hotel chain to North Korea.
See also “JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, ‘World’s Tallest Hotel,’ celebrates grand opening” on FMLink.
