Marble Court Redefines 'Home,' Takes Shine off Hotels
Housing
By Dan Ede
Because the concept is a new one, many people mistake the Marble Court in Wuse II area of Abuja for a hotel. But it is not. Rather, the tastefully finished, all marble structure is the pioneer luxury serviced apartments in Nigeria, an entirely new concept in the country.
Popular in Europe and America, luxury serviced apartments are meant for people, especially families that want a home away from their actual homes; tourists who want to avoid the rowdiness of a hotel environment, but prefer a quiet environment that offers privacy, for a week, a month, or a year, as the case may be.
Marble Court comprises of six units of 3-bedroom flats. Each flat is tastefully furnished with the best Italian furniture and fittings to create an atmosphere that is elegant and luxurious. The building is covered in marble, hence its name "Marble Court".
"I built Marble Court to beat, not to match the standard of the Presidential Suite of NICON Hilton Hotel, Abuja", Alhaji Mohammed Tukur, Managing Director of Kautal Hairu Limited, told THISDAY in an interview recently.
Continuing, he said: " The idea of the Marble Court came as follows: I went and saw the Presidential Suite of NICON (Hilton Hotel) because it is the highest in town; and in that hotel, the highest you can enter is the Presidential Suite. And I saw them charging N125,000 per night; and there are two rooms there: a living room and a sitting room.
"I said fine; I'm going to build six presidential suites for sale. My objective was to beat the Presidential suite of NICON. So, I appoint you the judge. Go and have a look at the Presidential Suite of NICON; then come and have a look at my own 3-bedrooms, sitting room, dinning, fitted kitchen, toilet", he said.
A trip to the master's bedroom, madam's bedroom and children's room reveals a conscious and meticulous effort to satisfy taste while recreating a home. The sitting room is furnished with Italian leather settee, Chinese rug, television set, decoder, CD player, reading table and video phone.
Each room is provided with a heavenly Italian bed, Chinese rug, dressing mirror, television set, wardrobe, refrigerator and intercom; while the dinning room is equipped with vernon dinning set for six people, air conditioner and Chinese rug.
Aside from a steward attached to each apartment, there are video phones to enable the occupants screen visitors. The Court itself is under surveillance through strategically located video cameras, under the eagle eyes of trained security personnel and armed policemen who ensure perimeter security.
" You have every right to any type of food even down to our local delicacies. Qualified chefs are on 'standby' to attend to your pleasures. However, we are flexible enough to provide you a 'self catering' option if you so desire", said management.
Bringing work back to the flat is equally encouraged at Marble Court, having been fully equipped with business centre dedicated to providing guests with secretarial services, including internet services, fax, binding, scanning, colour photocopy, etc.
Other facilities available at Marble Court are serene and pristine environment, spacious secure parking lot, well fortified perimeter fencing, hospitable and courteous staff and a well equipped kitchen with all the modern facilities for "self catering" if so desired.
Perhaps, in keeping with the vision and objective of the builder, Alhaji Tukur, the management adopted this slogan: "At Marble Court, we offer you facilities that exceed those of the Five Star hotels at better price. Let us worry about your 'home' needs for a while".
While the 2-bedroom presidential suite of NICON Hilton Hotel goes for N125,000 per night, the 3-bedroom Marble Court flat costs N50,000 per night.
But Turkur's satisfaction is that he has been able to translate his vision into reality. "They have the name of NICON. I don't have that name. But the satisfaction is, at worse, I have met the standard of the Presidential Suite of NICON. They have two rooms; I have three. I have bigger rooms. The beds I have there, they don't have it", he said.
THISDAY gathered that all the materials for the finishing of the house were supplied by Kautal Hairu Limited, the parent company.
Tukur said with Marble Court he had achieved three things: "the Court on its own has become a business; if today I get somebody who wants to buy Marble Court, by all means within five minutes I will sell. I will build another one so that it will multibly.
"So, I have developed business idea; I have achieved backward integration; I have sold my goods".
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