World’s largest hotel with 10,000 rooms to open doors in Makkah

The world’s largest hotel will open its door to the world in Makkah in 2017.

The Abraj Kudai is expected to have 10,000 rooms, 70 restaurants in 12 separate towers.

Work on the project in which the Saudi Bin Laden group holds the main shares has already started.

While two of the towers will offer five-star facilities, the other 10 will provide four-star accommodation. 

Five floors of this blue-mirrored facility will solely be used by the Saudi Royal family. The hotel site will also include residential facilities, a shopping mall and plenty of car parking for those visiting the mosque.

Once completed, the hotel will have an approximate total site area of 60,000 million square metres and a total built-up area of 1.4million square metres.

The Abraj Kudai Hotel has been designed by architects Messrs Dar Al-Handasah, while the London-based M/s Areen Hospitality has been contracted to design the hotel and the rooms’ interiors. 

In 2010, the world’s biggest clock was constructed in Mecca. Over 90 million pieces of coloured glass mosaic embellish the sides of the clock, which has four faces each bearing a large inscription of the name "Allah." It is visible from all corners of the city, Reuters reported.

The recent attempts to modernize the Grand Mosque have been criticized by people who argue that the spirituality of the place of worship is being wiped off by commercialism. The Saudi government in recent years has bulldozed the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and several other Islamic heritage sites to make way for the construction.