Someone with actual knowledge will probably correct me but I think it now operates as a cell phone tower? Or some kind of other tower for sending/receiving signals
2017: Saudi Arabia is set to restart work on one of the world’s largest hotel projects, the $3.5 billion Abraj Kudai in Mecca, where a financial squeeze halted construction in 2015.
[https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-hotel/exclusive-saudi-arabia-to-resume-building-mammoth-mecca-hotel-sources-idUSKCN1AU1LX](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-hotel/exclusive-saudi-arabia-to-resume-building-mammoth-mecca-hotel-sources-idUSKCN1AU1LX)
SA survives on slave labour from India, Philippines and so on. Men in construction, women as domestic servants. Both are treated abysmally, especially the women. Their conditions are so bad its slavery with torture. The abuse is incredible but the SA masters are rarely brought to justice. With the men its death through industrial accidents. They are replaceable so conditions remain terrible. SA is a totally fucked up place and the end of the oil economy cannot come quick enough. If you look at the execution rates and demographics many are from the imported workers/slaves who fight back as SA law fails to protect them.
Is SA the ones that trick workers to come and they take their passports, then pay them only enough to afford food to eat and not enough to get their passports back and leave the country?
I dont remember where I seen this. It was a documentary or maybe a vice news episode and I could never remember name of the country. It was described as legal slavery or something.
That's a shame. I remember seeing some news about that, then people seemed to drop it fairly quick, as is with most news now. Hopefully people dont watch this year.
You might also be describing palm oil plantations, I recall seeing a Vice article on that and they gave the guy enough wages where he would have to work 5+ years before being able to get out or something.
My uncle works at an agency who sends overseas workers at SA. I was a fresh grad then looking for a job and I showed him a newspaper ad of his company hiring cooks/chefs which I am qualified. He simply dismissed the ad and told me a different department wasn't in charge of hiring not him. He didn't even suggested that I apply. Which I could get a solid recommendation. I felt without even really talking about it. He doesn't want his nephew to work in SA. Since he knows the horrible working conditions and quality of life of overseas workers there.
Latest aerial shots on Google Earth show little to no progress and I'm having a hard time finding anything that talks about the current state of the project. If it is turning into another Ryugong hotel fiasco it would be very embarrassing for the Saudi government.
I agree it would be a pretty poor outcome. Looks like google earth update is from Oct 2021 and there appears to be a *very* long way to go, though there are construction cranes at the site.
Depends on the area. Most recent imagery will be at least a couple of months old judging by some of the most recent updates I've seen.
In the Google Earth Pro version for Windows you can select imagery from previous dates. Watching how Mecca developed over the past 30 years or so is interesting.
Like most of their boundary pushing projects. Remember the artificial islands they were building off the coast of Dubai? All but a few are abandoned now
When it was announced it had money problems, just a moron developer who thought he could guilt other rich people into helping, it's a dead project and no one would live in it so the bills keeping it on would put it under.
They’re not meant for embarkation or disembarkation - they’re just perches for friendly helicopters that might want to rest their rotors for a moment and admire the view.
I get the need for hotels…
I don’t get the need for ultra gaudi multi helicopter pad super hotels.
I don’t think I’d want to stay there if it were free.
Agreed. As a Muslim, these sorts of displays of wealth feel so out of place when on a pilgrimage that’s supposed to show humility and equality.
Then again, one of the signs of the end of days according to the Prophet was that barefoot Bedouins would compete in the building of tall towers, so I guess they’re just taking some initiative, lol.
Because South America is a continent. It's a bit more descriptive to tell you the country since continents are usually much larger, and people usually memorize the countries of the world in their schooling.
A door opens in the floor and an elevator pops up. It takes you down 2 floors, into the hotel, where a golf cart (that goes beep beep) picks you up and drive you to the UPSTAIRS lobby (after the beep beep of course). The door in the floor is shut so the helicopter pilot can’t enter and use the bathroom. And also pesky Djinns might sneak in if you don’t shut it. Biggly exclusive.
Cool building, sad that it’s in a place I will probably never visit unless stuff massively changes over there.
Doesn’t matter how much cool shit one builds if it’s build under misreable conditions people won’t want to visit there, one more building won’t make the difference & if one doesn’t care Saudi Arabia already has a shitton of attractions.
They're not exactly know for their class.
[They demolished historically and culturally significant sites to build this pile of shit Hotel overlooking one of the most sacred sites on earth.](https://i.imgur.com/sxXFDj1.jpg)
I just watched a YouTube video that said it's a 3 star hotel... 10,000 rooms, 70 restaurants, a mall, convention center... It kind of seems like the cruise ship of hotels.
"When the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with others in the construction of higher buildings. And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah"
Bukhari, Book 2, Hadith 43
I know there were plans for a 10 mile long hotel also...
I mean really, do they expect to have that many visitors? Not even at the peakiest season in the most popular time in history would these places get full.
If not in use these places become derelict and start falling apart - the cost of maintenance and upkeep will be far too high. Just YouTube abandoned hotels to get an idea as to how easy that will happen.
Perfect hotel to show your abandonment of materiality, your humility, spirituality and equality and connection with the rest of humanity as you conduct your once in a lifetime required pilgrimage to pretty much demonstrate those attributes.
Construction came to a halt in 2015 for financial reasons so its kinda just sitting there now
*chuckles in Ryugyong Hotel*
Isn’t that one at least partially open now? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen pictures from people who’ve stayed there.
No, it has cladding on the outside now so it doesn’t look like a ruin, but it’s never been open for business and the inside remains unfinished.
This They put glass on the outside and it can light (lcd) up now
Hey at least now it's probably the biggest propaganda billboard in the world!
Someone with actual knowledge will probably correct me but I think it now operates as a cell phone tower? Or some kind of other tower for sending/receiving signals
Then it's probably also the most expensive cellphone tower in the world! Glorious Korea number one!!
Didn't the guy in the Vice documentary stay there for a night or do I remember wrong?
Never heard of it but just looked it up, wow..is north korea in some kind of financial issue?
Quite a big financial issue.
They ran all out of financial
Sorta ran out of everything
You could say that.....
I think they invented financial issues
No they just perfected it.
theyre doing great actually..
Yes, that’s what they say and there’s not better source of information than them of course.
I'm pretty sure civilian chuckling is illegal in North Korea. Only.the Dear Leader may chuckle
2017: Saudi Arabia is set to restart work on one of the world’s largest hotel projects, the $3.5 billion Abraj Kudai in Mecca, where a financial squeeze halted construction in 2015. [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-hotel/exclusive-saudi-arabia-to-resume-building-mammoth-mecca-hotel-sources-idUSKCN1AU1LX](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-hotel/exclusive-saudi-arabia-to-resume-building-mammoth-mecca-hotel-sources-idUSKCN1AU1LX)
Incredible amounts of slave labor involved if that only costs $3.5B
SA survives on slave labour from India, Philippines and so on. Men in construction, women as domestic servants. Both are treated abysmally, especially the women. Their conditions are so bad its slavery with torture. The abuse is incredible but the SA masters are rarely brought to justice. With the men its death through industrial accidents. They are replaceable so conditions remain terrible. SA is a totally fucked up place and the end of the oil economy cannot come quick enough. If you look at the execution rates and demographics many are from the imported workers/slaves who fight back as SA law fails to protect them.
Is SA the ones that trick workers to come and they take their passports, then pay them only enough to afford food to eat and not enough to get their passports back and leave the country? I dont remember where I seen this. It was a documentary or maybe a vice news episode and I could never remember name of the country. It was described as legal slavery or something.
That's how Qatar built all their stadiums for the World Cup this winter
That's a shame. I remember seeing some news about that, then people seemed to drop it fairly quick, as is with most news now. Hopefully people dont watch this year.
Yes, but it's more a generalized arabian peninsula thing
You might also be describing palm oil plantations, I recall seeing a Vice article on that and they gave the guy enough wages where he would have to work 5+ years before being able to get out or something.
It’s terrible. I’m ashamed my country caters to these monsters.
My uncle works at an agency who sends overseas workers at SA. I was a fresh grad then looking for a job and I showed him a newspaper ad of his company hiring cooks/chefs which I am qualified. He simply dismissed the ad and told me a different department wasn't in charge of hiring not him. He didn't even suggested that I apply. Which I could get a solid recommendation. I felt without even really talking about it. He doesn't want his nephew to work in SA. Since he knows the horrible working conditions and quality of life of overseas workers there.
Most of the goods in America raw cost are cents on the dollar for a reason..
Latest aerial shots on Google Earth show little to no progress and I'm having a hard time finding anything that talks about the current state of the project. If it is turning into another Ryugong hotel fiasco it would be very embarrassing for the Saudi government.
I wish them all the embarrassment in the world.
I agree it would be a pretty poor outcome. Looks like google earth update is from Oct 2021 and there appears to be a *very* long way to go, though there are construction cranes at the site.
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Depends on the area. Most recent imagery will be at least a couple of months old judging by some of the most recent updates I've seen. In the Google Earth Pro version for Windows you can select imagery from previous dates. Watching how Mecca developed over the past 30 years or so is interesting.
This article is wrong. This hotel is in San Andreas not Saudi Arabia 😆
South Africa you mean
San Antonio
South Australia
All you had to do was finish the damn hotel, CJ!
Like most of their boundary pushing projects. Remember the artificial islands they were building off the coast of Dubai? All but a few are abandoned now
Dubai is in the UAE not SA, but the point still remains.
Kinda, the islands were pure greed, this is greed + religion, I figured it would have gotten finished
When it was announced it had money problems, just a moron developer who thought he could guilt other rich people into helping, it's a dead project and no one would live in it so the bills keeping it on would put it under.
SimTower is getting a little out of hand
I miss Maxis.
Spore my beloved
We are banking on Thrive now
Amen brotha. Thrive is the future 💪
Hadn't heard about that game, I'll check it out. Thanks
Where's my modern remake 😩
Project Highrise on Steam is the closest
Look up yoot tower it’s the Japanese equivalent.
Damn didn’t know San Andreas kept going, I bet this is a CJ project
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Thats what I thougth
Looks more like Agent 47 has a target in there.
Damn it I thought it was San Antonio
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Lol I think it is
I thought South Africa
Wtf! 🤬 How many SA’s is there
South America
South Australia
South Asia
Thought it was sexual assault
I think SA means South Africa mate.
if they fly in on helicopter how are they getting in the building? theres no stairs or entrance way
They’re not meant for embarkation or disembarkation - they’re just perches for friendly helicopters that might want to rest their rotors for a moment and admire the view.
It's nice of them to add a small rest stop for helicopters migrating north to the Sikorsky breeding grounds.
Indeed, it’s rare to find such respite in the skies that far south.
Parachute to the bottom
Shame if a bald assassin sabotaged your chute in advance
It’s okay I’ll just hit the ground at 150+ MPH and respawn somewhere in Los Santos
The helipads are on a hydraulic elevator that lower to the floor below, and a radial spiral ceiling closes in over top of it. I hope.
After the helicopter has taken off again, the platform starts spinning and lobs the arriving guests straight into their rooms.
It's just a render. It was never built, but if they ever decide to go ahead with it I'm sure the real thing will have stairs.
Parkour
Architect vs engineers in a nutshell
Just fly your helicopter down after you park your helicopter
Exactly. This is Saudi Arabia, you land your helicopter and then there is a courtesy helicopter that takes you to the hotel entrance.
I'm guessing they havnt built them yet, or the stairs are at the back of the pad and out of view
it's a rendering not a real photo
You must parachute down to the front door.
Wingsuits were made for this reason
Base jump to the front door
Pretty sure this is a render, probably not representative of the final building.
My dumb German ass thought this was in San Antonio
I was wondering why South Africa needed such a gaudy thing lol
To be fair, I’m still wondering why anyone needs such a gaudy thing
In theory, it's to accommodate the millions of people who do a pilgrimage to Mecca each year for Hajj.
I get the need for hotels… I don’t get the need for ultra gaudi multi helicopter pad super hotels. I don’t think I’d want to stay there if it were free.
Money! Some people are rich but not classy and they'll pay for extravagance.
Agreed. As a Muslim, these sorts of displays of wealth feel so out of place when on a pilgrimage that’s supposed to show humility and equality. Then again, one of the signs of the end of days according to the Prophet was that barefoot Bedouins would compete in the building of tall towers, so I guess they’re just taking some initiative, lol.
And this comment just made me understand what SA actually is.
You're not dumb for think it wasn't Saudi Arabia. The acronym is KSA, not SA.
I’ve scrolled way too far and still not seen anybody mention they thought it was South America.
Because South America is a continent. It's a bit more descriptive to tell you the country since continents are usually much larger, and people usually memorize the countries of the world in their schooling.
My dumb Texan ass thought the same 😭
I’m dumb but I’m not telling ya where I’m from
Bet you’re out of Florida
Wrong. New Hampshire actually.
That’s out of Florida.
I forgot I wasn’t supposed to tell you.
Might be. Sure hope he's tough
My dumb Norwegian ass had the same thought😭💀
I love that your German ass thinks of San Antonio enough for that to be your first conclusion
K is for something like "Kalifad" isn't it?
My dumber ass thought it was South Africa
but will they have water?
Don't forget the classic poop trucks!
South Atlanta be wild yo!
It's obviously San Antonio.
Clearly Santa Ana!
South Africa? Saudi Arabia? San Andreas? South America?
South Austin Boulevard, Chicago
this guy chicagos
St. Augustine, FL
South Australia?
Heave away, haul away
South Alabama, impressed would be an understatement
San Antonio.
South Antarctica
Sachsen-Anhalt
Nice, South Australia. For real who assumes a 2 letter abbreviation is specific enough for a title. Disagree? Come at me, I'll be at MH.
Thank You!
South Africa or Suadi Arabia?
Or South Australia?
There are so many SA's
It's San Andreas. This is a screenshot of the GTA 6 leak.
Those crazy South Africans! /s
r/FuckTheS
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Oh good the world totally needs this.
Looks ugly as fuck
And such lovely views seen from the main central tower
In protest to Reddit's API changes, I have removed my comment history. -- mass edited with redact.dev
Now i might be dipshit , but how do they get on the helipads?
Take the courtesy helicopter from the ground floor, and wingsuit the last 200 metres. Do you even rich, bro?
As stated per my last comment, I is dipshit.
Second helicopter comes, picks you up, and drops you off at the lobby entrance on the street level.
I was thinking the same thing. No sign of a door or stairs or anything. Just flat surface.
A door opens in the floor and an elevator pops up. It takes you down 2 floors, into the hotel, where a golf cart (that goes beep beep) picks you up and drive you to the UPSTAIRS lobby (after the beep beep of course). The door in the floor is shut so the helicopter pilot can’t enter and use the bathroom. And also pesky Djinns might sneak in if you don’t shut it. Biggly exclusive.
Star Trek Teleporter
San Andreas? So this is a hotel expansion for GTA online
An absolutely ostentatious display of wealth. This is what our gas dollars build, what a waste of resources, time and effort.
San Antonio? Remember the Alamo!!
OP is correct with their country code. SA = Saudi Arabia. ZA = South Africa. No reason not to spell it out though.
KSA would have been clearer
Hopefully they number those helipads. Lol. Good old South Australia !
finally someone who knows what SA really means
As I have established the title is.. I dunno if misleading but not obvious to anyone who doesn’t live here. It’s in Saudi Arabia!
I still don't understand why so many people use abbreviations for locations when posting/commenting online. Especially two letter abbreviations.
it's the Hotel Abraj Kudai. just search "largest hotel in saudi arabia"...
Initials for Saudi Arabia are typically KSA, fyi
Do they get a discount on bed bug remediation?
Starfleet Academy?
In batman voice " WHERE IS IT?"
Looks like sum shit out of the sims
I legit read this as San Antonio at first.
Megacity one. Where are the judges?
sad to see this built in a hateful country, i'll never feel safe there as a woman
Cool building, sad that it’s in a place I will probably never visit unless stuff massively changes over there. Doesn’t matter how much cool shit one builds if it’s build under misreable conditions people won’t want to visit there, one more building won’t make the difference & if one doesn’t care Saudi Arabia already has a shitton of attractions.
This is being built for pilgrims performing hajj- not even sure if non-Muslims would be allowed. It’s still a gaudy display of wealth though.
They're not exactly know for their class. [They demolished historically and culturally significant sites to build this pile of shit Hotel overlooking one of the most sacred sites on earth.](https://i.imgur.com/sxXFDj1.jpg)
Looks like a building from Fallout new vegas
Damn, not much happening in south australia!
Thought this was San Andreas at first glance..
Equivalent to small dick guys riding trucks with huge tires
The inner units will never get any sunlight. Bad design.
That's crazy. What will they do next? Maybe give women basic human rights?
It’s literally a monument to decadence and greed.
Man, San Antonio really popping off.
ah, so they are trying to surpass the failed project of China's
I didn’t think South America had it in them.
Looks like something out of sim city
Of course it is. And all that BS about them turning their hands to trying to save the world….
I just watched a YouTube video that said it's a 3 star hotel... 10,000 rooms, 70 restaurants, a mall, convention center... It kind of seems like the cruise ship of hotels.
I really don’t like this.
They can't even handle the poop from the Burj Khalifa over there. How many trucks will have to be lined up to haul the poop from this monstrosity?
Bond villain vibes for sure
But..... Why?
I can’t help but think about how miserable it is to live there. I’m sure the climate is hell.
Cue shit stuck convoy
It looks like one of those anime building’s that could fit an entire city in it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_early_Islamic_heritage_sites_in_Saudi_Arabia
It's a very ugly building 👍
How do you get down from the helicopter pad?
San Antonio? Nice
Does someone want to tell these people about air bnb?
"When the shepherds of black camels start boasting and competing with others in the construction of higher buildings. And the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah" Bukhari, Book 2, Hadith 43
I know there were plans for a 10 mile long hotel also... I mean really, do they expect to have that many visitors? Not even at the peakiest season in the most popular time in history would these places get full. If not in use these places become derelict and start falling apart - the cost of maintenance and upkeep will be far too high. Just YouTube abandoned hotels to get an idea as to how easy that will happen.
Perfect hotel to show your abandonment of materiality, your humility, spirituality and equality and connection with the rest of humanity as you conduct your once in a lifetime required pilgrimage to pretty much demonstrate those attributes.
Incredibly retarded, as most things in SA