At Atlantis The Royal, Dubai’s newest hotel resort, featuring gold toothbrushes and 92 swimming pools

The social media influencers are present at Cloud 22. One of them lifts her body out of the infinity pool, overlooking the Dubai skyline, just enough for her bronzed derriere to show for her partner to click it on his phone.

A DJ stands in a giant, head-shaped structure made of silver shards and pumps out heavy disco tunes, his head bouncing up and down to the music when he notices someone filming.

That’s no surprise. Look at me hedonism is what makes Dubai, well, Dubai.

And here is his last attempt. Cloud 22, more than 100 meters high in the sky among the clouds (although we didn’t see any during our stay), is the crowning glory of Atlantis The Royal: a rooftop infinity pool and lounge with breathtaking views over the Palm – Dubai’s famous artificial tree-shaped archipelago and the forest of sparkling skyscrapers of the city.

It’s big, bold and brash. The numbers speak volumes: there are 795 rooms and suites; 17 restaurants and bars; 17 luxury boutiques; 7,000 fish in three giant tanks in the lobby; a wellness area of ​​36,000 square meters and a team of 2,100 employees from 100 different countries. And the pools? I lose count at 26 (but there are 92).

The hotel attracted attention long before it started welcoming guests, when it held a Grand Reveal in January, inviting big names and everyone to a party that consumed 4,200 bottles of Moet & Chandon.

More than £100 million (with Beyonce reportedly paying £20 million to perform) was spent on the occasion.

Until this year, the most famous hotel launch in history was in 2008, when Atlantis’ big sister, The Palm, opened just next door. In 2008, Kylie Minogue performed and the world’s largest fireworks display was apparently seen from space.

Spread over six towers and arranged in Tetris-style blocks, Atlantis The Royal is already 75 percent occupied.

Guests come from all over, but most are from North America, Russia and Great Britain. Celebrities also flock here. Idris Elba has stayed with his wife, just like the Prince of Morocco. And they are the only ones the hotel can talk about.

I’m here with a friend for a luxury weekend. We stay in a Palmscape room 20 floors up which is decorated in blue and white and comes with two giant beds, dark wood sliding doors, a balcony with a view of the Dubai skyline and drops of gold. Even our toothbrushes and nail clippers are caked in color.

People watching is a pastime of mine. And there’s no better place to do this than the Atlantis. Here, men with partners can be young enough to be their daughters by the pool. There are sweaty, stressed nannies pushing prams across the pristine terrain. I even see a man dressed in an Erling Harlaand style pajama suit with a paint pot.

On closer inspection it is a Louis Vuitton handbag. And a quick Google search reveals it cost £2,385. Back at the infinity pool, we spend the afternoon sipping Aperol spritz as helicopters buzz endlessly above the white Arabian sky, dropping off the hotel’s newest VIP guests. The immaculately dressed pool butlers deliver plates of oysters and fruit bowls on ice, stopping to adjust umbrellas as the sun moves across the sky.

In an effort to find a more authentic Dubai, we drag ourselves away from the muscular bodies and big lips the next morning. A short taxi ride takes us to Madinat Jumeirah where we pop into the souks and trade over hand-woven cushion covers, medjool dates the size of kiwis and, of course, gold.

Authentic Dubai repair completed, we return to the hotel with plastic bags full of goods, cool off with a dip in the sea and dry off on the sun loungers that line the hotel’s miles of imported golden sand.

But despite the hotel’s blingbling and mind-boggling scale (with rooms starting at £464), the service is intimate and impeccable (every member of staff is adamant about pronouncing my last name correctly) and the food is superb.

We dine on spicy kebabs and smoky five-spice stews at the Persian restaurant.

At Milos on the beach, we devour stuffed calamari, fried eggplant with creamy Greek cheese and the tastiest, spiciest tomato salad.

And on our striped lounge chairs at Nobu by the Beach, we get oysters on ice and buttered black cod on lettuce.

Meanwhile, evenings are spent nibbling on tiny vegan tacos filled with deceptively meaty pineapple cooked for 20 hours at Heston Blumenthal’s Resonance bar.

The drinks are also a treat. There’s every cocktail imaginable, including several tequila versions designed by American supermodel Kendall Jenner.

But I am most impressed by the non-alcoholic cocktails. There are several versions of zero percent gin and Negroni mocktails that make me want to pretend I’m a teetotal this weekend.

So, did Atlantis live up to the hype? Absolute. Would I come again? Absolutely (if my lottery ticket shows up). I just have to remember to pack my nice pajamas – and buy that designer paint pot.

• Doubles at Atlantis The Royal costs from £464 per night (Atlantis. com).