Naumi Hotel is the first hotel in Singapore to have a women-only floor. It has five ladies-only suites hidden behind a security glass door, stocked with satin room accessories and skincare products.
********************
The world's first seven-star hotel is Dubai's Burj Al Arab Hotel. Its sail-shaped building has become an icon for the city.
*******************
Many hotels in Singapore have had name changes which confuse taxi drivers and end up with them taking customers to the wrong place, reported The Straits Times on Oct 12. One name change has been particularly confusing. In September, the Le Meridien hotel in Orchard Road became the Concorde Hotel, which was the old name of the current Holiday Inn Atrium in Havelock Road
*******************
The record holder for most number of hotel rooms in one building is MGM Grand, with 5,044 rooms. The hotel has two wedding chapels. To cater to newlyweds, 751 of the rooms are suites with marble baths and Roman spa-style showers.
*************************
The resort with the largest number of rooms in the world is Genting Highlands Resort, just across the Causeway in Malaysia. It has 6,118 rooms. To keep guests entertained, there are more than 80 shops, 90 restaurants, one cinema, a casino, a 50-room karaoke bar as well as two theme parks, one indoors and one outdoors.
****************************
The two largest budget hotel chains in Singapore are Hotel 81 and Fragrance Hotel. They each have a total of 19 hotels.
******************************
The most expensive hotel room in the world costs US$34,000 (S$50,000) per night, according to Wealth Bulletin, an online publication of eFinancialNews, a Dow Jones Company. This is the 4,300sq ft Ty Warner Penthouse at Four Seasons Hotel in New York. Guests enjoy their own private spa and fully leather-clad dressing room.
******************************
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest hotel still in operation is the Hoshi Ryokan, in the Awazu Onsen area of Komatsu, Japan which opened in AD718.
******************************
During the recent Formula One SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore's most expensive accommodation was the two-bedroom presidential suite in Fairmont Singapore at $13,800 per night.
This article was first published in In Depth, The Straits Times on Nov 10, 2008.
