Could this be the world’s most luxurious suite?
We all enjoy spending some time away in a high-end hotel, whether it’s an evening in London’s opulent L’Oscar, a brief sojourn in celebrity favourite Chateau Marmont or a sun-soaked stay in an exciting new Ibiza opening.
However, if you’re looking for the world’s finest and are ready to set your search to ‘Price: Descending’, Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort is the home of the world’s most expensive hotel room.
The Empathy Suite is an eclectic, creative space with no expense spared on creating an atmosphere of pure luxury. Of course, all that luxury does come at a price – those who wish to experience the lavish 34th floor suite for themselves will have to swipe the plastic to the tune of $100,000 a night.
Once there, however, stepping out of the elevator at the Palms and into The Empathy Suite feels like stepping into another world – a world designed exclusively by legendary British artist Damien Hirst.
Perhaps expectedly, The Empathy Suite is by no means your average hotel room. Far more than just an upmarket place to rest your head after an evening exploring all that Sin City has to offer, The Empathy Suite is an experience in itself.
There’s two king bedrooms, three bathrooms, a salt room, a massage room, a gym, numerous living spaces and, of course, there’s art everywhere. The space isn’t just filled with Hirst’s art – it is a Hirst masterpiece in and of itself.
If you were asked to summarise the overall theme of the decor within The Empathy Suite, ‘excess’ would be a fair descriptor.
The excess and hedonism of Las Vegas are reflected everywhere throughout the suite’s design, from the ambiguous pills that make up the design of some of the wallpaper to the drug paraphernalia encased below the suite’s bar to the all-encompassing grey marble design that surrounds you in the suite’s luxurious bathroom. In Las Vegas, there’s a collective feeling that you can never have too much of anything and this idea is at the core of The Empathy Suite’s look and feel.
Hirst has also made sure that many of his most well-known motifs are present throughout the design, too. One such signature is the presence of the vibrant, detailed butterflies that pepper the various areas of the suite – the massage room, the bedroom and sat ever-present at the bottom of the suite’s luxurious balcony jacuzzi.
The jacuzzi itself is yet another marker of the luxury on offer at The Empathy Suite. Large enough to be more accurately described as a multi-faceted heated pool, the jacuzzi offers one of the most breathtaking views on offer in Vegas – if not the most breathtaking. New York may be the city that never sleeps, but Vegas is the city that those in amongst the vast playground never take the time to pause and observe it for themselves – if you’re going to do that anywhere, the 34th floor balcony is the perfect spot.
Amongst the suite’s more kitsch – or, in the eyes of some, garish – attractions are a marlin skeleton, placed alongside a second taxidermied marlin. The tongue-in-cheek title of this particular piece is Here For A Good Time, Not A Long Time, a reference that fits both the quintessential Vegas attitude and the likely mantra of those checking into Hirst’s Empathy Suite.
In many ways, however, there’s a real feeling that those visiting the 34th floor of the Palms for just a night would be hard pushed to take in every piece, every hidden gem and every Hirst motif present within the suite. In this sense, it’s a lot like the city that the suite calls home – there is so much on offer, so much to see and experience, that one couldn’t possibly do it in just an evening. It’s almost a good enough excuse for a return.
The Empathy Suite, whilst indisputably lavish, may not be to everybody’s tastes, but one thing is for sure – it’s entirely and unapologetically Vegas.
Read More: A Night At L’Oscar, Jacques Garcia’s Opulent London Hotel