Suite surrender
The Bridge is the most luxurious accommodation at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. But paradise doesn't come cheap.
By ROBERT JOHNSON
Published October 26, 2003
[Photos: Atlantis Resort]
|
| The Bridge Suite is the 17th-story penthouse that spans the Atlantis Resort's two Royal Towers. The suite has four bathrooms – two with whirlpool baths – and two main bedrooms, plus other sleeping areas; it can accommodate 10 guests. |
|
|
|
| The 50- by 25-foot living room of the Bridge Suite at the Atlantis Resort features a baby grand piano, two entertainment centers, and French doors leading to a spacious terrace. |
|
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas - What is probably the most expensive hotel suite in the world - at $25,000 a night - starts seducing guests at the foyer, which has a floor of red Persian travertine and white Bottocino marble.
Feasts for the eyes await in all 10 rooms of the Bridge Suite, the most luxurious accommodation at the Atlantis Resort. Twelve-foot ceilings, hand-painted stenciling and a profusion of gilt and glass create an aura of grandeur.
The 50- by 25-foot living room features a baby grand piano, two entertainment centers, custom hand-tufted rugs, elegant drapery treatments and French doors leading to a spacious terrace.
"This place isn't for everyone," says Antonio Miller, in a model of understatement. One of the suite's seven butlers - ensuring that one is on duty 24 hours a day - Miller is wearing a charcoal-colored, custom-made suit, purple silk shirt and blue tie.
Among the celebrities who have stayed in the 4,740-square-foot suite are Michael Jordan (several times) and Oprah Winfrey, who staged her television show from the place for a week.
But the Bridge Suite usually is reserved for high rollers who establish a $1-million line of credit with Atlantis' casino. For them, the $25,000 room charge is waived.
Despite the price, the suite is booked about 250 nights a year, hotel officials say.
Unlike most hotels' most-deluxe accommodations, the location of this 5-year-old suite is obvious: It's the 17th-story penthouse that spans Atlantis' two Royal Towers - hence its name.
Atlantis is a sprawling resort that boasts 35 restaurants, 11 swimming pools and its own multitank aquarium teeming with sharks and tropical fish.
And, of course, there is a huge casino.
Carrying out the theme
All of it is elaborately themed to recall the mythical lost city that is the resort's namesake.
The Atlantis theme extends to the Bridge Suite, where the walls are adorned with paintings by Albino Gonzalez, one of the world's foremost interpreters of ancient mythology. His works here capture the legend of the highly cultured civilization, its impending destruction and descent into the ocean deep.
The suite has four bathrooms - two of them have whirlpool baths - and two main bedrooms, plus other sleeping areas; it can accommodate 10 guests.
No minibar here; instead, one room serves as a saloon. But you still have to pay for whatever you consume: The $25,000 doesn't include food.
Guests may order the full-size fridge stocked with whatever they like, and the occupants probably don't mind (or even know) that these items are several times more expensive than they would be at a U.S. supermarket. If no special order has been placed, arriving guests find a starter kit of cheeses, chocolates and the usual sodas, juices, bottled water and beer.
Liquor is kept in a bar nearby. No miniature bottles here, just fifths of numerous kinds of wine and liquor. Once a bottle is opened, the guest is charged for the entire bottle no matter how much is consumed.
Perhaps the Bridge Suite's main attraction is privacy. The butler answers the door and schedules maid service, so there is no need to hang a "Privacy Please" sign on the door, no interrupted naps or showers.
See but not be seen
Few locals have ever seen the Bridge Suite's interior, adding to its mystique in nearby Nassau. For cabbies, asking passengers headed to or from Atlantis how they're enjoying their "$25,000 room" is a favorite joke.
Although referred to locally as Michael Jordan's Suite, that has never been its official name. Still, Atlantis officials don't discourage the nickname.
"Certainly Mr. Jordan has been a guest at the Bridge Suite, but it isn't really named for him," says Dennis Skinner, the resort's director of VIP Services. "Of course, the Michael Jordan image has placed us on the map with celebrity clientele. And that's a good thing for us."
Since the Bridge Suite opened, it has become part of tourist lore. Most couldn't prove its cost, except for a passage in the Guinness Book of World Records.
While the Bridge Suite is the signature accommodation at Atlantis, resort owner Kerzner International Inc. unveiled plans in May to add a 1,200-room hotel tower and 116 two-bedroom time-share suits. The $600-million expansion, scheduled for completion in 2005, also will include a dolphin-swim attraction and an 18-hole golf course on a nearby island.
The expansion was announced when the tourism business elsewhere in the Caribbean was struggling because of consumers' fears of terrorism and concerns about the economy.
Atlantis, in contrast, has been successful in keeping its revenue per available room, a measure of price and occupancy, about even this year with last, at $239. In the weeks before and after July 4, for example, Atlantis was full. The Bridge Suite was occupied most of that time.
Will the new expansion include a suite to rival or top the Bridge? That's doubtful, hotel officials say, partly because it will be farther from the casino. But the demand exists, based on recent occupancy levels: Although the Bridge was empty for about 110 days last year, most of those were set aside for cleaning and spiffing up between guests.
And the cleaning crew of six cannot get an early start. Unlike the regular rooms at Atlantis, which have an 11 a.m. checkout, guests at the Bridge "may leave whenever they want," Skinner says.
- Robert Johnson is a freelance writer living in Orlando.
If you go
FOR MORE INFORMATION: In addition to the Bridge Suite, Atlantis has more than 2,300 rooms in a variety of styles and prices. Contact the resort for a brochure. For reservations, call toll-free 1-888-528-7155 or go to www.atlantis.com
Travel
A family affair to remember
Suite surrender
California: Moving into hostel territory
Moving into hostel territory
Home sweet waterborne home
Overnight enlistment
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
