GCC countries see highest worldwide hotel rate fall

By Ed Attwood Sunday, 8 August 2010 9:18 AM

The highest regional hotel rate decreases worldwide were witnessed in the Middle East region during the first half of this year, according to the biannual hotel survey carried out by Hogg Robinson Group.
While the region dipped by fifteen percent, the Gulf countries were particularly badly affected, with Dubai (-12 percent), Bahrain (-14 percent), Qatar (-22 percent) and Oman (-24 percent) also suffering major drops.

Abu Dhabi was the worst performer with a 26 percent drop.

The HRG survey said that the results were due to a substantial fall in occupancy coupled with a glut of new space coming onto the market.

That decrease meant that Abu Dhabi slipped from being the second most expensive city in terms of average hotel rate in the first half of 2009 to eighth this year. Dubai is now nineteenth, having been in the top ten last year.

Moscow retained top spot in the worldwide ranking, with Geneva rising to second, and Hong Kong, Paris and New York completing the top five.

In general, the worldwide hotel industry looks to be on the cusp of a recovery, with rates in Europe and North America stabilising.

2010 has so far proved an encouraging year for the global hotel industry,” said Margaret Bowler, director of global hotel relations at HRG.

“The average length of stay has increased by 9 percent suggesting that corporates have begun to relax their travel policies in light of the perceived improvement in the current economic climate. However, our data shows that it is not consistent around the world and it is still too early to predict how the rest of 2010 will pan out.”

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Most Expensive Pianos

Have you ever tried to imagine what the world’s most expensive piano might be? Imagine no further. The most expensive piano in the world belonged to the Beatle’s John Lennon and was auctioned off to British pop-singer George Michael in 2000. When the topic of expensive pianos comes to mind you might think somewhere along the lines of a Bosendorfer, or a Bechstein, or maybe a Steinway & Sons “Alma-Tedema”, with its lavish artwork and hand crafted symmetry. But the Steinway & Sons “Model Z” Piano formerly owned by John Lennon is a fairly ordinary walnut upright piano that still bears a few cigarette burns attributed to the musician.

The piano was originally bought by Lennon in December 1970 and delivered to a studio at his home in Tittenhurst Park in Berkshire, England. He composed and recorded the song “Imagine” on it and was filmed playing the song on it for the first time for his wife, Yoko Ono, and the Plastic Ono band. Believed to be a piece of British history by many, the most expensive piano in the world sold at auction in the year 2000 for £1.45 million (about US $2.1 million) to George Michael after a “who’s who” bidding war that included several other British celebrities.

A Steinway & Sons Model Z

After using the world’s most expensive piano to record songs for an album, George Michael returned the piano to the Liverpool museum that housed it prior to his ownership. He stated that “the piano was not the type of thing that should be in storage somewhere or being protected, it should be seen by people.”

Of course, that doesn’t help anyone with seven figure budget and an urge to own the most expensive piano on the market. Luckily for anyone like that, Kuhn Studio and Bösendorfer Pianos have created a very pricey piano.

The Kuhn-Bösendorfer piano, as well as the accompanying bench, is set with 100,000 hand-cut, polished gems by glass artist Jon Kuhn. Kuhn’s glasswork is known for its luminescent quality and is featured permanently in over thirty-five museums, including the New YorkMetropolitan Museum of Modern Art and the White House Permanent Collection.

The Bösendorfer piano on which the diamonds are set is no less deserving of praise. Bösendorfer has been a name in the piano industry known for voice and playing sensitivity since 1828.

The Kuhn- Bösendorfer line of pianos will soon be available for public consumption. Anyone wishing to own the most expensive piano available can expect to shell out $1.2 million for the privilege.

A Kuhn-Bösendorfer piano

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The Most Expensive Spare Tire Cover!

Maybe you have the right clothes and the right jeep or SUV, but that plain black spare tire cover just isn’t going to cut it. It doesn’t say enough about you as a person and it certainly didn’t cost enough. No, you need the most expensive spare tire cover in the world.

That’s where celebrated artist Damien Hirst comes in, as his spin painted wheel cover is as costly as it gets. The cover, offered by Other Criteria, is made of stainless steel and high impact plastic, and the painted surface is protected from the sun by UV laminate. Of course, each of these bespoke spare tire covers is made to fit one of the varieties of 4×4 tire used by off-road vehicles.

The Damien Hirst Stainless Steel 4×4 Wheel Cover is priced at £900 (US $1,377).

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World's Most Expensive Guitar!!

“Blackie”, Eric Clapton’s favorite mid-career modified Strat has been surpassed in value and is no longer the most expensive guitar ever, despite that it was bought for $950,000 USD in 2004 by a guitar archaeologist.

The latest most expensive electric guitar in the world dethroned its predecessor at an auction in Doha, Qatar on November 16th, 2005. The Strat was signed by several rock musicians to benefit a tsunami charity, ‘Reach out to Asia’. It was bought one year ago by Qatar’s royal family for a million dollars and donated back to the Asia Program, bringing in $2.7 million USD at the more recent auction, whose attendees included Former President Bill Clinton. Technically, the guitar has generated a total of $3.7 million USD, making it the most expensive guitar yet.

Signees of this expensive electric guitar included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray Davis, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus & Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams, the coordinator of the project.

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