atlantis the palm

Jackie Chan’s latest film Kung Fu Yoga, which was filmed in Atlantis and premieres on 3rd Feb  2017 in China is being celebrated by Atlantis, through a contest that gives away a 3 Night Stay in Atlantis as well as return airfares to Dubai. To enter the competition is easy, you need to follow Atlantis, The Palm on social media and fill out the registration form below. The competition closes on 14 February 2017, with the winner announced on 15 February 2017. Kung Fu Yoga showcases some of Atlantis’s major attractions.

mandarin oriental

With the ongoing extensive renovation of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London, the bespoke collage ‘Our Fans’ by Sir Peter Blake will be taking up residence on the hotel’s Knightsbridge façade. Sir Peter Blake, a leading figure in the art world, and often referred to as the ‘Godfather of British Pop Art’, has been commissioned by Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group to create the huge collage entitled Our Fans, creating an eye-catching diversion along Knightsbridge. Our Fans is the largest artwork Sir Peter Blake has ever created, and brings together 100 prominent faces, from Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren to Joanna Lumley and Jenny Packham. All are regular guests at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London as well as fans of the Group’s hotels around the world. “Some of my first works were collages of crowds of people; this piece is in the spirit of The Beatles 1967 Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album,” said Sir Peter Blake. The collage is the size of 38 double decker buses at 70.7m wide and 24.88m high.  It weighs over 1055kg and has taken over 10 hours to install.  Morgan Freeman, Sir Peter Blake, Sir Paul McCartney are over 15 metres tall.  All the confetti pieces are made up of small multi-coloured fans.

disney movie

You’ll soon be able to acquire an exclusive china tea-set straight from the fantasy tale of Beauty and The Beast, with Disney releasing accompanying merchandise for the soon to be released movie. The story of Beauty and The Beast has magical household objects that  come alive and talk and dance, so you have faces drawn over the exclusive tea-set, ostensibly representing Mrs Potts and Chip, from their animated film depictions in the 90s, plus three additional cups and four saucers. While Mrs. Potts features an attached golden loop with green ceramic feather charm and cut out detailing around the rim and lid, the Chip cup and his companions come adorned with gold decorations. The Beauty and the Beast tea set is yours for $249.95 and is available only in 2000 limited editions. Available officially on the Disney Store’s website, the tea set will be made available to buyers in an elegant presentation box with satin lining.

luxury vehicles

The first-ever Mercedes Maybach SUV will be making its grand debut in 2019 and will be based on the new generation of Mercedes GLS, due to arrive soon as well. The luxe carmaker has appropriately taken its largest SUV, the GLS, as the canvas to build the Maybach SUV. With a length of 5130mm providing the Maybach standard of legroom and comfort along with tonnes of boot space, and an aircraft business class-like layout, this sure is the cream of the cream. Luxe enhancements include everything from multi-coloured adjustable ambient lighting to options for seat back massage types and intensities, rear seat recliners et al. Instead of the current 4.7-litre V8 from the current Maybach S500, the GLS will get 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 motor which is compliant with the latest emission standard and built for the future.

porsche

Porsche’s 718 Cayman and Boxster had been launched globally over a year ago. And now they’re being officially launched in India on February 15. Both cars will be powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo petrol engine that generates 296bhp of power and 380Nm of torque. While they both boast top speeds of 275kph, the manual transmission variant can sprint from 0 to 100kph in 5.1 seconds, while the automatic does it in 4.9 seconds and 4.7 seconds with a sport chrono package.
Both the cars are expected to be priced between Rs 80 lakh – Rs 85 lakh (Ex-showroom).

oyo rooms

OYO Rooms glides into the premium segment with its fully-owned chain of premium hotels termed OYO Townhouse. Positioned as the “friendly neighbourhood hotel”, OYO Townhouse “will operate as a hotel, community hotspot, cafe and merchandise store – to deliver an all-encompassing experience to guests,” according to OYO Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal.  He also added that they were looking at 250 properties with over 10,000 rooms across 12 cities in India by the end of 2017. The Townhouse debuted with OYO Townhouse hotel in Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi, which sports a cool grey look inspired by the classic British townhouse, with red and funky wall art adding zing to the ambience. The first OYO Townhouse came up last month in Gurgaon, but the Safdarjung property marks the official debut of the chain. This will be followed by Colaba in Mumbaiand further 12 cities across India. Founded in 2013, OYO operates 7,000 hotels and 70,000 rooms in over 200 Indian cities and Malaysia.

bugatti chiron

Hennessey Venom GT, flaunted as the fastest “hardtop coupe and convertible” in the world, will soon be bidding adieu. After being in production for only six years and selling a dozen cars during its production run, the American hypercar has officially concluded its production. To commemorate the final Venom GT built, Hennessey Performance (HPE) is making a “Final Edition” of its 270+ mph supercar.  The Venom GT Final Edition is finished in a special “glacier blue” paint with white stripes and is powered by the same twin turbo 7.0 Liter V8 engine producing 1,451 bhp.  The Final Edition has already been sold at the price of $1.2 millon. Since its inception, Texas-based HPE built only 12 road-going Venom GT’s and one working prototype. The first six models were hardtop coupes, whereas the rest of the six were roadsters. Over the past six years of production, the power figures of the Venom GT grew from 1,000 bhp initially to the astonishing 1,451bhp, says the carmaker. With a combined weight of just 1,245kg, the Venom GT brags of becoming the first supercar to attain and exceed the power to weight ratio of 1:1. The successor to the Venom GT is already in place: the Venom F5, to be introduced sometime later this year. The Venom F5 will be taking on none other than the Bugatti Chiron.

luxury perfumes

Along with its exotic bags and accessories, American designer Judith Leiber is now all set to offer two fragrances under his name, Minaudière and Minaudière Oud.  While the Minaudière has a floral blend with undertones of blackcurrant bud, bergamot, apple, jasmine, lily of the valley, white flowers, praline, musk and sandalwood, the Minaudière Oud is a darker, intense, seductive fragrance with an oriental concoction of rose, plum, raspberry, black pepper, vanilla orchid, orris, incense, amber and oud, of course. What’s more, they boast of luxe decanters in silver, styled exactly like Leiber’s coveted purses, adorned with a cabochon-embellished push clasp as a stopper, with pink highlights for the Minaudière and jet black with gold touches for the Minaudière Oud.  The prices for both are $195 for a 100ml Eau de Parfum each.

luxury leather goods

Flight amenity kits have evolved into something of a collector’s item, what with brands like Salvatore Ferragamo and Bulgari being invited by airlines to reinvent the commonplace item. And now New Delhi-based Nappa Dori will be joining the select club by designing exclusive high end kits for Qatar Airways.  Founded by National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) graduate Gautam Sinha and named after the materials it uses—leather (nappa) and thread (dori ), Nappa Dori would be providing its minimalist, wanderlust-inspiring design ethos to a collection of pouches that would feature vintage city scenes from London, Paris, and Doha. The kits will be given to business and first class passengers flying on short and medium-haul Qatar Airways flights around the world. Another one for the collectibles list!

insight vacations

India has for the first time been featured in the luxury gold itineraries of Geneva based luxury tours provider Insight Vacations. The recently launched 2017 luxury gold itineraries for high net worth individuals features eight other countries including luxury tours to Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Insight Vacations provides premium and luxury escorted tours and cruises around the world and has been servicing Indian customers since the eighties. Previously, Indian destinations like Varanasi, Rajasthan and Kerala have figured in the premium segment but this is India’s first time as a destination in in the luxury gold segment. This segment provides an entirely luxe travel experience including five star and boutique hotels and exclusive events as well as experiences for its clients.  For instance, guests will stay at the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur in the new portfolio in India besides The Langham in Sydney, The Milestone Hotel in London and the Belmond Copacabana Palace in Brazil.