With Dubai looking for increasingly innovative ways to help it stand out from other major metropolises, the city is looking down instead of up. Rather than building another enormous skyscraper akin to the Burj Khalifa, several companies are developing a hotel that will place visitors under the sea.

Building firm Drydocks World has partnered with Swiss company BIG InvestConsult to create a number of underwater hotels, including the Water Discus Hotel in the Emirati city. The hotel will consist of two discs, one of which will be located up to 10 meters below the surface. It will contain 21 rooms, along with an underwater dive centre and bar.

The two discs involved in the hotel will be linked by three legs, along with an elevator and stairway, according to News AU.

From the comfort of their rooms, guests will have the opportunity to take control of miniature vehicles that will allow them to capture candid shots of sea creatures surrounding the hotel. The firm behind the technology, Deep Ocean Technology, says the Discus hotel will help guests explore the bottom of the sea from the comfort of their own rooms.

"This combination will allow guests to admire the depths of the ocean while making the most of the warm climate," said Bogdan Gutkowski, president of BIG InvestConsult.

Hotel innovation in Dubai isn’t confined to the planned Discus construction. Last month, it was revealed that the five-star Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, attached to an indoor ski slope, is turning to the cloud to manage its energy usage.

Meanwhile, NASA released a video earlier this year which chronicles how Dubai’s landscape has changed over the last 11 years.

The Burj Khalifa may be the world’s tallest building, but guests will soon have their heads in the ocean rather than the clouds.