Anyone who knows how often Matt and I traveled for the Advisory Board, know that we have had our fair share of nights spent at the
Westin (or W, or Sheraton, or Meridian…or in some cases, dare I say it, the Four Points!) Now we even officially have the
Starwood Amex and are quickly accruing as many free hotel stays as we can with every dollar we are spending to set up our new home. For many years now I have associated a stay at one of these properties "work", even though they are almost always lovely, I was always in at 10pm and out at 7am. Well, on Monday, I got to do something totally fun and stress-free at the
Westin Mina Seyahi. I had the chance to attend their grand opening gala! It was a red-carpet event with 2,000 attendees from all parts of the business sector. As soon as I stepped out of the cab I was treated to a live acoustic performance of tradition Arabian drum beats, once inside I was quickly offered a glass of champagne and ushered into the beautiful nine story lobby where the
UAE Philharmonic Orchestra was performing (I didn't know we had one!)
After that we had free reign of the hotel. Every single restaurant was offering samples of their food and drink, after perusing the wine and cheese bar, steak house, tapas bar, mixed grill buffet, pool-side bar, and Asian station - we were pretty full! There was also a whisky tasting station (which delighted the boys I was with) and a
Ciroc vodka station, which as some of you hipsters might know, is the brand that P
Diddy is hocking. Their station had a
conveyor belt with martini glasses just waiting to be filled as they circled the bartender. Wandering out to the pool area I saw people doing acrobatics 'on' the pool. They were encapsulated in huge bubbles that floated on the pool at they flipped around. It was like something out of a sci
fi movie! Once back inside the grand ballroom was set up like a club and a great house band jammed until the early hours of the morning. As with most things in Dubai, it was a complete circus! The decor was really contemporary and beautiful, I especially liked the huge lit seahorse on the wall (in the picture below). In retrospect t
he papers are now calling it "hottest" party of the year. I don't know who gets to dole out that title, but I don't think I can argue with them!
After that we had free reign of the hotel. Every single restaurant was offering samples of their food and drink, after perusing the wine and cheese bar, steak house, tapas bar, mixed grill buffet, pool-side bar, and Asian station - we were pretty full! There was also a whisky tasting station (which delighted the boys I was with) and a Ciroc vodka station, which as some of you hipsters might know, is the brand that P Diddy is hocking. Their station had a conveyor belt with martini glasses just waiting to be filled as they circled the bartender. Wandering out to the pool area I saw people doing acrobatics 'on' the pool. They were encapsulated in huge bubbles that floated on the pool at they flipped around. It was like something out of a sci fi movie! Once back inside the grand ballroom was set up like a club and a great house band jammed until the early hours of the morning. As with most things in Dubai, it was a complete circus! The decor was really contemporary and beautiful, I especially liked the huge lit seahorse on the wall (in the picture below). In retrospect the papers are now calling it "hottest" party of the year. I don't know who gets to dole out that title, but I don't think I can argue with them!
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