When considering some of the world’s most famous landmarks, right there on the storied list alongside the Eiffel Tower, the Tower Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, a little – okay, a lot – younger, gleaming majestically against the backdrop of the Arabian Gulf, is Jumeirah Burj Al Arab. Instantly recognisable, its shape is a paean to the nation’s celebrated maritime heritage. The imposing structure stands at the water’s edge, looking like it may sail forth in a fitting homage to the enterprising vision, innovation, and spirit of adventure that led to its creation.

This year, the flagship hotel, rightfully called an “architectural marvel” by its builder, Jumeirah Group, turns 25. Amid a seminal, interesting age in the hospitality industry, with its often fickle whims and changing tides, this marker makes Jumeirah Burj Al Arab still very much a baby but also a grand dame worthy of the silver with which one would traditionally mark a quarter century. 

Conceived by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, Jumeirah Burj Al Arab was designed in 1993, with construction beginning the following year. In December 1999, the ‘The Tower of Arabs’ opened its gilded doors and the rest – cliché alert – is history.

“It’s more than just a landmark,” Giovanni Beretta, General Manager of Jumeirah Burj Al Arab tells Villa 88 Travel exclusively.

“The Jumeirah Burj Al Arab stands as a defining symbol of Dubai’s ambition and spirit, a breathtaking landmark that brings the city’s journey and dreams to life,” Fadhila continues. “Its daring architecture and innovative design unite artistry with purpose, creating a seamless connection to Dubai’s iconic landscape and embodying the pursuit of excellence that shapes the UAE.”

For an outward- and forward-thinking leadership and nation, Jumeirah Burj Al Arab wouldn’t just come to symbolise Arab hospitality, but also showcase Dubai’s global perspective and appeal, putting the emirate firmly on the map. Bringing together creative minds from across the globe to conceive, build and design the hotel honoured the cultural melting pot the emirate had long been and ushered in a new era of tourism and multiculturalism.

“The opening of Jumeirah Burj Al Arab marked a pivotal moment that fundamentally transformed Dubai’s positioning on the global tourism map,” says Hoor Al Khaja, Senior Vice President at the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM), part of the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET). “More than just a hotel, it became an architectural statement that embodied the visionary leadership’s ambition of limitless possibilities, creating a unique landmark that would place Dubai on the world stage. Since then, the hotel has significantly impacted tourism in Dubai, becoming an iconic symbol of the city’s luxury offerings and innovation.” 

Tasked with its design, British architect Tom Wright of WS Atkins famously sketched the first draft on a paper napkin – which is displayed at the hotel – while responsibility for the interiors went to Chinese interior designer Khuan Chew. “The definition of luxury can be quite diverse – luxury can mean volumes of space, luxury in finishes and furnishings is all about exclusiveness, and quality in finishing and installation,” she told lovethatdesign.com. “Whether or not the requirement is classical or contemporary, luxury is key in what we do. I strongly believe that the future influences the present just as much as the past.”

Time for some stats. The foundations securing Jumeirah Burj Al Arab on its man-made island are almost as tall as Rome’s Colosseum. The hotel is home to the biggest Swarovski crystal ceiling in the world, with over 21,000 crystals designed to recreate the Milky Way and 1,790sqm of 24-carat gold leaf decorating its interiors. Plus, the Statuario marble throughout the hotel is the same material that was used by a sculptor chap you may have heard of, called Michelangelo. 

In popular culture, it has appeared in Hollywood movies – Syriana and Star Trek Beyond to name two, been immortalised in literature – including in the 2012 spy novel Performance Anomalies, and served as the cover art for Owl City’s 2009 album, Ocean Eyes.

And, of the sheer number of superlatives used to describe the world’s tallest all-suite hotel, the one that has presumably stuck most firmly in the collective global consciousness is the “seven-star hotel” label. Like any good story, the exact origins of the phrase have been lost across the decades. However, most sources – Jumeirah.com and Wikipedia included – agree that a British travel writer present at the grand opening was so struck by the hotel’s beauty, scale and majesty that they breathlessly declared its status to be beyond five stars. The phrase would spread like wildfire around the world, gaining a life of its own, reality intertwining with myth-making to create a modern legend.

“In many ways, Jumeirah Burj Al Arab piqued the world’s curiosity with its bold display of luxury in a city that, at the time, was largely unknown on the international stage,” says Benedetta Ghione, the Executive Director at Art Dubai. “The ‘seven-star’ rating alone was a powerful narrative that went beyond the building itself – it captured the vision of what a future-facing city can be.”

Standing 321m tall, heritage was baked into Jumeirah Burj Al Arab’s bones, most notably in the design that famously resembles the sail of a dhow, the traditional boat that epitomises the region and whose history dates back beyond 600BC. “The client desired a structure that was and would always be synonymous with the country,” said Tom Wright.

With heritage came the need for innovation, both in materials and construction. A glass façade in a country where summer temperatures can skyrocket was a no-no, unless the aim was to create the world’s tallest oven. How else to light the interior of that towering atrium? The answer – create the world’s largest cloth wall with a membranous material to deflect the desert sun and illuminate the structure inside and out.

“I think it inspired a whole new generation of architects,” says Pallavi Dean, founder of award-winning Dubai-based architecture firm Roar Design, who recently designed the new Ajman Ruler’s Court. “Back then, people were doing very linear structures. This really broke that cookie-cutter mould and defied the norm. It’s something that was exceptional and different – I remember thinking this is poetry in motion.”

Home to 202 luxury duplex suites with one-, two- and three-bedroom options, the hotel offers 11 suites, from the Deluxe Marina to the palatial Presidential, with a choice of sea or Palm Jumeirah views. 

A quick YouTube visit yields hundreds of thousands of videos dedicated to the hotel. Tours (“I stayed in the world’s only seven-star hotel!”), vacations (“What it’s like to have your own private butler!”), and insider tips (“Be sure to try the pillow menu!”) abound, along with reviews of the hotel’s nine dining outlets – including, arguably, the most famous, Al Mahara, aka “the underwater restaurant” – make it clear that everyone, whether they’ve visited the hotel or not, has an opinion about it, the price paid for redefining opulence in hospitality and setting new benchmarks for personalised guest experiences.

“The very first time I visited, I felt as though I was in a castle,” says Emirati businesswoman Qadreya Al Awadhi. “The lobby was like nothing you had ever seen before – gold everywhere, a grand entrance with an open space, water cascading down. Then, of course, there were the fish in the aquarium, they were so colourful and I’d never seen fish as beautiful in my life. I remember riding the escalator up and down just to see them over and over again. The most incredible thing that stuck with me, even looking back almost 20 years ago, were the two-level rooms. Even as a child, I understood the magnitude of the space. The rooms felt so grand – more like an entire apartment than just a hotel suite. Somehow, I just knew I was a part of something special.” 

DCTCM’s Hoor adds, “Jumeirah Burj Al Arab has redefined what guests expect from luxury hospitality – not only in terms of physical space and grandeur but in the level of personalised service offered. This ‘Dubai standard’ is now a benchmark for hospitality across the Middle East and beyond, showcasing the city’s commitment to providing exceptional guest experiences and remaining at the forefront of the world’s most recommended travel destinations.” 

While the hotel naturally stays tight-lipped about their guests, social media has fewer qualms about naming A-list icons rumoured to have stayed there over the years. Tom Cruise, Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Novak Djokovic, Gwyneth Paltrow, David and Victoria Beckham, Bill Gates, and Selena Gomez are just a few celebrities from the worlds of film, sport, music, fashion and technology said to have called one of the luxury suites home. 

And, lest we forget, there’s also the celebrated helipad, which has welcomed more than its fair share of famous faces over the years. Tiger Woods kicked off decades of global-headline-grabbing stunts and exploits by teeing off from the helipad before the Dubai Desert Classic in 2004, followed by Rory McIlroy in 2011. Roger Federer and Andre Agassi’s 20-minute exhibition tennis match in 2005 captured the world’s attention, as did the “donuts” former Formula One driver David Coulthard performed atop it in 2013 in a Red Bull F1 car. 

In 2017, a ring was constructed for British boxer Anthony Joshua to take part in a sparring session. That same year, Danish kiteboarder Nick Jacobsen jumped off the helipad and into the record books, breaking his own Guinness World Record for the highest kiteboarding jump ever. More recently, in 2021, DJ David Guetta played a live-streamed set 200m above sea level and, in 2023, Polish pilot Lukasz Czepiela made aviation history, becoming the first person to land a plane on the helipad.

“On a personal note, Jumeirah Burj Al Arab is super special to me, because it’s where my husband proposed to me on the helipad which was very magical,” says Pamela. “What’s so iconic is how they’ve taken inspiration from the context. Taking that and not making it pastiche but contemporary is what’s made it so iconic. That shape and the geometry of the building really stand out, but it’s also deeply entrenched in the context and the story of the nation.”

“It’s saying, ‘I’m here to stay. Look at me, I’m bold, I’m beautiful, and I’m celebrating it,’” she adds. “It’s almost show-off flex architecture – which, at the time, not many people were doing – and it really stands out because of that.” 

Over the years, much has changed at the hotel – restaurants have welcomed new head chefs, standards are continually checked and elevated, and new additions have been made, such as 2016’s Jumeirah Burj Al Arab Terrace – but the idea, the essence of Arabian hospitality at the heart of it remains.

“Symbols are key in art history, playing an important role in our understanding of evolving humanity,” notes Art Dubai’s Benedetta. “Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, by definition, is a symbol, and this has inevitably translated into its influence on Dubai’s cultural landscape. Jumeirah Burj Al Arab has always been a powerful tool for storytelling that has shaped and continues to shape the collective narrative of Dubai on a local and international stage.”

“It is to Dubai what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, or what Marina Bay Sands is to Singapore – an urban symbol that has a significant pull on the city’s cultural power, which has become a monument for the city, preserving its contemporary history and present,” she adds.   

Ecology and sustainability are also core components of the hotel’s commitment to local and regional environmentalism. Housing the Turtle Rehabilitation Project at the Aquarium,  Jumeirah Burj Al Arab works alongside sister hotel Jumeirah Al Naseem to treat and rehabilitate injured sea turtles to return them to the ocean – efforts that go hand in hand with ongoing water and energy conservation initiatives and the use of solar power.

“Having grown up alongside this iconic building, I would probably see it as more than just a luxury hotel – it represents the spirit of Dubai itself: ambition and innovation,” says Qadreya. “While the hotel is incredibly modern, its design draws inspiration from traditional Arab sailing ships – dhows – which ties it to Dubai’s maritime roots. It’s a perfect blend of modern and tradition, which is what Dubai is about.” 

For more information, visit jumeirah.com