Two Bedroom Family Suite

Not two rooms joined but a floor of the palace laid out as an apartment, and it is the only grade here that looks nothing like the rest — cream leather headboards in rosewood frames, gold mashrabiya panels lit either side of the bed, pendant lanterns hanging low, and blue star-pattern carpets instead of the navy-and-gold. The second bedroom is made up with two twins under tall buttoned headboards shaped as Moorish arches, teal velvet benches at their feet and the terrace doors open on the sea. Between them are a living room, a dining room under a cluster of gold glass pendants, a pantry, a guest washroom and two grand bathrooms.

There is a fully equipped kitchen, an in-suite office with an iMac and a printer, two widescreen televisions, a home theatre and a PlayStation on request — and a personal butler, the only one at this house. The terrace runs across the front with the Gulf and the Burj Al Arab in front of it. The ceiling is 8 guests, of whom 6 may be adults, and there is no seventh. The Tourism Dirham is levied per bedroom, so this suite pays it twice a night.