1.5 billion USD Mardan Palace Hotel Opens in Antalya, Turkey

PR Log (Press Release) – Jun 10, 2009 – It seems there are places that have failed to notice that we are in the grips of a worldwide recession. Chief among them is the Mardan Palace, a lavish and over-the-top hotel that recently opened in Turkey and which the Daily Mail bills as Europe's "most expensive hotel" and the continent's "most shameful temple to excess."

The hotel sports a five acre pool that guests can take a gondola ride across, which takes a full 30 minutes. The bathrooms have gold-plated mirrors on the floor and the spa boasts a room full of real snow that guests can roll around in immediately after exiting the sauna. The absurd undertaking is the brainchild of Russian billionaire Telman Ismailov, who ploughed at least one of his billions into this monument to ostentation. More hard-to-believe details:

Champagne costs 25 pounds a glass, toilets are remote-controlled, guests select linen and pillow firmness from a 'pillow menu' alongside each bed and the private beach has been created from 9,000 tons of the silkiest white sand imported from Egypt.

The hotel itself - where suites cost up to 11,500 pounds a night - is a temple to bling, fitted out with 2,500 tons of gold, 500,000 crystals and 23,000 square metres of Italian marble.