The world’s most expensive hotel suite is the Empathy Suite at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. In order to experience the suite, guests are expected to pay USD $100,000 per night — and there’s a two-night minimum.
For an obscene cost like that, you’d expect a whole host of lavish extras, including a private pool, fully-serviced bar, and a 24-hour butler, for example. The Empathy Suite offers all of that and more, but it’s also got a massive fish tank with two real sharks frozen in formaldehyde, pharmaceutical-inspired decals on every surface, and a truly wild amount of veined marble.
As a result, the hotel suite — whilst opulent and incredibly intriguing (and of course I would stay there given the chance) — ends up looking sort of… ugly? Just one woman’s opinion!
The hotel suite was designed by notable British artist Damien Hirst in collaboration with Bentel & Bentel Architects. While Hirst’s iconic works bring crowds of art appreciators to museums and galleries all around the world, the application of his signature style to the two-storey suite looks all a bit much. For a party pad, though, it is incredibly cool and undeniably very Vegas.
The 835sqm suite accommodates four with two massive bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. Despite its two beds, the suite can host over 50 people in its expansive living zones. There’s a 13-seat curved bar filled with medical waste, positioned underneath a suspended marlin skeleton, which sits adjacent to a schmoozy lounging area backed by floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over Vegas.
The suite also hides massage rooms, a salt relaxation room, a gym, powder room, and of course, the huge outdoor pool which cantilevers over the side of the building.
But of course, it’s the art that really defines this space. There six large-scale original artworks in the suite, including a clear medicine cabinet literally filled with diamonds.
Scattered throughout the suite are a number of Hirst touches, including 104 stone butterflies and 17 inlaid pills in the marble alone.
The Empathy Suite was part of a USD $690 million update to the hotel. Previously, the suite was known as the Hugh Hefner Suite.