In the south of Riyadh, nestled into downtown streets steeped in rare desert greenery, sits a 33,909sq m palace once lived in by King Saud Abdulaziz, the second ruler of modern Saudi Arabia. The Red Palace was built in the 1940s for the then-crown prince. Now, the 3.
6ha, art-deco manse is being transformed into an ultra-luxury hotel designed to give guests a taste of the Saudi royal life. The conversion, by hospitality company Boutique Group, is the kind of rarefied tourism project that doubles as historic preservation. The Red Palace served as a government headquarters as the kingdom emerged a global energy superpower; when it reopens in 2025, it will have 70 rooms that preserve not just the physical spaces but the entire lifestyle that came with them.
Menus will feature the Saud family’s favourite recipes. Spa treatments will use the area’s ancient healing rituals. Scents from the native Taif rose – a favourite of King Saud – will waft through the air.
Boutique Group says the Red Palace will be a first-of-its-kind experience in the country, which only five years ago started widely allowing tourists into the country for leisure. And it will likely cost more than most anything in the global luxury market. “It’s the experience of being treated like royalty, where everything is taken care of for you down to every detail,” Mark De Cocinis, chief executive officer of Boutique Group, says in an interview in Riyadh.
“Even more so, it’s about the history and the cu.