Dubai Hotel Gives Guests 24-Carat Gold IPads [Photos]

There's luxury, and then there's "damn, that sure is a pointless waste of money."

In a recent example of the latter, the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, considered by some to be the most luxurious hotel on the planet, recently announced that it will be doling out 24-carat gold plated iPads to guests.

Guests at the hotel, which, by the way, stands on a man-made island, will be given said iPads upon check-in. From there, their goldly minted tablets will serve as a virtual concierge of sorts, allowing them to access pertinent hotel information. I would hope that the hotel, given its luxurious nature, would also extend its penchant for luxury to software. In other words, hopefully the iPad isn't merely a tablet to view the hotel's website. It would be nice if guests could use the device to schedule spa appointments, order from the hotel menu, etc.

Hotel CEO Amjad Ali says:

The 24-carat gold plated iPad is the ultimate in luxury accessories so it's only natural that we wanted it to be paired with Burj Al Arab, the world's finest hotel.

The symmetry is obvious: Both the gold plated iPad and the hotel are unique in terms of quality, mystique and dare we say: decadence.

Quite simply, there is no hotel in the world like the Burj Al Arab and there is no accessory quite like the gold plated iPad.

Well, I suppose he's right about that. There really is no accessory quite like the gold plated iPad.

The hotel, which is the fourth tallest in the world, sports 202 rooms and, not surprisingly, is anything but cheap. The Royal Suite, for instance, checks in at $18,776 per night. The funny thing is, if you can afford such an exorbitant room, isn't it likely that you already have a gold-plated iPad?