Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve – the most expensive hotel in the Middle East on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea

When a hotel opens and its starting rate immediately surpasses the Burj Al Arab – the property that invented the concept of a 7-star hotel – that’s worth paying attention to. Nujuma, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve opened May 26, 2024 on the Red Sea with opening rates starting at $2,640 per night, making it the most expensive hotel in the Middle East on day one. The August 2024 stay featured here came in at 11,603 SAR / $3,092 USD for a Water Villa with private pool. Cristiano Ronaldo has been here and posted about it. The word Nujuma means “star” in Arabic. There are 63 rooms. Foster + Partners designed it to look like seashells scattered across the water. This is the third resort completed under Saudi Arabia‘s Red Sea Project megaproject and, so far, the most extreme one.

The vlog runs just over an hour and covers essentially everything: arrival by speedboat, a 14-minute water villa tour, five restaurants, the spa, diving center, fitness facilities, bicycle rides to the mangroves, snorkeling the Blue Hole, sunrise and sunset, and the resort at night. This is the full picture. Let’s break it down properly.

Context – what the Ritz-Carlton Reserve brand actually means

Before getting into the property, the brand tier is worth understanding because it’s genuinely different from a standard Ritz-Carlton and most people don’t know it exists.

Ritz-Carlton Reserve is Marriott’s ultra-luxury collection – seven properties globally, each one a standalone destination resort positioned above the standard Ritz-Carlton product. The other six are Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico, Phulay Bay in Thailand, Koro Sun in Fiji, Al Wathba in Abu Dhabi, Zadun in Mexico, and Schloss Fuschl in Austria. Each Reserve property is designed to be architecturally and experientially site-specific – not a Ritz-Carlton template deployed to a convenient location but a purpose-built resort that reflects its specific landscape and culture.

Nujuma is the seventh and newest. It sits on Ummahat Islands 2 and 3 in the Red Sea – adjacent to but separate from the St. Regis Red Sea Resort on Ummahat Island 1. Two ultra-luxury resorts on neighboring islands in the same Saudi megaproject, both opened within months of each other. The Red Sea Project is moving fast.

The architecture – Foster + Partners seashell villas

Foster + Partners – the firm behind the Gherkin in London, Apple Park in California, the Reichstag dome in Berlin, and the new Red Sea International Airport itself – designed Nujuma’s villas to resemble seashells. This is not a metaphor stretched thin by a marketing department. The villa forms genuinely reference the spiral and organic geometries of marine shell structures, using curved rooflines and organic plan shapes that echo the reef life below the water surrounding them.

The material palette is local and restrained: natural stone, pale timber, surfaces that reflect the Red Sea light rather than competing with it. From above – which the drone footage in the arrival section shows clearly – the overwater villas read exactly as the brief describes: a collection of shells dispersed across the water above a pristine reef. The architecture doesn’t announce itself loudly. It settles into the landscape and lets the Red Sea do the visual work.

At 63 rooms total across the entire resort, the density is extremely low. The dispersal of villas across the island means privacy between units that most overwater villa resorts in the Maldives don’t achieve even at similar price points. You are genuinely unlikely to see another guest from your villa terrace.

Getting there

Access is covered from 00:58 in the vlog. The options are the same as the neighboring St. Regis: speedboat from the Saudi west coast or seaplane from Red Sea International Airport – itself a Foster + Partners project, which creates the unusual situation where the same firm designed both your arrival airport and your hotel.

The speedboat transfer takes approximately 30 minutes from the coast. Unlike the St. Regis where transportation is included in the room rate, check the current Nujuma rate structure carefully – what’s included varies by rate type and booking channel. At $3,092/night the transfer situation is worth confirming in advance rather than discovering on checkout.

The arrival sequence from 2:26 in the vlog shows the approach by water and the first view of the resort from the sea – the overwater villas from the water level, the Foster + Partners seashell forms visible against the Red Sea horizon. It’s a strong arrival.

The Water Villa – a 14-minute tour

Villa tour runs from 11:00 to 25:11 – fourteen minutes, which for a $3,092/night room is the appropriate amount of time. The Water Villa, one bedroom, king bed, sea view, private pool is the category featured. Here’s what those fourteen minutes cover:

• 🐚 The shell architecture from inside – the curved ceilings and organic wall forms of the Foster + Partners design read very differently from the interior than the exterior. Inside the villa the curves create a spatial quality that feels more like a naturally formed space than a constructed room – the architecture achieves something that’s genuinely difficult to describe without the footage
• 🛏️ Bedroom – king bed positioned toward the Red Sea view, the ceiling above it curving in the seashell geometry of the structure, floor-to-ceiling glass facing the water. The bedding is Ritz-Carlton Reserve standard – which is above standard Ritz-Carlton already
• 🛁 Bathroom – the scale and finish quality at this price point. Soaking tub, separate rain shower, natural stone surfaces throughout, dual vanity, the full setup. Outdoor shower element connecting to the terrace
• 🏊 Private pool – properly sized, directly above the Red Sea, positioned to maximize the view. The pool deck extends the living space outdoors with day bed and terrace seating. Zero other villas visible from the terrace is the privacy detail that justifies the position and the price
• 🌊 Direct water access – ladder from the villa deck directly into the Red Sea. The reef starts essentially beneath the villa. Snorkeling off your own terrace before breakfast is not a hypothetical here – the vlog footage shows the water clarity that makes this immediately viable
• 🎨 Design and materials – the curation of objects, art, and textiles within the villa follows the site-specific brief. Nothing looks generic. The Ritz-Carlton Reserve positioning means every element is considered rather than procured from a hospitality supplier catalogue

Fourteen minutes and the villa holds the footage. The spatial variation – from the bedroom to the bathroom to the terrace to the pool to the water access – is substantial enough that you’re genuinely seeing different environments within the single villa unit. At $3,092/night this is what the price has to justify and the footage makes a reasonable case for it doing so.

The restaurants – five of them

Five dining venues for 63 rooms. The ratio alone tells you something about the priority placed on food here.

🌅 SITA Restaurant – breakfast

The main all-day restaurant covered at breakfast from 4:14 to 11:00 – nearly seven minutes on breakfast alone, which the footage justifies. The SITA breakfast is the full Ritz-Carlton Reserve production: live stations, extensive cold spread, Arabic breakfast options done properly alongside international selections, fresh pastries, the complete offering. The setting faces the Red Sea with the morning light coming off the water into the restaurant. Second breakfast visit at 58:44 confirms consistency. SITA is the anchor dining venue and it operates at the level you need a $3,092/night breakfast to operate at.

🌿 MAIA Restaurant

Covered briefly at 30:12. The name and positioning suggest the more refined evening dining option – the Reserve brand’s flagship restaurant concept at each property tends toward cuisine that reflects the local environment. Worth noting for multi-night stays as the dining variety across five venues is part of the value proposition at this price.

🍽️ JAMAA Restaurant – lunch

Covered at 31:24 with lunch service. The social dining venue – the name means “gathering” in Arabic – operates as the more casual communal option. The lunch footage shows proper food quality in a setting designed for a longer, more relaxed meal than a pool snack bar. The lunch at JAMAA is the midday reset between water activities and the afternoon pool.

🌙 TABRAH Restaurant – dinner

Covered at 38:45. The evening dining experience and from the footage the most dramatically positioned restaurant on the property – the sunset orientation and the dinner service quality visible in the footage make the case for this being the meal to prioritize on a multi-night stay. At 49:57 the sunset and dinner sequence shows the evening atmosphere the property achieves, which is what a Red Sea private island should look like at dusk.

Saudi Arabia’s alcohol prohibition applies throughout. All five restaurants and any bar service operate on mocktails, specialty non-alcoholic drinks, and the kind of beverage program a $3,092/night property invests in properly. The Reserve brand’s approach to non-alcoholic beverage curation at properties in dry countries is more developed than a standard hotel’s compromise solution.

Activities and facilities

🚴 Bicycles and the mangroves

At 25:11 the vlog covers the bicycle ride to the central beaches and later at 47:39 the mangroves. The island’s scale allows exploration by bicycle – a low-effort way to understand the geography of the property and reach areas that feel removed from the main resort cluster. The mangroves section in particular shows an ecosystem element of the Red Sea Project’s environmental brief – the mangroves around the island are protected and their presence is part of the resort’s ecological context rather than incidental to it.

🤿 Diving center and the Blue Hole

The diving center at 40:19 and the Blue Hole snorkeling at 1:01:38 close out the vlog and are genuinely the experiential highlight of the Red Sea setting. The Blue Hole – a marine sinkhole with exceptional diving and snorkeling visibility – is one of the Red Sea’s signature underwater sites and accessing it from a private island resort puts the context right. The footage shows the water clarity that makes the Red Sea one of the world’s premier diving destinations: visibility that reads as filtered and isn’t, coral that hasn’t been degraded by decades of tourism, marine life density that a pristine reef system produces. The dive center operates PADI certification and guided experiences for all levels.

🏋️ Fitness center and lap pool

Covered at 43:07. Properly equipped with the same design quality as the rest of the property – not an afterthought. The lap pool adjacent to the fitness facility is a practical addition for guests who want structured swimming beyond the villa pool. The Red Sea is right there but a lap pool with lane markers serves a different training function.

🧖 Spa

From 44:36 to 47:39 – the spa at Nujuma follows the Ritz-Carlton Reserve template of a treatment facility that integrates the natural environment rather than sealing it out. Treatment rooms with Red Sea views, natural materials, the full wet facility setup including saunas. At 63 rooms the spa isn’t competing for appointment slots the way larger properties do.

🏖️ Conservation House

At 29:26 – the Conservation House is a specific element of the Red Sea Project’s environmental mandate that differentiates this resort from a standard luxury property. Active coral restoration, marine conservation programming, and guest engagement with the ecological work happening around the island. It’s not window dressing – the Red Sea Project’s entire development framework is built around the proposition that the marine environment can be preserved and in some cases enhanced through the resort development. The Conservation House makes that tangible.

👶 Kids and teen club

At 35:55 – exists and is properly equipped. The Reserve brand positioning is primarily adult-couples-and-honeymoon but the family infrastructure is there for those bringing children to a $3,000+/night resort, which does happen.

🏠 Three-bedroom beach villa

Quick tour at 37:09 – the top of the villa category hierarchy at Nujuma. Multiple bedrooms, beach-fronting position, the full private villa setup for groups or families. The price on this category is a different conversation from the Water Villa already being discussed.

The resort at night

From 53:22 to 57:56 the vlog covers the resort after dark and the lighting design is one of those things that separates genuinely well-designed resorts from properties that are beautiful in daylight and functional at night. The Foster + Partners landscape lighting at Nujuma is warm, low, and integrated – the overwater villas lit from below reflecting on the water, the pathways illuminated without flooding the darkness, the Red Sea visible beyond the resort perimeter. The evening atmosphere achieves what the price needs it to achieve.

The price and the points situation

The Water Villa with private pool came in at 11,603 SAR / $3,092 USD for the August 2024 stay. Opening rates started at $2,640 per night at launch in May 2024. This is the most expensive hotel in the Middle East at opening, surpassing the Burj Al Arab. It is not cheap. Here is how people approach it:

• 💳 Marriott Bonvoy points – Nujuma is a full Bonvoy property at the top tier of the program. Peak redemption rates for Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties run 100,000+ Bonvoy points per night. Bonvoy transfers from Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Points – all at less favorable ratios than Hyatt transfers but Bonvoy’s earning velocity across Marriott’s enormous portfolio makes accumulation manageable with the right strategy
• 🎁 Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex – annual free night certificate, automatic Platinum status for suite upgrade consideration, 6x earning on Marriott stays. On a $3,092/night stay the points earned on a paid night are themselves substantial toward future redemptions
• 💎 Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts – Amex Platinum FHR benefits apply at Ritz-Carlton Reserve properties: room upgrades when available, complimentary breakfast for two daily, noon check-in, 4pm late checkout, $100 property credit. At $3,092/night the complimentary breakfast and upgrade eligibility add meaningful dollar value
• 🆕 New property timing – Nujuma opened May 2024. The first 12-24 months of a new ultra-luxury property sometimes produce better award availability and occasional promotional rates as demand establishes. If this is on your list, the current window may be the best entry point
• 📅 Best time to visit: October through May – air temperatures 25-32°C, Red Sea water temperatures ideal for diving and snorkeling at 24-28°C. August (as in this vlog) works – the Red Sea marine environment doesn’t degrade seasonally – but summer heat on the Saudi coast is significant. The underwater experience is arguably best November through April for visibility and marine activity

The Nujuma vs St. Regis Red Sea comparison is the obvious question if you’re planning a Red Sea trip. Same archipelago, neighboring islands, both opened 2024. Nujuma is ~$950/night more expensive, has fewer rooms (63 vs 90), is a Ritz-Carlton Reserve versus a standard St. Regis, and has the Foster + Partners seashell architecture. The St. Regis has Kengo Kuma’s coral-inspired architecture and includes transport in the rate. Both are legitimate. Nujuma is the more exclusive and more expensive of the two.

Frequently asked questions

📹 Video by ST Travel