The Empire Brunei

The atrium rises the height of the building. Columns sheathed in gold leaf climb past galleries of marble to a glass ceiling, and in the middle of the floor stands a camel of Baccarat crystal and gold. The Empire Brunei, at Jerudong on the coast west of Bandar Seri Begawan, was never meant to be a hotel. Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the Sultan's younger brother, began the complex in the 1990s as a palace for state guests, and only when his finances collapsed did the project become a commercial property, opening in 2000 as the Empire Hotel and Country Club.

History

The timing was fixed by diplomacy. Brunei hosted the APEC leaders' meeting in November 2000, and the new hotel took the heads of government, with the Indera Samudra Grand Hall used for the sessions. The Empire then settled into a double life as the national showpiece for visiting dignitaries and as a resort for families from Singapore, Malaysia and the Gulf. It was renamed The Empire Brunei in the late 2010s, dropping the country club suffix.

Architecture and design

The scale is palatial because it was built as a palace. The main building holds the atrium lobby, with its gold-leaf columns, marble floors and staircases, and the guest wings spread along the shore. Lagoons and pools run between the buildings down to a private beach on the South China Sea. The grounds cover around 180 hectares, which puts the hotel among the largest resort estates in South East Asia, and the Jack Nicklaus signature golf course takes up a good part of them, with holes laid along the coast.

Rooms and suites

Rooms and suites are spread between the main building and lower wings facing the lagoons and the sea. All are large, with marble bathrooms and balconies or terraces. The Emperor Suite, the royal apartment at the top of the scale, has its own indoor pool, cinema and reception rooms and is kept for heads of state and the rare private guest who can afford it. The facts file gives no room count.

Dining

The facts file counts four restaurants. The Atrium Cafe serves breakfast and all-day meals in the lobby. Pantai is the beachside restaurant for Malay and Asian food. Li Gong is the Chinese restaurant and Spaghettini the Italian. Brunei is a dry country and the hotel serves no alcohol, a point worth knowing before a wedding or a conference dinner.

Wellness

There are five swimming pools, including a lagoon pool with waterslides and a lap pool, the private beach, a spa with treatment rooms, a fitness centre, tennis courts, a bowling alley and a cinema. The Jack Nicklaus course is 18 holes with the sea in view on the back nine.

Weddings and events

The Indera Samudra Grand Hall is the largest ballroom in Brunei and the room used for APEC, state banquets and the biggest weddings in the country. Smaller halls and meeting rooms serve conferences, and the lawns and beach are used for outdoor ceremonies. The hotel hosts weddings, as the facts file confirms; capacities are not recorded there.

Location

Jerudong is a coastal district around 20 minutes by car west of Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital. The Jerudong Park Playground, the amusement park built for the Sultan's 50th birthday in 1996, is next door. Brunei International Airport is about 30 minutes away. The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque and the water village of Kampong Ayer in the capital are the main excursions. In a small country with few hotels, it is the one luxury hotel in Brunei of international scale.