How Ritzy Is the Emirates Palace Hotel?

From Abu Dhabi to Boca Raton, consumers around the world can now buy gold from vending machines. In the lobby of the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi, the world’s first gold-plated ATM machine dispenses 320 gold items, including 10-gram bars. TG Gold-Super-Markt has installed 20 Gold to Go machines, all covered in gold leaf, in locations on three continents.

In order to prevent money laundering, consumers can only make three purchases a day. After that, the system will lock them out for 48 hours. In addition, these “gold ATMs” are built “like an armored vehicle,” the manufacturer says, and they’re impervious to explosives.

Going for gold in the hotel lobby:

• The gold bars are sealed in plastic with an anti-counterfeit hologram label, which describes the item’s purity and its price per gram.
• Prices are updated every 10 minutes to match the gold rates on international markets.
• The machines were created by Thomas Geissler, a German businessman. He chose Abu Dhabi to launch the business because of the region's high demand for gold.