One of the biggest Fairmont hotel projects under development is one that most people have never heard of and one that most Westerners will never be able to visit.
The Makkah Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont Hotel, is being developed in Makkah, Saudi Arabia (also spelled Mecca), home to the Kaaba Shrine and Grand Mosque.
The city is known for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which attracts close to 3 million people.
All able-bodied Muslims are supposed to make the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
"Today there is literally no hotel product there," said Tom Storey, president of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
The hotel, which is scheduled to open in the fall, will have 1,005 rooms and 640 residences, Storey said.
It will also have a clock tower that is five times bigger than Big Ben, he said. The Makkah Clock will announce daily prayers to the Muslim world.
Entrance to the city is restricted to Muslims. Storey said Fairmont has had to set up preopening offices for the resort in nearby Jiddah and that executives involved in the project have to get special passes to make day trips.
The hotel is the focal point of the Abraj Al Bait Complex. The complex is part of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project, whose mandate is to upgrade the precincts of the Two Holy Mosques.
The project is being developed by Saudi Binladin Co., one of the largest development and construction firms in the Arab world.
Fairmont's parent company, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, is majority-owned by Kingdom Holding Co., which is chaired by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud.