Dubai has a new record-breaking building – and it wasn’t actually planned. The Ciel Tower shoots 377 meters into the sky and is now officially the tallest hotel in the world. How the “Oops, a world record” moment came about and why everything inside is still surprisingly small.
Dec 5, 2025, 10:46 p.mDec 5, 2025, 10:46 p.m
Kathrin Martens / watson.de
Dubai has once again set a record – and this time almost by accident. With the Ciel Tower, the city has now launched the tallest hotel in the world: 377 meters of glass, concrete and megalomania above the Dubai Marina. Fun fact: This height was not originally on the plan. The building plans were overturned several times – and suddenly you were at the top of the list of the tallest hotels in the world.
Once again things are going high in Dubai. image: IHG hotels&resorts / Ciel Dubai Marina
“We wanted something spectacular,” Rob Burns, head of project developer The First Group, told CNN. “But we really didn’t plan to build the tallest hotel in the world.”
Dubai’s record-breaking tower stands on a mini-plot
The architects still had to think small. The entire tower stands on just 3,600 square meters of floor space – by Dubai standards it’s like a shoebox. So architect Yahya Jan had to get creative. According to CNN reporter Bijan Hosseini, anyone who walks through the hotel quickly realizes that it is a high-rise building that is constantly reminded of how little space it has below.
This can be seen right at the entrance. Normally in Dubai you would expect a giant hall, fountains, maybe a golden fountain. Instead there is soft lighting, round shapes, subtle luxury. Beautiful – but deliberately compact.
“The property forced us to build smarter,” Jan tells CNN. “But that’s when you often do your best work.”
The small area is also the reason for the enormous height. The planned ideas like pool and restaurants and yoga areas had to go somewhere. So things went up and up until at some point architect Yahya Jan pointed out to the project managers that they were “close” to building the tallest hotel in the world. It was then decided to do exactly that.
1004 rooms – with a view instead of bling
The rooms are stylish, rather minimalist and significantly smaller than the palace suites that are otherwise known in Dubai. They offer a view over the Marina, Palm Jumeirah and the Gulf. In total, the hotel has 1,004 rooms on 82 floors and is located in a market already crowded with luxury towers.
Burns knows this – but he remains optimistic: “A thousand-room hotel is a challenge. But we are very confident because we have special features: 360-degree views, great rooms, lots of amenities.”
The “eye of the needle”: a hole as a superpower
The most spectacular design move is a huge vertical section that the architects call “Eye of the Needle”. The reason for this is the wind. The taller a building is, the more it whistles. The hole allows air to simply sweep through the high-rise building. According to the CNN report, you should feel this even on quiet days.
Green mini-atrias also open up every few floors: small parks, light, air, yoga zones, restaurant extensions. “We are creating vertical neighborhoods,” explains Jan. “Towers of the future will become more porous and natural.”
At the top it really becomes Dubai. Eight restaurants are spread across the upper floors, including several locations from the British Tattu group. But the star is the infinity pool on level 76 – right in the building’s wind tunnel. It’s not big, but it doesn’t have to be: the location makes it seem as if the water would simply disappear into the sky.