Asian-based hotel group Alila Hotels & Resorts will open its first hotel in Oman at the end of 2014. The luxury establishment will be set in the Jabal Akhdar mountain range, a region of the Sultanate that has seen limited tourist development, two hours' drive from the capital Muscat. This new hotel called Alila Jabal Akhdar will offer 78 rooms, six suites and two royal suites as well as a hillside restaurant. There will also be a pool, a spa, a fitness center and an event space. This establishment at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level will offer all its visitors a luxurious retreat in a part of the sultanate that is largely unknown to tourists. This hotel will be the group's first establishment in the Middle East. Alila also has plans to open more establishments in Indonesia, China and Europe.

A luxury apartment in Hong Kong has sold for a record US$ 61 million. According to local media it was the highest price per square meter paid in Asia for new developments and the second-highest in the world, after London's One Hyde Park. The apartment sold is situated on the city's Peak and is part of architect Frank Gehry's first creation in Asia, the Opus. The building, which was completed in March, has an undulating glass facade that curves and offers each floor a distinct vista of the surrounding leafy environs. The 576 square meters unit takes up the entire eighth floor of the 12-story building. The tower is comprised of 12 residential units, two double-level garden suites with private swimming pools on the lower levels, and 10 custom apartments, each occupying an entire floor with unprecedented 360dg views, ranging from 560 - 640 sqm in space. Hong Kong has seen its share of vertigo-inducing records before, including the 2009 sale of an apartment for US$ 56.6 million. And the world's most expensive apartment was sold in Monaco in September, 2010. As we reported the apartment with 1600 square meter area was sold by US$ 306.5 million.

The powerful prime minister of Qatar is ready to plunk down nearly US$ 100 million for the city's most expensive penthouse - an ultra-luxe, two-story pad atop the under-construction One57 condominium across the street from Carnegie Hall, The New-York Post reported. The stunning duplex penthouse, with total area 1 thousand square meters, features a "grand salon," a large mezzanine, four fireplaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, at least five bedrooms, and motorized window shades, placed in the 90-story One57 building. Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani first eyed the spread after a Fifth Avenue board rejected his bid to spend US$ 31.5 million on two apartments owned by the late Huguette Clark, an eccentric American copper heiress and he decided to buy the One57 penthouse only after the Huguette Clark rejection. Sheik Hamad also opened discussions with Extell Development about buying a cluster of four separate, full-floor condos in One57 building. According to publication, that would up the total purchase to a staggering US$ 250 million. He wants his relatives to live in these apartments. The sheik has two wives and 15 children and a huge entourage. Previous price record belonged to an unknown buyer, who paid US$ 90 million in May for the penthouse in the same building, One57. Earlier the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought an apartment in New York for US$ 88 million for his student daughter.

According to US publications, an unknown buyer has paid over US$ 90 million for an unfinished penthouse apartment, setting a new mark for the priciest home in New York City. He bought the 1015 square meters penthouse on the 89th and 90th floors of One57, the building currently under construction at 157 West 57th Street. The building, which features a Park Hyatt below the condominium units, will offer striking views of the southern end of Central Park and will be among New York's tallest residential structures when it is completed next year. Since One57 opened for sales in December, about half of its 92 apartments have been sold. This purchase breaks the previous New York City record of US$ 88 million paid by a Russian billionaire to buy a Central Park West apartment for his daughter last year. As we reported earlier, it is 10-room penthouse with total area of 626 square meters. On a per-square foot basis, however, this is a much better deal. The latest sale went for about US$ 8 thousand a square foot (US$ 88 600 for 1 square meter), while the Central Park West pad went for more than US$ 13 thousand (US$ 140 000 for 1 square meter). Foreign buyers, including Brazilians, Chinese and Russians, have been on a buying spree in New York and Miami in recent months, developers and brokers say. Russian and Ukrainian buyers have shown a particular willingness to pay top dollar for so-called trophy properties. Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development Company, was quick to dispel any notion that the One57 penthouse was sold to a Russian, saying the buyer was not Russian, Ukrainian or from "any other part of the former Soviet Union." He described the buyer as a "very nice family" who plans to use the penthouse as a residence, and as "someone that people would recognize." One57 is a 90-story skyscraper currently under-construction in New York City. Upon completion in 2013, it will stand at 306 meters tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city. The mixed use tower is developed by the Extell Development Company and the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Atelier Christian de Portzamparc designed One57 with SLCE Architects. The building will have 135 residential units on top of a Park Hyatt Hotel with 210 rooms. Foundation work started in January 2010.

Would you spend US$ 300 a night to sleep underground? You might, once you see the jaw-dropping designs for China's latest hotel project. For more than a decade, China has been a front-runner in the world's skyscraper race. Now the country is taking the pole position in digging "groundscrapers" -- enormous structures built mostly underground. As reported CNN International, most recently, ground has been broken on construction of a high-end hotel at the foot of Shanghai's Tianmashan in a 100-meter-deep pit. Developed by Shanghai Shimao Property Group and to be managed by InterContinental Hotels Group, the hotel, named InterContinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, is expected to extend 19 stories into the bottom of the pit. Once completed, in late 2014 or early 2015, the deepest story of the luxury resort will be approximately 700 meters lower than the top floor of the world's-highest-hotel-to-be, the Shanghai Tower J Hotel in Shanghai Tower, set for completion around the same time. Located about 45 kilometers southwest of Shanghai's city center, the pit in Tianmushan is 100 meters deep, 240 meters long and 160 meters wide. The lowest 20 meters are filled with stagnant rainwater, which the hotel will retain. Construction of the 380-room InterContinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland commenced last month. The 19-story hotel will have three levels above ground, and 16 underground, including an underwater restaurant. A 60-meter glass curtain will be built to mimic a waterfall next to the resort's main structure. The pit has served as a quarry since the 1950s, then it has been abandoned since the year 2000. Shimao purchased the surrounding land in 2006 in order to build Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, a large-scale theme park integrating hospitality, leisure and entertainment elements. The hotel is planned as part of the wonderland complex. Designed by UK-based engineering firm Atkins, the company behind the ostentatious Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the quarry hotel design bagged a Gold Medal at last year's commercial real estate MIPIM Asia Awards. Industry experts believe nightly room rates will start from US$ 320, twice the price currently charged by nearby five-star hotels. Shimao is investing a total of US$ 555 million in the 428 thousand square meter Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, of which US$ 95 million will go toward the subterranean resort. Hotel planners are considering taking advantage of the site's surrounding cliffs by hosting activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping.