The Dirt:
Long a second tier city, Atlanta is growing and is now home to a great art scene and thanks to Starwood Hotels & Resorts, a Jean Georges Vongerichten restaurant housed in the new W Atlanta-Buckhead. W Hotels and developer Noble Investment Group enlisted the artistic advice and expertise of interior decorator Thom Filicia, the designer-turned-household-name thanks to Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The rectangular shaped hotel has a modern exterior, with small glass façade that exposes the elevator, and a country club chic interior theme. The design elements bring many earth tones together and mix retro-inspired furniture pieces with country elements such as a white antler-inspired chandelier and seating with punchy prints.

The W Living Room blends contemporary designs and Filicia’s retro country club chic, through items such as nearly transparent tones and glass pieces, to bright fabrics such as animal print-inspired pillows and patterned screens. The hotel also has a gym with trainers available, private cabanas alongside the heated Infinity pool, and rooms and suites with flat screen televisions and iPod docking stations, thereby catering to the jetsetera generation, if they are willing to venture beyond New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Tokyo and London.

For dining and drinking, look to the in-house properties. French chef, restaurateur and author Jean Georges Vongerichten, whose restaurants include Spice Market and Mercer Kitchen, opened the first stateside Market restaurant, in this hotel, with an exotic menu inspired by flavors from Italy, France and Asia. Alongside the restaurant is a Whiskey Blue bar from celebrity and entrepreneur Randy Gerber. Whiskey Blue is a modern minimalist rooftop bar accessed by a glass elevator and an illuminated walkway, with tunes coming from the resident DJ.

Still amazed by W Hotels? There’s more. The brand that brought the chic boutique hotel to the masses plans to triple its footprint by 2011, with properties planned for Paris, Milan, Barcelona, London, Bali, Boston, Hoboken, Dubai (UAE), Santiago, Chile, and Doha, Qatar.

W Hotels Bonus:
W Hotels is planning a new group of spas and resorts called W Retreat & Spa, which will begin with locations in Bali, Koh Samui, Thailand, and Vieques Island, a beautiful peaceful island belonging to Puerto Rico. The fourth location planned, Verbier, Switzerland, will be W Hotels’ first ski resort.

Starwood Bonus:
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and Spatality Holdings teamed up to enhance W Hotels sister brand, Sheraton, via a multi-year agreement that will see Nectar Spa and its affiliates bring the Nectar Spa brand to Sheraton properties worldwide, starting in 2009.

Where:
A basic room for two at the Buckhead location might start around $250 a night, including taxes. For more information and pictures of the W Atlanta-Buckhead,or take make reservations visit W Atlanta-Buckhead website.

The Dirt:
Cost cutting in a world where five-star hotels are the norm is a scary sign. The folks in the Middle Eastern city of Dubai are cutting costs and bringing the real estate development spending spree to halt, having already asked Abu Dhabi for help. Some of the folks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are strained, with Kuwait struggling to keep its stock exchange going, and others member states battling debt. In Dubai, developer Meraas is reviewing the recently launched $95 billion Jumeirah Gardens project. According to Trade Arabia, more project details can be expected in early 2009. The news follows word of 500 job cuts at another government owned-developer, Nakheel, which makes islands. However, the real news lies in a possible top-down economic change that is aimed at further uniting the states and promoting regional trade.

The GCC, which is comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, met this week to discuss the possibility of creating a common currency similar to the euro. The leaders anticipate a common currency could be created by 2010, in an effort to promote regional trade, remove deal-associated risks and cut individual currency risks, Asian Investor reports. Those in favor think creating a common Central Bank would also help bolster the emerging financial sector of Islamic finance, which includes funds that are compliant with Islamic law. However, those opposed think little could be gained from it as some local currencies are stable and a central unit would give nations less power over their own monetary policies.

The Dirt:
While Americans rejoice the end of the presidential campaign and the election of the first non-white president, the financial markets continue to falter, including those in the Middle East. Though the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman) states are sitting on hefty energy resources, dropping oil prices are forcing regional states to seek additional sources of income. Still, the states led mostly by wealthy sheikhs continue to expand through real estate and consumer developments, with many financial firms opening regional offices in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, too, tapping talented asset managers displaced from debacles in the developed nations. This time, we focus on Dubai. Here’s the latest from the luxury capital of the Middle East.

Before the government bailout package, the regional states were swooping in like knights in armor to save the western banks through injections. Then Abu Dhabi bought 75% of the Chrysler Building. Now, Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that Facebook needs a cash injection and is turning to Dubai for new cash. The same week Barack Obama was elected president, Nevada gambling regulators gave Dubai World the OK to invest upwards of US$6 billion in casino company MGM Mirage. The same week, the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit was host to a number of regional players, including the soon-to-launch Fly Dubai, which according to CEO Ghaith al-Ghaith, will launch in 2009 with a focus on the “four-hour radius.” Meanwhile, Dubai is at work on a metro that will include a green and red subway line set to open in 2009 and 2010, with a red line eventually extending to the Abu Dhabi border and a purple line serving as a commuter rail and airport service, according to the Roads & Transport Authority website. In keeping with the commercial vibe, Dubai is creating sponsored subway stations, with companies bidding the Roads and Transport Authority to buy the rights to name a subway stop, likely for the recommended 10-year minimum. Already, the national airline Emirates has been selected as one of the companies to sponsor a station, Emirates Business reports.

As for the consumer and celebrity front, Dubai Mall opened this week in the Downtown Burj Dubai development with 12 million square feet of space, produced by none other than Emaar Properties. The mall has popular high-end retailers including Bloomingdale’s, and leisure areas including a catwalk area, a market, and an Olympic-sized ice-skating rink. This will be followed by two more Emaar malls, located in Burj and Marina areas of Dubai. But while the shopping is alluring, nothing brings attention like celebrities. According to Arabian Business, Fergie is performing at Dubai Media City on November 14 and will be followed by Kylie Minogue, George Michael and Alicia Keys. But the celebrity move that really shows Dubai is still going strong is news of a famous chef’s planned migration. Gordon Ramsay is reportedly planning to move his family to Dubai within the next five years, reports Business Intelligence Middle East. Ramsay told the publication that: “I’m looking at a plot at the end of the Palm island branches. Mum’s in her sixties and she loves it.”

Organizers of the Venice International Film Festival showed one of Vietnam’s banned movies, reports Intellasia.net. Vietnamese censors banned Phan Dang Di’s 20-minute film entitled Khi Toi 20, claiming that it portrayed Vietnam negatively. The film follows the relationship between two teenagers, one of which is a sex worker forced into the profession to support her family. Venice Film Festival officials released a statement saying that not showing the film would be an infringement upon free speech and expression.

Tampa, Florida police arrested two men on suspicion of human trafficking Friday, according to TampaBays10.com. Police were tipped off by Victor Gomes-Lopez, who revealed that his brother was being brought from Mexico to Florida for $1,500. Gomes-Lopez said that he had struck a deal with the two suspects that when they dropped off his brother, he would be able to work off his debt. However, upon arrival, the men demanded the $1,500 up front. Police intercepted and arrested the two men in a McDonald’s parking lot, along with five people they were presumed to be transporting.

Authorities arrested a group of drug traffickers Sunday in what the Gulf Times calls one of Qatar’s largest security operations. Authorities found 320 kilograms of hashish between two Qatar gangs, as well as automatic firearms and ammunition. The public relations spokesman for the Interior Ministry said those who were arrested in the operation were released to the Public Prosecution department to determine the next legal steps for each person. The maximum sentence for drug trafficking in Qatar is the death penalty; use of drugs can result in a life sentence.

Police busted an alleged prostitution ring in Ohio, reports Central Ohio’s 10TVNews.com. Bridgette Baugh and William Green of Columbus now face charges of running the ring out of a Huntington, West Virginia hotel where they took seven women and posed them as underage girls. An undercover police officer arrested the couple after Baugh accepted $200 from the officer to have sex with one of the women.

A combined police force of Israeli and Lebanese officers stopped a smuggling effort Friday, according to JTA.org. Police uncovered over 100 pounds of heroin and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash on the northern border of Israel. Three Israeli men were arrested in the operation, all of which had been identified in the past by Israeli police. This operation is the second attempt to smuggle drugs across the Lebanese/Israeli border in the past three weeks.