no expense spared

I FEEL LIKE I’VE BEEN shrunk, and it’s a strangely wondrous experience. Miniature me is gaping up at the ceiling where insets of giant, leather-like plaits resembling a luxury handbag puzzle the brain. What on earth are they for?

If simply to impress, they’re nailing it. As are nearby feature chandeliers made from 20,000 metres of ball chain, each weighing three tonnes. The polished travertine floors beneath my feet – covering 8500 square metres across the entire hotel – are cut into a pattern of cartoony Australia shapes. Textured, tactile surfaces are everywhere I look.

The lobby at potion at the door; seven-metre-high walls and a bone palette are all that’s needed to create the impression you’ve unknowingly diminished in size.