Visitors Stranded Up Burj Khalifa

Traumatised visitors stranded up Burj Khalifa for one hour offered water and free return pass.

Burj Khalifa’s tour guides deserve ten out of ten for tenacity. As the petrified group of visitors flooded the lobby from a service elevator yesterday (the public elevators had broken down, leaving them stranded 124 floors up for an hour), the guides offered them three things: water, a refund or free trip up the building.

Management has obviously drilled into staff that the single most important priority at the moment is to get people up there. Which makes sense, but maybe not at the precise moment they are emerging from an ordeal. This lack of nouse is “so Dubai”, said one onlooker; customer service gone mad.

An American visiting Dubai recently said the Burj Khalifa had another unusual sales quirk. “I asked at the counter for a ticket but the server said they’d run out for the day so you can only book for tomorrow.”

As the US tourist, who was only in town for 24 hours, mopped away disappointed, the sales assistant called: “Unless sir, you join that queue over there where you can buy special tickets to go up today, but it’s twice as expensive…”

The Burj Khalifa’s observation deck is closed temporarily for “maintenance and upgrade”, and will open again on February 14 – Valentines Day.

Expect “special priced” romance-themed tickets.