There exists an ATM machine that gives out gold bars instead of notes in the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi!* by Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Abu Dhabis Emirates Palace Hotel, which boasts that it is the most luxurious hotel in the United Arab Emirates, has raised the ante in a region known for its mania for glitz by installing the machine in its lobby. The exterior of the machine is coated with a thin layer of gold and offers customers 320 items to choose from, ranging from gold bars that can weigh up to 10 grams, to customised gold coins. Gold rates are constantly updated inside the shiny machine in the hotels lobby, courtesy of a built-in computer connected to a dealer which sells gold online Through a computer system, the ATM gold machine updates the gold price every 10 minutes to match international markets. Users feed dirham notes, the local currency, into the machine but it may be possible to use credit cards in the future. The machine is the brainchild of Thomas Geissler, a German businessman who said Abu Dhabi was best placed to launch of the invention because of the regions high demand for gold. On the first night we had a lot of demand, he said. One customer even bought one item of every product we have. All the gold is imported from Germany, and soon we will have a customised gold bar with a print of the Emirates Palace logo, which will be a nice souvenir for guests to take home, he said. The price of gold has risen strongly in recent years. It was trading at $1,236 (£837) an ounce.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 08:31:01 +0000
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