If you’ve always wanted that top-of-the-world feeling, but cannot count on yourself for making it to the summit of Mount Everest, then this is probably the closest you’ll ever get to that…altitude. Obsessed with the ‘largest’, ‘highest’ and other absolutes, Dubai has now gained another one of them. The glitzy city is now home to the tallest hotel in the world - the JW Marriott Marquis - and it’s all very official, the fact being attested by the Guinness Book of World Records. At 1,164 feet, just 85 short the Empire State Building, the hotel took the title away from the Rose Rayhaan, also in Dubai.

With an official opening party last week on February 28, the hotel became the first of the Marquis brand of JW Marriotts to be built outside North America. Comprising two 72-storey towers, the hotel contains 1,608 rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows to maximize the views. The towers have both been modelled to reflect the shape of date palm trees, which are synonymous with the desert. While one of the towers was unveiled on the 28th, the second is slated to open by 2014.

Besides the rooms, the hotel also houses 10 restaurants including Izakaya, Tong Thai, Prime 68 La Farina and Rang Mahal by Atul Kochhar, the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin Star. It also includes 4 bars, a spa and fitness center, an outdoor swimming pool, two ballrooms and 24 meeting rooms. On the 7th floor of the JW Marriott you’ll find a 32-meter swimming pool which features underwater speakers!

Looking to take advantage of Dubai’s important position as a global business hub, the hotel intends to tap into the gradually growing MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) market. “The hotel will fill a long identified gap in the market where groups, meetings and conventions of up to a thousand people can meet, sleep and dine under one roof,” said Rupprecht Queitsch, general manager of the new hotel. “Until now, Dubai has not had a single location of this size to accommodate this type of group.”