You may soon be able to sleep with the fishes in the Middle East - and in luxury, which you might well expect when you're paying as much as US$5,500 for a day's lodging. 

No, it's not some demented landlord's warped reworking of The Godfather script. Instead, it's the $500-million Hydropolis Hotel now being launched in Dubai, the capital city of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. 

The project is nothing if not ambitious. Constructed from a combination of concrete, steel and clear Plexiglas, Hydropolis will be the world's first underwater luxury hotel. It will offer 220 suites, all sitting on the Persian Gulf floor 66 feet (20 meters) below the surface.

The Hydropolis Hotel, as this artist's rendering illustrates, will include two domes that break the water's surface, with the ballroom dome featuring a retractable roof.

To read the full story in a new window, please click here:

http://www.conway.com/ssinsider/snapshot/sf030915.htm

First appeared at "Site Selection" in September 2003 www.siteselection.com