Read any review of Burj Al Arab in the international media and the chances are it will report that this is the world’s first seven-star hotel.
The claim was first made when the hotel opened in December 1999, supposedly by a star-struck British travel writer (pun intended) and has been repeated endlessly.
A report in the Irish Sunday Tribune from 2004 reads: “Some experiences take your breath away. Others leave you speechless. And then there are the rare few that afflict you doubly.
“Arriving at the Burj Al Arab, the world’s only seven-star hotel, is the latter.”
