Not just a 5 star Hotel ...

Representing Dr. Vranjes in the UAE doesn’t only mean the chance to visit beautiful  shops inside the greatest malls or the fancy boutiques of beach road. Working and researching for this sophisticated brand, is giving me the opportunity to visit some of the most amazing hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Vranjes’ fragrances are, in fact, often selected by 5* Hotels to scent their entrance halls, their corridors and their most luxurious suites.

In my hotel-mission last week I visited two quite unique places:

The St. Regis Hotel in Abu Dhabi- Saadyat Island - and the Kempinski hotel in the heart of Dubai.

The St. Regis, born under the Starwood Hotels' family and named after its notorious predecessor in  NYC, has a mystique atmosphere thoughtfully created by Mediterranean architecture and contemporary interior design, enhanced by a very smart use of natural elements by a South African design group. The ambience is calming and sumptuous at the same time. It is hard to believe that you’re 15 minutes away from the capital city of the UAE and a 50 minutes drive from the even more chaotic Dubai.

This is the view that captures each guest right at the main entrance of the hotel. Guests will remain in complete admiration of the landscape, while sipping a cup of arab coffe nicely served by local customs and waiters wearing traditional outfits.

The splendid outdoor area is naturally developed on the seaside where guests can have breakfast early in the morning while, if lucky, dolphins perform an exclusive dance show for them, in the uncontaminated waters of the Saadyat protected area. (Below a picture of Mika and Lily playing at the shoreline of the St. Regis Saadiyat - curtesy of Marwan) 

 The main restaurant is attached to the external side and has a perfect marine touch, with turquoise decorations and shell-shaped lamps on the walls. The service looks flawless while guests consume their certainly eye-catching tempting meals (it's 2 pm and I still haven't got anything to eat, I'm hungry!!!). For this space I couldn't avoid picturing how a 5 lt. Duomo bottle of Dr. Vranjes Acqua fragrance would beautifully complete the decor of the restaurant:

These are some details of the St. Regis interiors. I particularly liked the selection of chandeliers for the many different spaces of the hotel: This one is the main actor of the lobby. It literarily dominates the huge space of the hotel entrance.

From the beach restaurant going back inside this quite unique stairway takes shape around another beautiful chandelier.

The high ceiling of the "55th street/5th Avenue" restaurant (I remember this venue is named after the address of the St. Regis in New York) is spectacular. The bubble-falls chandeliers overlook a wonderful dining area, perfect for a fancy dinner!

I completed my visit of the St. Regis drinking a good espresso at one of the cozy bars with Siham from Selva Middle East and Marwan, a manager of the Starwood Hotels group. He was nice enough to give me the contact of the person in charge of all hotels' decorations and housekeeping. An Italian lady who I'll definitely get in touch with once she'll be back from her holiday. I believe Dr. Vranjes fragrances will add a final touch to make this outstanding hotel even more special!!!
Over the weekend Marwan invited me and a couple of friends to go to Cavalli's club in Dubai.
It was the first time for me at this Fairmont's fancy spot, but we had a blast and everything at the club was un entertaining show: from the bartender freestyle playing with bottles and fire, to the DJ playing along with a psychedelic saxophonist and the drums installation right in the middle of the dance floor!!! Here a moment of that night with beautiful ladies Caira, Olga and Vanessa. Thank you Marwan for having us!!!

The Kempinski hotel is the second venue I visited last week.
This hotel is located in a very special position of Dubai. It's the venue directly connected with the Mall of the Emirates, a perfect spot for both turist visitors and people on business trips, as it is close to everything and has easy access to transportations, shopping and sightseeing.

Hotel manager Anwar nicely met me to discuss Dr. Vranjes fragrances for the hotel. We had a nice conversation and he liked our fragrances, especially the warm energizing notes of the "Fuoco" scent. Good tastes Mr. Anwar! This woody spicy fragrance is perfect for a work room. It stimulates concentration and it's indicated for spaces used by smokers! (and he's a smoker).

After our meeting, Arwan arranged a tour of the hotel for me. Lovely miss Judith showed me all the Kempinski suites and deluxe rooms. Needless to say, I was shocked and impressed discovering that this hotel, located in one of the hottest cities in the world, can offer a real "mountain-snowy experience"!!! Some of its rooms, the "chalet suites" face the surreal indoor ski slopes of the Mall of the Emirates. The temperature in the room is quite chilly and looking at the snow outside you immediately feel like lightening the fireplace, relax on the couch covered by a fluffy blanket and drink a cup of hot cocoa!!! The interiors and decorations of the rooms revoke the typical chalets accommodations of villages in the Alps, but if you've never been on the Alps,  this is definitely an experience that will offer you a close reconstruction. Great for children in the region who actually never saw real snow!!! 

The only advantage of the whole thing is that, if you're too cold or sick of the snow, you can always get out and head to the beach in 10 minutes for a tropical sun tan!!!  

Our Fuoco fragrance would merge beautifully with this spacious living room, as the materials used are mainly woods.

The executive rooms and standard rooms go back to a more local atmosphere. The view is either the Burj Al Arab or the hotel's outside pool area. After a time machine trip to St. Moritz, now you feel like you're back to Dubai. Each room is elegant and spacious. Big tables enable the business traveller to work in the living room, while other suites are spacious enough to host entire large families.

For the executive rooms, I'd select Dr. Vranjes' Cuoio and Radica (leather and wood).

This is an essentially masculine scent of leather and briarwood. The elegance of orange blossom, violet leaf and freesia are expertly combined with the virility of cedar, patchouli leaf and briarwood, blended perfectly with the surprisingly soft notes of leather, amber and vanilla. I'm sure this scent is going to be one of our best sellers in the Gulf region! 

My visit ended and I couldn't avoid the temptation to walk through the connecting hallway and go for a stroll in the Mall of Emirates. (These are the side effects of my job: I too often end up conceding myself a little shopping tour before I go back to work!)

I look forward to build a partnership between Dr. Vranjes Firenze and these amazing hotels.
I'm sure it will be a perfect mariage, just as it's happening with luxury hotels all over the world in Europe, the US and even in Japan!!!