Luxury Hotel’s Christmas Bling-Fest
The Emirates Palace luxury hotel in Abu Dhabi is displaying a jewel-encrusted Christmas tree, which it says is worth millions of dollars.
Items of jewellery studded with scores of precious stones are draped on the tree’s branches, along with more traditional baubles and lights. While the tree alone is worth a mere $10,000 (£6,400), the jewellery adds more than $11million ($7 million) to the value, according to the hotel’s General Manager, Hans Olbertz.
The luxury hotel is asking the Guinness Book of Records to certify the tree as the world’s most expensive.
The vast majority of the population of the oil-rich UAE are Muslim, but Mr Olbertz said he didn’t think the tree would offend local sensibilities. “It’s a very liberal country,” he said.
The tree sits in the sumptuous lobby of the 302-room hotel – which is bookable, of course, through Luxique.
by Andy Moreton
