Saudi Arabia loves a good megaproject, and alongside the ambitious NEOM Project, we’ve got Riyadh’s Mukaab as the largest building in the world, and grand plans for the world’s biggest hotel.
Supposedly boasting 10,000 rooms and 70 restaurants, spread over 45 floors, Abraj Kudai is due to dominate the Mecca skyline.
The problem is, it looks increasingly like it’ll never open its doors.
Unveiled in 2015, Abraj Kudai was a colossal Saudi project that was supposed to surpass the current record holder, dwarfing Malaysia’s First World Hotel and its 7,351 rooms. In terms of actual size, Las Vegas’ MGM Grand is technically the ‘biggest’, despite only having 6,852 rooms.
Abraj Kudai was designed by architectural firm Dar Al-Handasah, with some $3.5 billion supposedly being sunk into the project, and it due to stretch for a whopping 1.4 million square meters with 12 towers and four helipads.
Abraj Kuda was supposed to open in 2017 (Dar Al-Handasah)
Sadly, that initial announcement has been forgotten in a dustball of controversy, with Abraj Kudai being put on hold for a tragic reason.
Planting the world’s biggest hotel in the middle of the holy Mecca wasn’t the main issue, but for the many practising Muslims who visit the area, they report nothing that looks like the original artist’s renderings of Abraj Kudai.
A decade on from its announcement, and with a 2017 opening originally pencilled in, the hotel remains little more than a construction site.
The crux of the issue is down to a tragic crane collapse in 2015. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance owns the Abraj Kudai project and is a prime customer of The Saudi Binladin Group (SBL).
This construction giant was blamed for the crane that fell into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in Mecca and claimed 107 lives. In the aftermath, SBL was banned “from receiving new state contracts altogether,” while the construction giant is also affected directly by the government’s actions. When oil prices started to tumble, the Saudi government opted to “cancel or suspend projects and delay payments.”
With this, Abraj Kudai went ghostly quiet.
It’s not like the custom isn’t there, as a 2025 article from The Telegraph explains that 1.8 million Muslims made the annual Hajj pilgrimage in 2024, marking a 36% increase on the year before.
Apparently, Mecca also outpaces Las Vegas in terms of hotel rooms, now boasting 227,000 beds.
Despite the West stalling SBL’s growth due to Osama bin Laden being the son of the company’s founder, the Binladin Group has remained close to the Saudi royals and enjoyed great success in the country.
Still, the 2017 arrest of the Group’s founder, Bakr bin Laden, as part of an anti-corruption purge, led to him handing over a massive stake to the Saudi government. Swirling rumors of financial troubles behind the scenes have also led to reports that Jeddah’s record-breaking skyscraper has also stalled, all as SBL remains quiet on its accounts.
The last update came toward the end of 2024, with Maytas Infra Saudi Arabia announced as a new contractor. The Telegraph says requests for comment on the status of Abraj Kudai went unanswered, leaving this as another megaproject that might’ve bitten off more than it can chew.
$750,000,000 ‘hotel of doom’ that’s never had a single guest stay over is now looking for new investment to open
The North Korean hotel has been left abandoned after construction began in 1987
A $750 million ‘hotel of doom’ that has never had a single guest stay over is now looking for a new investment to open.
The 105-storey, pyramid shaped hotel first saw its construction begin back in 1987 but after facing many delays, it has been left abandoned.
There are a lot of reasons for this – mainly being the fact that it’s located in the secretive regime of North Korea.
Known as the Ryugyong Hotel in the capital of Pyongyang, the 1,083 ft tall building has become a recognizable part of the city’s skyline.
Work on the hotel has been stopping and starting for decades, with it finally being fitted with metal and glass to finish the exterior in the early 2000s, with the external construction being finalized in 2011.
However, it’s only now that the hotel has hopes of finally opening its doors to the public.
The hotel is recognizable in the city’s skyline (By Hoang Hai Thinh/Getty Images)
This was made possible after the hotel sold the rights to operate a casino on its premises under the understanding that the firm would complete the construction needed for the hotel’s interior.
According to Radio Free Asia, a Pyongyang resident speaking to RFA Korean said: “A plan to install a casino at the Ryugyong Hotel has been reviewed. The plan is to try to attract foreign investment.”
The resident went on to say: “The authority to determine the location of the casino to be installed at the hotel and the right to operate the casino will be granted to a foreign entrepreneur who invests in the cost of internal construction.
“This project was approved by the Central Committee after reviewing and discussing the profitability of the casino installed at the Yanggakdo Hotel, also in Pyongyang.”
The review took place under an order from North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, who is hoping to boost foreign tourism.
The hotel has never welcomed a single guest (Christian Petersen-Clausen/Getty Images)
Simon Cockerell, who manages a company that holds North Korea tours, talked to CNN about touring the building, saying: “They took us into the lobby area, where there was a lot of exposed cement. Then we went [on] the one working elevator to the top, which was the 99th floor, I believe.
“It took a long time to get there, because it was a service elevator, not a modern lift with a string of buttons. There was a lift operator who determined where to stop. At the top we had a look around, took some pictures and went back down to the lobby again.”
It is estimated that a whopping $750 million has been spent on the hotel so far and it might take a over $2 billion more to finish it off.
