When someone tells you that a place is “the most luxurious hotel in the world,” the natural response might be to ask in disbelief, “What makes it so luxurious? “

This is how I felt before visiting the Burj-al-Arab in Dubai, which was named the world’s best hotel by the Telegraph’s ULTRA Awards this year and has often been called “the world’s most luxurious hotel” by writers and travel critics.

After spending a night at the Burj last November, I think I have the answer. While the $ 1 billion hotel is packed with extravagances, like a Rolls-Royce chauffeur, a set of 14 Hermès toiletries, and interiors decorated with nat the start 20,000 square feet of 24-karat gold, service puts it above.

Harrison Jacobs / Business Insider

The Burj Al Arab has a staff-to-housing ratio of 6: 1. This means that there are 1,300 employees for the 202 hotel suites, ranging from chefs and mixologists to florists, locker room attendants and hosts.

The report leads to a level of attention that I imagine most people have never experienced. Someone is always available to take care of your every whim or answer any of your questions. Look around in the hotel with a puzzled look for more than a few seconds and someone comes to ask you what you need. This is assuming they don’t already know what you are looking for.

Service is taken to another level when it comes to your current suite. Each floor has a team of personal butlers (I’m not kidding) waiting to meet your every need. The person on duty will stand up as you approach and greet you by name.

If you need anything – a dinner reservation, an Earl Gray brewed tea at 9 p.m. sharp, or, say, a bubble bath – they’ll enthusiastically take care of it.

Harrison Jacobs / Business Insider

Beyond that, the staff take their expertise and hospitality seriously.

I stayed at the hotel on Thanksgiving night. Knowing I was American, my personal butler set down a platter of Thanksgiving-themed miniature sandwiches and pies so that I didn’t miss the holidays altogether.

Just before going to bed during my stay, I decided to make an impromptu stopover to on the 27th floor of the hotel for a nightcap at Burj’s Lounge, Gold On 27. As I walked over to the host to request a table, he greeted me by name.

As I sipped my $ 31 cocktail, I wondered how he knew who I was. I hadn’t made any reservations and was one of the hundreds at the hotel that night. I speculated that the butler had warned him that I was heading for the bar.

When I asked him later by what magic he knew who I was, he told me that every night he researched all the guests staying at the hotel and tried to memorize everyone’s name and face. . He admitted with a smile that he is not always right.

This level of dedication is hard to fake. He was far from the only one of the staff who seemed to take the hotel’s reputation as “the most luxurious hotel in the world” very seriously.

It was showing.