$25,000 a night, a photo from New Providence, North

Photographer's Note

The Royal Towers at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island has 1201 rooms (or “1200 plus one” as a local told me). The “plus one” is the Bridge Suite that connects the two tower blocks which was made famous in the 2004 movie ‘After the Sunset’ starring Pierce Brosnan. The resort has also been featured in several other movies including the James Bond movie, ‘Casino Royale’, in 2006.

According to Forbes magazine, the 5,000 sq ft Bridge Suite is one of the two most expensive hotel suites in the world at US$25,000 a night (the other is at The Palms in Las Vegas). And Wikipedia tells us that it has a minimum stay requirement of four nights, but even with that hefty price tag, it has a waiting list of five years. Wikipedia also states that guests that have stayed there include Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Michael Jackson – in case that sort of thing impresses you.

This was taken from the opposite side of the resort to my previous post. This side (the beach side) is not supposed to be accessible to anyone except hotel guests and visitors who have day-pass wrist bands on them (I don’t know how much they cost – I didn’t ask, as I managed to sneak past the security guys when they weren’t looking). This was taken between showers – hence the ‘wet look’.

The rocks in the foreground are all artificial – as is everything else on this island, except the trees and shrubs (the shrubs are that Disneyland variety that have pop music blaring from beneath their branches).

The one positive comment that I would make about the Atlantis resort is that it does have a very good aquarium and what you see in this picture are some of the outdoor marine habitat pools (they are full of sharks and stingrays, so not recommended for swimming).

I’ve posted an alternative view here which shows one of the lakes created for boating and swimming. That composition conveys more of the resort’s ‘Las Vegas-by-the-sea’ feel as it shows more of the tower blocks, but the light in that one was very dull, so that’s why I didn’t use it as the main post.

ktanska, Ramy, plimrn, Charo, stego, siolaw, jhm, elihesamian, vinicio, jaywalker, pboehringer, rabani, Henryk_Bilor heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

Critiques | Translate

Miha2ou7 (5162) 2008-02-01 3:05

Hey David,

Nicely done, a very good selection of vivid colors, a sweet perspective, good of you to include a lot of the foreground, because it is interesting, nice cloud definition. An enlightening note, but I prefer - well, ok "afford" :> - something in the range of $25 a night. :)

Enjoy.

AiresSantos (56155) 2008-02-01 3:26

Hi David
Amazing picture of this wonderful place.
Excellent POV, colours and definition. It seems a paradise. Thanks for the note.
Have a nice weekend
Aires

ktanska (44758) 2008-02-01 3:34

Hi David,
While the light looked a bit flat on the previous version, it seems to fit with this surrealistic scene. I see that visitors are kept quite efficiently off the shark and stingray waters. Good shot with strong perspective. I wonder if the next Bond movie will be 'License to Waste'.
Kari

Ramy (773) 2008-02-01 3:54

Hello David,
The note you wrote is very interesting, a 5year wait to be in a room like that, people have lots of time and money to spend these days. The colors are magical, and the framing is well done.
Regards, Ramy.

plimrn (21344) 2008-02-02 17:27

Hi David,
Splendid light management and detail; however, I really find it sickening that people spend $100K for four nights when so many people go hungry. Although I suppose people could say the same thing about our photography habit.
HLJ, Pat

kensimage (8563) 2008-02-03 8:29

OK, $25,000 a night might sound like a lot, but they do give you frequent flyer miles.

I cannot tolerate totally artificial Disneyland-like environments like that for very long. I always feel like I'm being manipulated, being told how to respond to things. There's never the feeling that I have discovered my own favorite spot, with just the right aesthetics. Someone else has done it all for me.

About the photo, it's a very nice angle and composition to capture the feel of the place, especially with the two people on the walkway taking it all in as well. Regards, Ken.

Charo (51290) 2008-02-04 4:16

Hola David,
Magnífica toma, la arquitectura de ese gran hotel es espectacular y su entorno precioso para disfrutar unas vacaciones. Excelentes colores, contrastes y profundidad. Bien visto.
Cordialmente
Charo

Kenny10pin (19301) 2008-02-04 21:23

very nice work, i like the way you took this, isnt there a 7 start hotel in Saudi Arabia, I heard that costs 100,000 dollars a night

well shot

batalay (41261) 2008-02-05 14:19

Hello David,

A very good photograph showing, and an impressive note. Years ago when i visited the Bahamas, the Royal Towers was not in existence. It does evoke thoughts of Disneyland and Las Vegas! The couple on the walk path serve to give the image both scale, and a human tough.

Warm regards,

Bulent

stego (24132) 2008-02-06 12:50

Hi David,
$25000 for a night... I'll try to remember the name of this place when I make my holidays reservations. Not that the place is exactly ugly, but is just too much... kitsch?! Or even bad tasted?
You did a great compo, presenting us a pleasing view of the place.
TFS, Regards, José.

colinbrenchley (6431) 2008-02-07 12:55

David
Great note - I have noticed this hotel in the holiday brochures and didn't know about the cost of the "bridge" suit. I always thought that it ruined the look of the building and looks like an after-thought by the architect! So much for my tastes!!!!

siolaw (38294) 2008-02-09 23:01

Hi David,
Yeah, that place is famous... It shows there's no shortage of nutters on this planet: 5 years waiting list... I would feel ashamed to sleep in that place, that is an insult to humanity.
However, nice that you could sneak in and show us for free~! I like the picture too, it has RICH colors, a good POV to present the all place and sharp details. The architecture looks quite nice too anyways..!
Greetings from Bangkok, where you get better service for a minute fraction of that money!
Laurent

jhm (211736) 2008-02-10 3:23

Hello David,

I see here again a very nice composition and lovely colours.
You show us a very nice image out of the Bahamas with it nice tropical climate and the palmtrees around the lovely lake.
I prefer this picture and not to the second image.
Thanks for sharing.

Have a nice sunday,
John.

elihesamian (26149) 2008-02-10 10:30

Hello David,
you show us a hotel that we must say woww or something like that :) mmmmmm 25000$,it's gooood !
but,the shot is great,for me your shot is $25000 :) captured in a fine POV,excellent sharpness and details you reached,with a great colors,a nice wide view of it,good informative one,nicely done,
Best Regards
M

vinicio (23423) 2008-02-10 14:04

Pure American style I think watching to this image, the panorama is great even it's artificial, but compliments both to you for this image and to the architect that have conceived this place, well done David, interesting and well done view.
Have a nice week
Ciao
Vinicio

jaywalker (16105) 2008-02-11 12:53

Hi David, This place looks amazing &, what a hotel to stay in, at £25.000 a night I will book two rooms for a week, both for me & the wife to pick & choose at will, well maybe not, I love your photo though & we can all dream, lovely composition &,TFS, kind regards Wilson.

pboehringer (770) 2008-02-12 8:37

Daniel,
I guess I saw this place already twice. The first time in a movie with Pierce Brosnan (no, not as James Bond) and the other time at TE. As far as I can remember the composition of the previous times I have to say that this is by far the better one. I like the foreground a lot. It provides a tropical and almost jungle feeling for a place that certainly doesn't have that at all. What a pity that you didn't get a better weather.
Peter

rabani (9645) 2008-02-13 6:35

USD25,000!
That's the average annual income of most Malaysian executives! I would definitely stay awake the whole night instead of sleeping the night off here.

The subdued lighting brings out the detail and color definition of this artificial landscape here David, except for the "feel". There's no "joie de vivre" to it, which is usually associated to touristic or travel photos.

Regards
Bani

Henryk_Bilor (20803) 2008-04-01 0:23

Hi David
Beautiful although horrible view ;). Lovely colours and nice place, but a bit too expensive to me :).
Regards