The sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, where rooms start
at $1,525, is expanding the category of luxury accessories by providing all
guests with a 24-karat gold iPad upon check-in. The hotel, part of the Jumeirah
group of hotels and resorts, is often listed as the world’s most luxurious
hotel and already provides iMacs in each of its 202 suites.
The iPads were manufactured by Gold & Co. London and
designed exclusively for Burj Al Arab. Each one is engraved with the hotel’s
logo, as well as Jumeirah’s motto “Stay Different.” Every tablet also comes
loaded with interactive customer experience,
or ICE, software that enables guests to use the 24-karat gold iPad as a
virtual concierge to access information and hotel services.
The iPads provided to guests are 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi iPad3s and
for now run only the ICE program. The hotel is working on expanding customers’
access to other iPad applications.