ABU DHABI // How far would you go to prove your love this Valentine’s Day?
Limousine rides, photo shoots, red-carpeted beachside meals and private butlers dubbed “cupid’s little helper” are just some of the lavish ways – with one hotel’s package costing a whopping Dh100,000.
While most of the offers had not been booked as of Wednesday, hotels were going all out with the most expensive rooms, meals and spa treatments.
“This is really exclusive at a really high level, so there is a lot of attention to detail,” said Dirk Bansemer, executive assistant manager of food and beverage at Jumeirah Zabeel Saray on the Palm.
For his hotel’s Dh40,000 package, a limousine is sent to pick the couple up for a one-night stay in a five-bedroom villa with a private butler and swimming pool, then have a spa treatment and a makeover.
They can follow a red carpet from the villa to a private table in a gazebo on the beach to have a five-course meal with champagne. The next morning, breakfast is served in the villa garden, and then the couple can take a private cooking class at the hotel’s Voi restaurant.
If Dh40,000 is small change, then Dh100,000 can buy you the diamond package at Rixos, The Palm, which offers a two-night stay in the hotel’s grand king suite, with limousine pick-up, chocolates, rose petals on the pillows, a photo shoot and breakfast served in the room with champagne.
It also includes a “romantic candlelight exclusive” dinner with live music and a sultan’s therapy spa treatment – sauna, steam bath, jacuzzi and a Turkish hammam.
Sheraton Dubai Mall of the Emirates has put together a Dh50,000 package that includes a shopping voucher for Dh10,000, as well as a five-course rooftop meal and a night in its royal suite.
Also included is a couple’s massage, in-room breakfast and “customised amenities upon arrival”.
The Waldorf Astoria in Ras Al Khaimah, which opened about six months ago, has its own offering that guests can customise and that is “really more an ideas piece than a set package”, said Katie Hollamby, a hotel representative.
“This is really just for one couple who would want to take over the imperial suite,” Ms Hollamby said.
If coming from Abu Dhabi or Dubai, the couple could travel to RAK by seaplane or helicopter and have tea and a private dinner in the suite with a balcony and grand piano and advertised as “an extravagant and unparalleled address suitable for only the most discerning guests”.
Such guests may also be interested in the diamond shop that has just opened in the hotel, Ms Hollamby said.
A personal concierge – “cupid’s little helper” – is included in the package, as well as a personal space on the beach where lunch can be served.
At Jumeirah Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi, the highlight of its Dh30,000 offer is a “romance at the towers” special dinner at Scott’s Terrace that includes oysters, octopus carpaccio, shellfish bisque and seared scallops with butternut squash puree.
A limousine transports the couple to the hotel for dinner and a couple’s spa treatment, one-night stay in a club suite and breakfast served by a butler on the beach.
“Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest calendar days here at Jumeirah, Etihad Towers restaurants,” said Nandana Wirasinha, director of food and beverage at the hotel.
He said the hotel has received enquiries about the special, offered only to one couple, but it has not been booked.
“Probably tomorrow or the day after, we expect it to be booked out,” he said, adding that it could be an “opportunity to propose”.
Mr Bansemer said Valentine’s Day was more popular in the UAE than in his native country, and one of the more well-booked holidays at his hotel, Jumeirah Zabeel Saray.
“When I was in Germany, I didn’t even know it was Valentine’s. It was not so much of a ritual,” he said.
Guests used to seeing the crimsons and pinks that are common on Valentine’s Day would be surprised to see that the Ottoman-style hotel has drawn lessons from Turkish history for its floral arrangements, Mr Bansemer said.
“We have decided for the first time that we are not giving our lady red roses – we are giving her yellow tulips,” he said. “In Ottoman times, that is what the men gave the women to express their love.”
lcarroll@thenational.ae
It's Monty Python's Crashing Rocket Circus
To the theme tune of the famous zany British comedy TV show, SpaceX has shown exactly what can go wrong when you try to land a rocket.
The two minute video posted on YouTube is a compilation of crashes and explosion as the company, created by billionaire Elon Musk, refined the technique of reusable space flight.
SpaceX is able to land its rockets on land once they have completed the first stage of their mission, and is able to resuse them multiple times - a first for space flight.
But as the video, How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster, demonstrates, it was a case if you fail, try and try again.
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
BELGIUM%20SQUAD
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last-16, second leg:
Real Madrid 1 (Asensio 70'), Ajax 4 (Ziyech 7', Neres 18', Tadic 62', Schone 72')
Ajax win 5-3 on aggregate
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE%20PREMIERSHIP
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THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
