A golden room with a gold loo, yours for 25,000 dollars a night

Sep 20, 2006, 3:22 GMT

Hong Kong - It's the room which has experienced the Midas Touch. A 5.1 million US dollars golden suite complete with golden toilets, bed and bathtub.

The 650 square metre suite is the work of Dr Lam Sai-wing in Hong Kong who created the spectacle to realise the unfulfilled promise of an ancient Chinese emperor.

Dr Lam, the chairman of Hang Fung Gold Technology Group in Hong Kong, said he wanted to create the suite, which is housed on the ground floor of the company showroom, as a new tourist attraction.

It took five years and two tonnes of gold to complete the suite - called the Swisshorn Gold Palace. It also includes a diamond-studded golden carriage, golden sofa, dining table and chairs, and fittings.

Visitors will pay 3 US dollars to walk around the palace. However, those with 25,000 US dollars to spare will be able to stay overnight and sleep on the gold bed, Dr Lam told the South China Morning Post.

'We want to lure tourists from all around the world to come to the palace. But the majority will probably come from the mainland,' he said.

'The showroom is quite special as it owes its origin to Chinese history,' he added, referring to a Han Emperor who failed to fulfil a promise to his wife to build her a golden palace.

According to the news report, Dr Lam expects to attract up to 3,000 visitors a day, breaking even within three to five years.

The early signs are that he has got his sums right with the palace being already fully booked for the upcoming so-called 'golden week' Chinese holiday which starts with National Day on October 1.

In 2001, Dr Lam added the golden touch to a toilet which is still a tourist attraction today and can be seen at another one of this company's showrooms.