There is no greater magnet for the hospitality industry than the sea, with towering hotels crowding the world’s finest stretches of beach, from the Côte d’Azur to Waikiki. For most travelers, a view of the ocean is the ultimate amenity, but luxury hotels that float or are submerged beneath the surface of the sea provide otherworldly experiences.

Floating is a term of art. There are some hotels that literally float, like The FloatHouse River Kwai in Thailand or the Off Paris Seine that is moored on the banks of the City of Light’s signature river. Others merely provide the illusion of floating, such as tropical overwater bungalows — these are quintessential French Polynesian accommodations but are found in the Maldives, Seychelles and Caribbean as well — where the design is fully integrated with the sea. Yet another category are hotels whose rooms or restaurants are submerged in the sea, providing guests with the underwater experience of coexisting with tropical fish amidst a coral reef.

The clubby Off floats on the Seine between the Right and Left Banks of Paris, not far from Gare d’Austerlitz in the up-and-coming 13th arrondissement. While the neighborhood is buzzing with fashionable bistros and nightspots, the barge-like Off provides an onboard restaurant and bar, even a lap pool. Those who splurge can choose between two fashionable suites whose décor was authored by designers Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman.

With its recent grand opening, Resorts World’s glitzy new $4.3 billion property is the latest hot spot on the Las Vegas Strip, but the company’s resort on Sentosa Island, Singapore is even more elaborate. It encompasses multiple hotels — among them the elite Crockfords Tower, the postmodern Hotel Michael and Hard Rock — along with several theme parks, a convention center and casino. The property’s Beach Villas hotel offers 11 two-story Ocean Suites that immerse their guests into an exotic ocean habitat. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide an undersea view of more than 70 species of marine animals amidst luxury accommodations enhanced by personalized butler service.

Offering the best of both worlds is The Manta Resort in Tanzania — it is located on Pemba Island amidst some stunning turquoise-hued waters — and its three-level floating suite is anchored to the ocean floor off the coast of Africa. Above water, guests enjoy a gentle rafting effect and panoramic views, but in the bedroom below they are treated to the eyepopping aquatic habitat of this corner of the Indian Ocean. Pemba Island is one of the world’s premier diving areas, but guests at The Manta’s underwater room can experience the same thrills without ever putting on a wetsuit. 

The Manta Resort’s own Kwanini Foundation is actively involved in protecting the rich marine habitat of Pemba Island, whose reefs are among the most diverse in East Africa. Rapidly increasing population is creating an unsustainable demand for fish, and the foundation is fighting to eliminate destructive practices like dynamite fishing near vulnerable reefs, as well as educating people on climate change and plastic pollution. These conservation efforts not only preserve the natural beauty of Pemba Island, but ensure the magic of The Manta Resort’s underwater accommodations as well.

Perhaps the most audacious example of a hotel with an underwater feature is the InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland in China. Constructed at an artificial lake created at an abandoned quarry, most of the sleek, curvaceous structure is technically below grade, with 16 stories built into a subterranean cliff. All of the 336 rooms benefit from spectacular views of the lake and the property’s dramatically illuminated waterfalls and fountains.

One spectacular two-level suite at Shanghai Wonderland features an enclosed living room with outdoor terrace hovering just above the water, while its bedrooms are submerged beneath the lake’s surface, encased in a giant underwater aquarium. Lin Wang, chief marketing officer for IHG, Greater China, commented: “We’re delighted to be joining forces with Shimao Group [developer] again to open InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland — an architectural masterpiece that’s a wonder and beauty in the global hospitality industry.”

When it comes to underwater hotel restaurants, New Zealand civil engineer Mike Murphy is a pioneering force responsible for some of the most dramatic designs. His first underwater restaurant project, Ithaa, opened in 2005 and remains a stunning dining space in the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island resort. A decade later, Murphy completed the design for his largest underwater dining venue, named 5.8 Undersea Restaurant — it sits 5.8 meters beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean — at the Hurawalhi Island Resort in the Maldives. “Many projects must be canceled, as the sites aren’t suitable or the client desires a room size that’s unrealistically large,” explains Murphy of his niche specialty. 

Despite his disciplined training as an engineer, Murphy appreciates the visceral reaction people experience in these underwater spaces. “Their mouths open in awe, they almost gasp in wonder at the beautiful underwater scene in front of them,” he says, and adds, “I, too, always get this feeling when I go down into these undersea rooms.”

The Hurawalhi project benefitted from advancements in fabrication, transportation and the availability of larger crane ships, reports Murphy, who notes these ventures work best in locations protected from severe waves or storm surges, generally inside a coral reef or protected harbor. “The design of the acrylic windows and arches is very important,” says the engineer, who explains, “The deeper you go in the water, the greater the pressure, and hence the thicker you must make the windows … and the more expensive it gets.” 

Murphy designed the largest underwater project to date, a villa at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island called The Muraka, a spectacular suite whose room rate begins at $9,999 per night. “Driven by our inspiration to deliver innovative and transformative experiences to our global travelers, the world’s first undersea residence encourages guests to explore the Maldives from an entirely new perspective below the surface of the sea,” said Ahmed Saleem of the Crown Company, which collaborated with the engineer on the
$15 million project. Murphy, who retired a few years ago at age 70, continues to receive proposals for projects and is hoping his design for the world’s first revolving underwater restaurant will be realized.  

At far left, an underwater suite at the InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland. 

Above, the InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland, constructed at an abandoned quarry. Photos courtesy of InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland.

The FloatHouse River Kwai is a bona fide floating resort in Thailand, a country where floating homes and markets are not particularly unusual. The hotel’s string of thatched roof villas is essentially a lengthy pontoon boat parked along the river made famous by the novel and Oscar-winning movie Bridge on the River Kwai. Each villa provides nearly 1,000 square feet of comfort appointed with teak furniture and features a private terrace with a swing from which to lazily watch the slowly passing riverboats.

The luxurious Taj Lake Palace hotel is not technically floating on India’s Lake Pichola, but most certainly appears to be. The artificial lake, which was created in the 14th century, has several islands, and the white marble-clad structure — it was originally a summer palace for the ruling dynasty of Mewar — was constructed on one of them in 1746. The palace was designed in a manner that makes it look like an ornate floating raft, and while the illusion is convincing, nobody gets seasick. The hotel oozes elegance and romance, and the most extravagant suites, with hand-painted ceilings, crystal chandeliers and panoramic water views, are indeed palatial.

In a city that specializes in over-the-top experiences, Dubai’s 1,500-room Atlantis, The Palm offers a 1,775-square-foot underwater suite with floor-to-ceiling windows for viewing the resort’s signature aquarium, stocked with 65,000 marine animals. A guest lying on the bed or relaxing in the marble bath will be mesmerized by sharks, stingrays and vibrantly hued tropical fish sailing past. A private elevator ascends to the suite’s intimate lounge, offering surface views of a lagoon, and guests’ needs are attended to by a dedicated butler.

Photo © 2016 Nickolas Sargent All Rights Reserved

Observing decorative tropical fish shimmering through an artificial aquatic habitat can be mesmerizing, but new innovations and elaborate designs have made aquarium industry specialists an essential resource for luxury residential design. A new breed of aquarists is using unbridled imagination and advanced technologies to create larger and more audacious tanks for the home.

Reality television series like Tanked on Animal Planet and Fish Tank Kings on Nat Geo Wild introduce viewers to the incredible possibilities of aquarium design, resulting in focal points that can transform a room into a magical space. High-end aquarists can now be found in every major city and ambitious tanks can be engineered for virtually any residential environment.

Photo courtesy of Infinity Aquarium Design

Nic Tiemens, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Infinity Aquarium Design, reports, “The installations we’re doing today in high-end residences are more elaborate, both aesthetically and functionally, than those in most public aquariums.” Tiemens’ first taste of the business, as a young minimum-wage employee in Chicago, was the installation of two massive tanks at NBA superstar Michael Jordan’s house. When he and his business partner founded Infinity in 2004, they viewed L.A. as a natural home base, and the firm was featured on HGTV’s Ultimate Aquariums, one of the public’s earliest glimpses into this intriguing specialty. “We’ve branded ourselves as the firm where creativity meets the science of aquariums,” explains the passionate entrepreneur.

Tiemens suggests that homeowners’ increased reliance on interior designers has boosted the residential aquarium business, as those ambitious professionals are constantly looking to enhance spaces with unique water features. Celebrity-favored L.A. interior designer Adam Hunter, who collaborates with Infinity in his luxury residential practice, reports, “Aquariums offer such dramatic appeal to any interior because they can instantly become a beautiful focal point, art piece or topic of conversation.”

Hunter believes aquariums work equally well in both traditional and modern architectural contexts, and the endless options of aquatic environments and species allow designers and aquarists to accommodate virtually any situation. “When you spend hundreds of hours paying attention to every last detail that makes an interior perfect, having an organic, living backdrop provides the ideal contrast to such a structured and scrutinized design,” he explains.

Photo © 2016 Nickolas Sargent All Rights Reserved

Reef Aquaria Design (RAD), located in South Florida, also caters to a demanding luxury residential clientele. Operations Manager J.R. Corvison agrees that public aquariums and a heightened environmental consciousness of the oceans have fueled interest, and states some of RAD’s high-end installations cost more than most people pay for a home. “Those with the means have the ability to commission a piece of dynamic living art showcasing the ocean’s splendor right in their own home,” says Corvison.  He reports client enthusiasm for jellyfish aquariums, especially in homes with sleek, modern architecture, as well as burgeoning interest in the aquaculture of fish and live corals.

The stars of Tanked, brothers-in-law Brett Raymer and Wayde King, are the owners of Las Vegas-based Acrylic Tank Manufacturing (ATM). Since their show debuted in 2011, the pair has created over-the-top aquariums for actors Neil Patrick Harris and David Hasselhoff, magicians Penn & Teller, and professional athletes Marshawn Lynch, Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neill.

Photo courtesy of Infinity Aquarium Design.

“The popularity of public aquariums has grown over the years, giving people more opportunities to see exotic species, and everybody’s intrigued by fish,” says Raymer, who suggests the ability to maintain live corals and reefs accounts for the popularity of saltwater tanks. “The tanks are educational, soothing and relaxing to look at,” says the enthusiastic King of the hobby’s universal allure, adding, “The colors of fish are incredibly appealing and they all have their own personalities.”

Raymer reports that while it may scratch easier than glass, acrylic has become the state-of-the-art material for extravagant designs because of its ability to be bent and shaped. ATM’s design and installation process begins with an interview of the customer, whether a celebrity or suburban hobbyist. “First we find out what the client has in mind, then turn it over to our artist to create a rendering. Once we get the client’s approval, we go from there,” explains Raymer.

One of the company’s more outrageous projects, scheduled to appear on Tanked later this year, features the third appearance of comedian Tracy Morgan, whose pool house in posh Alpine, New Jersey, will be transformed into a massive 16,000-gallon shark tank designed by ATM. King explains sufficient space, structural soundness and a willingness to take care of the habitat (in addition to capital, of course) are the only limitations to ever-more-elaborate aquariums. ATM’s largest project was a $4.5 million aquarium for a megachurch in Texas, and an upcoming 70,000-gallon project in California will be the largest tank ever installed in a private residence.

Jay Silber, a partner at Lakewood, New Jersey’s Aqua Creations — which serves metro New York City and beyond — reports affluent clients love the soothing effects of aquariums, while other owners are attracted to the feng shui benefits of having water and fish in a home. “One very wealthy client, he’s a big player whose home has a media room, disco room and everything you could ask for, tells me, ‘Jay, when I entertain, the first place everybody goes is to the tank!’”

Silber reports, “We build aquariums from $20,000 to $100,000, depending on how crazy you want to go, but we concentrate on creating a really interesting environment.” He insists the best installation practice is from the ground up, working with architects and builders to engineer the tank, accommodate proper plumbing and allocate sufficient space for an equipment room.

Compatibility, color and movement are the critical considerations when selecting the assortment of fish, according to Tiemens. “We try to create an underwater display that’s realistic and offers an environment that’s natural for the respective species, one in which every color of the rainbow is presented and where you’re constantly seeing different fish,” he says.

Brett Raymer of ATM cautions homeowners, “You need to remember these are live animals … they’re pets, not just decoration, so you can’t just get it set up and forget about it.” He therefore advises clients to enter into a maintenance contract with a reputable company like ATM to ensure proper care. These days, advanced technology allows owners or aquarists to monitor water quality and manipulate pumps from anywhere in the world with the touch of a smartphone.

Adam Hunter, Inc. Los Angeles www.adamhunterinc.com

Infinity Aquarium Design Los Angeles www.infinityaquariums.com