Historically occupied by premium office space, the lofty heights of some the world's tallest
new skyscrapers are now mostly taken up with multi-million dollar apartments.
While most of us will never see the inside of these mansions in the sky, there is a way
to get a small taste of the high life.
Here, we countdown the highest hotels in the world.
Before we start, it’s important to explain how we’ve compiled this list. As all of
the world’s highest hotels are in mixed-use skyscrapers, we’ve used the “highest occupiable
hotel rooms” to develop our ranking.
This means that despite containing a hotel, the 163 storey Burj Khalifa in Dubai won’t be appearing,
as its Armani Hotel only occupies the tower up to the 39th floor.
We start our list with the Four Seasons in Guangzhou’s International Finance Centre.
This impressive avant-garde hotel, designed by Hirsch Bedner Associates, occupies the
top third of Guangzhou's second tallest skyscraper.
Opening in 2012, the hotel features 302 guest rooms and 42 deluxe suites across 30 of the tower’s floors.
With its entrance lobby on the 70th floor, guests are greeted by a 34-storey sky-lit atrium on arrival.
Despite its seven restaurants, spa, cloud-level pool, 18 function rooms and 700-capacity ballroom,
the main attraction for the hotel’s guests are the breath-taking views across the city.
Staying in China, the St Regis Hotel in Shenzhen comes in a fourth on our list.
The hotel opened in 2011 and offers some 257 rooms and 40 suites across the top 28 storeys
of the KK100 tower.
With rooms, as high as the 94th floor, the hotel offers guests panoramic views across the
city to as far away as Hong Kong.
Next up is not only the most recent addition to this list, but the only hotel on our countdown
to be located outside of China.
Operated by Lotte Hotels and Resorts, the Signiel is a 6-star hotel situated in South
Korea's tallest skyscraper - the Lotte World Tower.
Billed by its operators as the “first luxury landmark hotel representing Korea” the Signiel
occupies levels 87 to 101 and boasts the largest hotel rooms in Seoul.
Designed to reflect an East meets West style, the rooms offer magnificent furnishings,
and luxury bedding designed by Lotte in collaboration with the
Simmons Bedding Company.
The hotel also contains the world's highest ballroom, at 324m (1,063 ft.), four banquet
halls, two separate Michelin star restaurants, numerous health amenities, and a private members
restaurant situated above the hotel on the 107th floor.
Returning to China, we have the former title holder for World's Tallest Hotel, the Park
Hyatt in Shanghai's World Finance Centre.
Occupying floors 79 to 93 of the 101-storey tower, the Park Hyatt offers 174 guest rooms
and 14 suites - some of which sit as high as 88 storeys above Shanghai.
Opening in 2008, the 5-Star hotel offers some of the city’s largest rooms alongside nine
bars and restaurants, and numerous amenities.
There’s also a Tai Chi courtyard and an impressive pool on the 85th floor.
Quite literally taking our top spot is the highest hotel anywhere in the world: The Ritz-Carlton
at the International Commerce Centre in Hong Kong.
Situated at the top of the tower, between levels 102 and 118, the Ritz-Carlton overlooks
Victoria Harbour and offers 312 rooms complete with dedicated butlers and a limousine service.
With its spa located on level 116, guests truly have their head in the clouds as they
relax and take in the views from the infinity pool, 486m (1,595 ft) above Hong Kong.
With a range of restaurants on offer as well as the world's highest bar on level 118, the
Ritz-Carlton represents the pinnacle of the hotel high life.
The race to offer hotel rooms in the sky doesn’t end there and at the time of filming there
are a number of even higher hotels under construction.
The Guangzhou CTF Finance Centre in China is set to open its Rosewood Hotel by the end
of 2018, dethroning the Ritz-Carlton as the highest hotel in the world with rooms soaring
above 500m (1,640 ft).
There’s also the rumoured, J-Hotel, in the 632m Shanghai Tower. The hotel’s operator
has reserved levels 84 to 110 of the 123 storey skyscraper, but an opening date is not yet confirmed.
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