Shamim Rukundo

🇺🇬.

[Avery Chauhan @averyx99]

The Burj Al Arab is not a 7 star hotel.

There is no such thing.

Forbes tops out at 5 stars. AAA doesn't even use stars. Michelin gives hotels keys, and the maximum is 3.

So where did the 7 stars come from?

One British journalist.

In 1999 she toured the hotel before it opened. She was so overwhelmed she wrote that 5 stars couldn't do it justice. It had to be 7.

Except, nobody has ever found the article.

Not the name. Not the publication. Not a single record in any media database. The most repeated claim in hospitality history may never have been written down.

And Jumeirah, the group that owns the hotel? They never once claimed the 7 stars.

They also never denied them.

That silence became the greatest free marketing campaign a hotel has ever received.

• A $1 billion build
• 1,790 square metres of 24 carat gold leaf
• 86,500 hand fixed Swarovski crystals
• A 6 to 1 staff to guest ratio
• Its own private island

The hotel was never designed to make its money back. The brief from Dubai's ruler to the architects was a single line: create an identifiable link between the world and the UAE.

The Burj Al Arab isn't a hotel.

It's a flag.

In 1999 Dubai was a fuel stop. Today it's one of the most visited cities on earth. One building did the heavy lifting.

The lesson is uncomfortable for anyone who works in marketing:

You don't own your brand. The market does.

The Burj Al Arab has been 5 stars for 27 years.

But ask anyone on the street.

They'll tell you it's the only 7 star in the world.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @PeaceVictoria1 😂😂😂

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @PeaceVictoria1 😂😂 Your genes didn’t try at all.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@TonyNatif 😂😂😂

[Elison Karuhanga @elisonk]

https://t.co/DKGPVzD8EB

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@TonyNatif Naye nawe togenda!

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @PeaceVictoria1 😂😂😂 Peaceful is unlike her name,very raw.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @TonyNatif Tell me about it.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @TonyNatif Aha.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @TonyNatif He paid some,refused to pay the rest when he returned.I am waiting on karma 🙏

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @TonyNatif 😂😂😂 Wabula,that one like Marshal,also owes me money ! The FBI arrested him from Kenya though.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@LightKaruman2 @mwineedgar He owes my money $800 from 15yrs ago,and many other people!

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl @mwineedgar He didn’t and I agree with Edgar.Marshal mufere.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@MrJordanposts @mkainerugaba @HonTwallafadil @ObothOboth @KiryowaKk @SSssebunya @Plumedia1 @MwesigyeFranks @mkituuma @Wassajja_Aiden @greatkwizamk @Adrine_kk @KK_Mellon @AhmedKayiira @MichealMawanda1 One of the values of PLU is accountability.Marshal Alenyo owes me money,he can’t be PLU.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

I have given up on replacing my number plate.The day the guys at MoWT feel like it,they will call /process my application.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@amronaldo ❤️

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@aliza_pearl It must be tough.

[Shamim Rukundo @srukundo]

@mkainerugaba @mkainerugaba, as president of the nyashless crew ,i thank you.