ACCOMMODATION

Teaming with Fortune magazine, the design rag employed a panel of discerning judges, who placed Sorella among the ranks of NYC's Ace Hotel, Soho House in Berlin and Dubai's new Armani Hotel. Explains Wallpaper*, "Our shortlist ranges from grand luxury openings to inspiring relaunches of old favourites and contemporary openings in up-and-coming destinations."

The elite world of fashion is no longer limited to the clothes on your back. Famous brand names such as Armani and Bulgari can now be found in the hotel rooms in which we sleep and the food we eat as they increasingly stake their claim in hospitality.

Dubai may be the preserve of the rich or the playboy or the paid-for, because if you want to live like a King or Sheikh here, you can. The sky is literally the limit and you can even see that, the world's tallest building The Burj Khalifa, which towers over the Seawings seaplane piloted by Captain Per Korsvold flying at 1,500 ft and which takes off out of the Jebel Ali marina. But you get what you pay for and Dubai doesn't do second-rate.

The practice is standard operating procedure in many four-and five-star hotel chains, said seven employees who have 30 years of combined experience in more than a dozen companies in Dubai. Several asked not to be named to avoid repercussions. The most common mistake was missed wake-up calls, causing travellers to miss flights, the workers said. Breakages were also punishable.

First on the must-see list of indoor attractions is the record-breaking Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 828m. It sprouts out of the central city like a gleaming hypodermic needle, looking superimposed against the bright blue sky. Dubai is a theme park of firsts, biggests, tallests and oddests. Khalifa, the tallest, sits next to the Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping centre. And it's there you buy your tickets to ride possibly the world's most psychedelic elevator to the viewing platform two-thirds of the way up Khalifa.

Maybe the Ritz-Carlton saw the Armani Hotel Dubai in the Burj Khalifa--the current tallest building in the world--as a challenge. Or, maybe the hotel group just wanted to create some local competition with the Park Hyatt Shanghai (to date the highest rooftop observation deck in Asia).

This relentless reiteration of the brand starts in the lobby of the Armani Hotel Dubai, where a series of bronze columns arch overhead, meeting at a point to create a towering collection of artful As. Beneath the arches, mirroring their shape, lie two oversized sofas. The combined result is a consciously contemporary, highly fashionable take on the traditional majlis. Armani Hotel Dubai occupies floors concourse to eight, as well as levels 38 and 39 of Burj Khalifa.

Located in the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, the 160-room hotel is clad from bedhead to bar with Giorgio Armani-designed furnishings from the label's home collection. A total of four resorts and 10 Armani hotels are planned for the world's fashion capitals, including Milan (2010), London, Paris, New York and Tokyo.

Then we have opened an apartment hotel in Downtown Dubai opposite the Burj Khalifa, so that is the baby that I am trying to nourish now. We have also signed a contract in Saudi Arabia for 12 hotels to be built within the next five years.

Recognizes the significance of outstanding architecture and design of a hotel or component therein. Nominees: Capella, Singapore; Aria Resort & Casino, Las Vegas; Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona; Armani Hotel Dubai; and Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad.