Experience Luxury Soaring High: Dubai Hotel’s $14,000-an-Hour Sky Parties
Experience Unrestrained Luxury on Five Hotels & Resorts’ Private Jet
On a private jet from Five Hotels & Resorts, passengers can enjoy the freedom of not having to keep their seatbelts fastened at all times.
In a never-ending quest to outdo each other with extravagant offerings, Dubai hotels have reached new heights. One hotelier, however, aims to secure victory in this battle by taking his brand to literal new heights—the sky.
Starting Thursday, the renowned party hotspot, Five Hotels & Resorts, is accepting bookings for its exclusive 16-passenger private jet. The entertainment begins even before arriving in Dubai, and the flights are not restricted to hotel guests. Anyone can reserve the plane for a journey lasting up to 12 hours.
This isn’t your typical corporate jet, where hushed conversations about contingency plans take place. Instead, it’s a flying celebration venue designed for lively revelry and dancing. The cabin can be bathed in a vibrant purple glow or any other preferred color using its LED lights. Toward the rear of the main cabin lies a bedroom with a king-size bed. Instructions adjacent to the bed remind passengers that it accommodates a maximum of two occupants, and a “gust belt” must be worn while in use (imagine a long seatbelt tucked beneath the covers in the middle of the mattress).
Kabir Mulchandani, the Chairman and Founder of Five Global Holdings and the proud owner of the plane, states, “We now consider ourselves an entertainment company.” Their flagship hotel, Five Palm Jumeirah, is already renowned as one of the city’s most vibrant party destinations. It frequently hosts star DJs for beach parties, and guests can even drive their supercars straight into the hotel’s nightclub—for a fee of 10,000 dirhams ($2,723).
While a select number of hotels own aircraft for logistical purposes, few offer them for partying. Luxury African safari operators employ small planes to reach remote destinations, and some Maldives resorts operate planes for transporting guests to outlying islands. Aurora Anguilla, a luxury resort, owns a jet to provide swift passage for guests from South Florida or New York City and also uses it to import essential items to its namesake island, where local purchasing options are limited. While hotels like Aman and Four Seasons have offered private jet excursions arranged by third-party operators, they typically span a few weeks rather than serving as a mere mode of transportation.
Trips on the Five plane will cost approximately $13,000 to $14,000 per hour of flight time, excluding relocation costs. For instance, a round trip between London and Dubai would amount to about $195,000. With a full flight averaging around $12,000 per person, the pricing is roughly equivalent to a first-class ticket on Emirates Airlines.
Dominique Bousquet, the team manager at private-jet charter firm Welojets, comments, “Considering the type of aircraft and its VIP arrangement, I’d say it’s a very good price.” Christopher Marich, co-founder of MySky, a software company for business aviation, adds that the cost falls between that of a larger cabin Airbus, priced at $15,000 to $20,000 per hour, and a smaller Gulfstream or Bombardier jet, available for $12,000 to $14,000 per hour.
The private-jet service marks the latest expansion beyond hotels for the Five brand, established in 2017. This year, the company unveiled a recording studio at its Five Palm Jumeirah hotel and launched a record label in partnership with Warner Music Group. Mulchandani reveals that their next endeavor will involve a branded yacht for hosting large offshore parties, offering a distinctive experience compared to the cruises already provided
