The world's largest hotel is being planned for Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a remarkable structure that will rise out of the desert and apparently contain 10,000 rooms for worshippers. The hotel will be part of a mixed-use development at Abraj Kudai, a US$ 3.5 billion project intended to look like a desert fortress that encompasses a ring of towers standing on top of a podium. It is due to be completed in 2017 and is being situated in the Manafia area of Mecca's central zone, just 2.2 kilometers south of the Masjid al-Haram (holy mosque). DesignMENA reported that the hotel will have 10,000 rooms in 12 separate towers, which are 44 stores high that will also include 70 restaurants, rooftop helipads, royal floors and a full size convention center. Two of the towers will offer five-star facilities, according to the hotel's architects Dar Al-Handasah. The other ten will provide four-star accommodation. The interiors are expected to be in keeping with the opulent style found elsewhere in the region. The site, which will also include residential facilities, a shopping mall and plenty of car parking for those visiting the mosque and black Kaaba, has an approximate total site area of 60,000 square meters and a total built-up area of 1.4 million square meters. The world's largest hotels up until now have been in Las Vegas. The Venetian and The Palazzo, which operate as a single hotel, offer 7117 rooms. The MGM Grand in Las Vegas is close behind in terms of number of room keys, with 6,852 rooms available.

Recently Korean architects presented the new hotel project which will host the Winter Olympic Games 2018. The green terrace-lined design snakes in cascading curves that form an infinity shape. The new hotel will be located in Gangneung in Eastern Korea in a prime position for tourism. The resort itself is within approximately 5 kilometers from Olympic stadiums and facilities in the area, most of which are due for completion in 2016. The building, designed by the Seoul architectural firm "Planning Korea", looks like a three-dimensional infinity sign or volume Mobius strip. Architectures also mentioned that the sweeping figure-eight form of the resort draws inspiration from the ecological structure of the plankton, and references the project's conceptual basis of "a strip of healing or recreation." The twisted loop forms the predominant circulation space of the structure, whilst also providing a substantial space frame upon which a glass facade will be mounted. Offering 946 rooms and sprawling across nearly a 30 thousand square meters site, the hotel will offer a combination of marine and mountain leisure activities. The hotel will also feature a swimming pool suspended in a "belt" linking the building's dual cores. Rooftop sky facilities will adorn the hotel's top level, while LED lights at lower levels create a media facade. Approaching ground level the structure assumes a form evocative of Korean traditional housing, the Hanok. Planning Korea hope to "form a village" using these modernized versions of the traditional typology, interspersing restaurants and retail outlets in their midst. It is envisioned that the resort will allow "activities, recreation and healing within the nature" during the 2018 Winter Olympics, after which point it will be used for conventions and other events.

Recently visitors of luxury hotels aren't interested in 5-star hotels, which have spa-centers, fitness-centers and other luxury services. They want to live in original rooms, for example in icy-rooms, or in rooms which are situated on the trees or under the water. The first underwater hotel in Africa has opened off the remote island of Pemba, part of the archipelago of Zanzibar, in Tanzania last week. The hotel is 250 meters out to sea and consists of three floors, including a dining room and an upper deck for star-gazing. The bedroom is below deck completely submerged by water and provides a 360-degree view of sea life. But this isn't new for thus, who likes to relax originally. World's first underwater hotel is situated in Florida, USA. Hotel originally built in the early 1970s as a groundbreaking research lab, and opened for public as hotel only in 1986. The Jules Undersea Lodge. is consists of 2 bedrooms and a dining room. The "cottage-sized" hotel has the comforts of home like hot showers, a kitchen with a refrigerator, air conditioner and so on. Europe's only undersea hotel "Utter Inn" is situated in Sweden. The hotel is consists of a little room, kitchen and toilet. Underwater hotels are still largely a product of a vivid imagination. Several are in the planning stage or are currently under construction. In 2011 was announced that construction work was set to begin on a US$ 500 million semi-submerged resort named Amphibious 1000 on the Qatar coast. Two underwater projects "Water Discus Hotel" and "Hydropolis" were announced in Dubai, but the construction was delayed. Turkey, South Korea, Fiji, China also planning underwater projects. Besides these failures recently Tokyo-based Shimizu Corporation just unveiled blueprints for the world's first underwater city. The Shimizu construction company estimates that the technology to implement the "Ocean Spiral" could be in place by 2030.

Koen Olthuis and Dutch Docklands have announced a new project: a five-star floating hotel off the coast of Norway named the Krystall. Reminiscent of their Maldives development the Greenstar, this cold-climate sister project will take the form of a six-pointed ice crystal. As with Dutch Docklands' other floating structures the development will be low-impact, and it's designed to "blend in with the "winter environment" between the most beautiful fjords." The Krystall will float offshore from the northern city of Tromso, located within the Arctic Circle. Designed to be completely self-supporting and self-sustainable, the hotel will have a diameter of 120 meters, and facilities will include 86 guest rooms, conference rooms, and spa and wellness facilities. It's also billed as a perfect spot for viewing the Northern Lights due to its glass roof. The five-star luxury and spectacular nature of the project is aimed at attracting wealthy visitors from Japan, Russia and Europe. As Olthuis told CNN, "In the hotel, you'll float through hallways lined with cool, futuristic blue shapes, recline by a fireplace faced in transparent bricks resembling ice blocks and sleep in rooms tricked out in minimalist, winter-themed designs." But true to Olthuis's green principles, the design is not just about the aesthetics. To be built in dry dock and then positioned in place, the hotel will not leave a lasting footprint on its location. "That's the only way to bring a hotel to such a precious and beautiful marine environment," he says. Floating structures are a pragmatic design concern for the development company, as they ameliorate the risks to coastal properties associated with rising sea levels. As Olthuis explains, "We live in a dynamic world where static buildings do not bring us the needed flexibility. Building on water brings us new space for expansion, safety against floods and flexibility to adjust developments without demolition whenever needed." The hotel is set to open in December 2016.

The bidding war for the dirtiest hotel in America is about to come to an end with the winning bid expected to be around US$180 million. "It's the dirtiest, and best located hotel in New York City," Lawrence Wolfe, who has been handling the sale for the seller, told. "It was under-managed and neglected." The 600-room Hotel Carter, just off New York's Times Square on West 43rd Street, was a three-time "winner" of Tripadvisor's dirtiest hotel in America survey. Recent guests said the problems are far from fixed. "The location's great, but there's no hot water in the shower, " one guest exiting the hotel told CNBC. Her room rate? Just over US$ 200 for the night, she said. First opened in the 1930s as the Hotel Dixie, the Carter recently has been tied up as the estate of the former owner is settled. In recent years it has been in the news for code violations as well as a homicide. The sale, expected in the US$ 180 million range, will be followed by a full-gut renovation that will cost US$ 100 million to US$ 125 million, Wolfe said. It hasn't yet been determined if the hotel will close during renovations or if it will undergo construction in phases. When it reopens, it will remain an independent hotel, he said.