V-Flyer

Can anyone recommend a good hotel to say in in Dubai for pleasure (no work thank god!) - was thinking of jetting out there for a week in the next few weeks for 5 days of sleeping, eating and very hot sunshine.

All recommendations gratefully received!

Thanks

Hi

Depends on your budget and requirements.

We stayed at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in March which was excellent. Lots of restaurants, choice of pools, free access to Wild Wadi water park, lovely staff, all rooms have fantastic sea and Burj view.

Next time we are going to save up and try The Burj and Mina Salam (both part of JBH group)

Avoid any hotels at the other end of Jumeirah (Hilton, Sheraton) as they are surrounded by building work.
Also take a look at Tripadvisor.com.

HTH, have a great trip.

L2H

Avoid any hotels at the other end of Jumeirah (Hilton, Sheraton) as they are surrounded by building work.
Also take a look at Tripadvisor.com.

Absolutley the building work round there is nuts, much better at the other end. We stayed in the Shangri-la in the city, very very nice and cheaper too as the beach hotels are more expensive.

As said before have a look on Tripadvisor, i dont book a hotel without it now.[y]

I stayed at the hilton dubai creek last year, fantastic hotel! We had an executive room which was huge and had its own balcony which looked out onto the creek. The sunset was fantastic. We also had access to the club room which had tv, internet, personal conceirege, breakfast, snacks etc. Highly recommended.

I second the Hilton Dubai Creek. We stayed there at Easter and it was excellent. The staff couldn't do enough for us. I did a review here

Avoid any hotels at the other end of Jumeirah (Hilton, Sheraton) as they are surrounded by building work.

Agreed. See here and here

Lonely Planet rates the Hilton Dubai Creek very well; number one 'Best city Hotel' pg. 138 BTW in the current Dubai guide. Personally HL/AJ's review main me book for my trip next month along with the wickly good summer rate with breakfast and tax of ~$US155.00 a night.

I do suggest you read HL's review. Quite nice really. I also hear that the hotel's roof top pool is a great aircraft spotting location as the hotel is not too far from the airport.

Can't wait to eat at a Gordon Ramsey restautant; just like Ms. E. Monsoon and Ms. P. Stone...If I could only keep up with them! [}:)]

It may be useful for you to give an idea of the type of hotel you like.
Oldee Worldee?
Ultra Modern?
Kitsch to Hell?
3/4/5/99 Star?

Personally the Burj annoyed me (sorry but the service in the Mandarin HKG is 150% what the Burj offers, and the pink leopard print carpet and ceiling mirror did not aid a peaceful nights sleep!!!).
The Grosvenor was right up my street (quite masculine but understated, something rare in DXB! with a GREAT Buddha Bar, though RIGHT in the middle of the building works).
The Bab al Shams totally blew me away (a five star yet simple dessert resort with very touristy yet magnificent theme restaurant... which SRB loved).
Jumeirah Beach gets consistently good reviews for famillies.
Shangri-La guarantees constant yet un-obtrusive levels of service.

Let us know what you like and we may be able to give more 'tailor-made' advice.

Originally posted by V-Ben
It may be useful for you to give an idea of the type of hotel you like.
Oldee Worldee?
Ultra Modern?
Kitsch to Hell?
3/4/5/99 Star?

Hey guys thanks for all the helpful tips - I was thinking something not too Kitsch, Modern, good service, 5*, nice pools and away from the building works!

Was toying with the idea of staying at the Burj for a day just to say I've been but it does look really OTT and I think from what you are saying V-Ben it may not be worth it!

Will defo check trip advisor too!

:)

Another vote for Jumeirah Beach Hotel, especially if you have children. There is a private entrance just past the main pool into to the Wild Wadi waterpark and as a guest you get to go in 1 hour before it opens to the public. The rooms were lovely, all face the Burj and the sea. Because it is owned by the same group, they can make you a lunch/dinner reservation at the Burj so you can take a look round even if you are not staying there. There is a separate childrens pool and kids club and if you upgrade and stay in the executive rooms/premier rooms, there is another private pool you can use, plus you get to have afternoon tea and canapes and cocktails in the evenings all free and you get free airport transfers where they fast track you through immigration. They also run a shuttle between all their hotels and to the shopping centres as well. Nice 5* but not stuffy.

Was toying with the idea of staying at the Burj for a day just to say I've been but it does look really OTT and I think from what you are saying V-Ben it may not be worth it!

For a one off experience I would actually say its worth it... if you can afford it and you don't get migranes easilly... though it woulnd't be my first choice.

Emirates Towers might fit the bill for what you describe above.

Has anyone stayed at the One and Only Royal Mirage? Supposed to have a great rootop bar and a superb resturant.

I think that may also fit into your requirements, newby.

Thanks,

David.

Originally posted by David_Doyle
Has anyone stayed at the One and Only Royal Mirage? Supposed to have a great rootop bar and a superb resturant.

I think that may also fit into your requirements, newby.

Thanks,

David.

Thanks for all your help - Think I will plump for the One & Only Royal Resort given it has free Half Board offers on at the moment and then maybe 1 night at the Burj just to round off the holiday

Wherever you stay you'll have a great time. Beware though, the air quality is not good at the moment and even if you are away from major building work there are road works everywhere (including most of the way up the Jumeriah Beach road).We had taxi drivers that were reluctant to take us anywhere last week because of the chaos!

Another fan of the dubai creek hilton here...

Sorry for the delay but thought I would report back on my hotel accomodation in Dubai following all the helpful advice people gave me which I really appreciated.

We actually ended up staying at the Madinat Jumeriah Al Qasr for 5 nights and the Burj Al Arab for 1 night which worked out really well.

The Al Qasr hotel was great (and far exceeded my expectations), spotless, amazing staff and a great location. We had access to the exec lounge and a sea facing room and the service was second to none. The lounge offered excellent breakfast (full continental, american, Japanese etc), great afternoon tea with lovely sandwiches and cakes (yum) and nice snacks (both hot and cold) for the cocktail hours in the evening. The resort itself was great I loved the canals to take you round the resort on the free boats, the spa was one of the best I have been to (and not overpriced by UK standards) and I particularly liked the set up around the pool (which was actually chilled to keep it cool) and beach area (including the free cold face towels, cucumber slices and evian water sprays that the staff brought round periodically to all guests). The selection of restaurants around the complex also meant that you didnt need to go far to eat very well. Of course there was also the added bonus of being a Golf Buggy ride away from the Wild Wadi Water park, which given the 47 degree temps in the day was a relief!

In contrast the Burj was totally OTT I thought - whilst I am glad that I stayed there for 1 night to tick it off my list (and collect all the free Hermes tolietries they offer!!) I am not convinced I would hurry back there - dont get me wrong the service was good but the decor was not to my taste (gold plated everthing, bright orange and blue carpets etc..) and I wasnt overly impressed by the food in the restaurant 'Al Mahara' either. In addition it was full of very annoying guests (think lottery winners and super rich rude people - which to be fair I should have known to expect!). I have been fortunate to stay in a fair few 5 star hotels around the world but I honestly didnt think the Burj (apart from the stunning design of the building) was worth the extra money or deserved the extra 2 stars it gives itself - just my experience but give me Al Qasr anytime if staying in Dubai again.