Monday, May 25, 2009

Hotel Hubris - Bring On The Bling

Yeah, I could be posting about this or this
But I bring you

From the Daily Mail
Hotel Hubris

It takes half an hour to cross the pool (by gondola, naturally). The spa has a room full of real snow. The bathrooms have gold-plated mirrors on the FLOOR. As Sharon, Paris and Mariah open Europe's most shameless temple of excess, can anyone afford to stay there?

The Mardan Palace
World recession or not
Frankly, the Mardan Palace must be seen to be believed. Russian billionaire Telman Ismailov spent more than £1billion on this project - and it shows.
The hotel itself - where suites cost up to £11,500 a night - is a temple to bling, fitted out with 2,500 tons of gold, 500,000 crystals and 23,000 square metres of Italian marble.
I thought that "If you build it they will come"
Apparently the hotel's owner thought that an opening with an hour long fireworks show and $200 Mouton Rothschild wasn't enough so he brought in the talent
for a price.
He's flown in superstar songstress Mariah Carey to perform (at a rumoured cost of £1 million) along with Tom Jones as the opening act. They are both on hand to entertain VIP guests including Ms Stone, Richard Gere and Paris Hilton, who have all been paid to attend and flown over on private jets for a blacktie party set to last for three days.
Seal was also a paid guest...SEAL!
Doesn't he have enough already with the music and the Heidi Klum empire?

Sharon Stone and Paris Hilton - aka the Bitch Brigade

Mariah Carey and Monica Belluci - aka the Diva Dames


Richard Gere and Tom Jones - aka the Silver Foxes

Of course with the paid talent you always get problems
Mariah Carey doesn't even bother to show up for her planned appearance at the press gathering, or the one-on-one interviews set up for afterwards, prompting several television crews to curse her audibly. She decides to stay in her room for what appears to be an extra four hours of hair and make-up.
Paris Hilton, meanwhile, arrives late and refuses to talk to anyone. The photographers are then called and asked to assemble before the evening's festivities because she has agreed to a photo session - which is a surprise to precisely no one.
Is any of this diva behavior a surprise?

So will this hotel live up to its sumptuous opening party and become a mecca for the European super-rich?
I'm no economist, but as the world slides deeper into recession, surely this is not the perfect time to be opening such a place. But then, perhaps the rich are not affected in the same way as the rest of us.
One seasoned Russian journalist is not so sure, though. 'Rich Russians go to France or England if they have the money - not Turkey,' he says. 'It's too much like our own country; the lifestyle and the people. Who will come here?'
Read the whole article....it's worth it just to read how the celebrities behaved in their press conference and how the reporter, a Mariah Carey look alike, was treated.
Hysterical
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3 comments:

Jill said...

Well, this was interesting. It's so ridiculously over the top. Sand brought in from Egypt...wow! It's also amazing how arrogant celebrities can be.

Belle de Ville said...

Jill, it's not just the arrogance that bothers me, it's the money thing. That these celebrities get paid just to show up at these openings is so wierd...well except for Mariah Carey and Tom Jones who actually performed. I mean what was Seal doing there?
The whole thing is sleezy, cheesy and greedy.

Anonymous said...

Great story. You need to have a column somewhere. Really . This stuff you come up with is so interesting.

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