Always nice to be back at the Meridien Dubai & Conference Centre. Very good choice at this time of the year, such an enjoyable place with the pools, the gardens and all outstanding restaurants and bars. Breakfast is lovely with a great variety of choices at Yalumba. A pleasure also to have the Happy Hours also at Yalumba inside and on the Terrace. A big thank you to the staff, they are doing a great job in difficult times. Special thanks of course to Bhavika, you can be proud of her, such a privilege to see her great work at the afternoon tea and happy hours. I hope to be back soon and will share my great experience with my associates and colleagues.
Excellent hotel and facilities. Staff is amazing. Especially, Anton Ogongo at the reception. Housekeeping was also excellent. I would emphazise Prabu there. Overally, would recommend to go. Value for money. Great location.
A big thanks to all the team composed by Margie,Dannilyn, Antonio, Amilyn and Specially Kristina...who made our Holiday stay memorable and enjoyable! All the staff and specially Ruby, Arlen,Donna, Jeffrey,Ayomi .... is very professional and very caring to the customers. Keep it up ;-) !
Part 1 of this review is just for Marriott Elite Members. Skip to the Part 2 for the general review of the Hotel. 1) As a Titanium Member I always try to find hotels that give the benefits entitled as part of the membership. I checked in just after midnight on the weekend. As I was checking in I used the Marriott app to check what Suites were available as part of the Free Suite Upgrade available for my status. I found they had Deluxe and Premium Suites available for purchase for my stay dates so I was excited at the opportunity of getting either. It was not offered so I had to enquire. The receptionist checked with the duty manager who decided I was not going to be upgraded. On asking why I was not allowed a suite upgrade when it was for sale right now he said it was because only half the hotel was open so that room was probably not open (even though they were currently selling it on their website) In my travels I find there are 2 types of Duty Managers - those that are happy to upgrade Elite customers to suites when they are available, and those that will leave them empty hoping to get walk in that will pay premium for the room. Le Meridien Dubai Hotels policy sits in the later which is disappointing. This was not an isolated experience as I overheard a lady arguing with reception about a suite upgrade when I was passing by the next day. I also checked at 8.25pm the next evening and found that again the Suites were still available but no upgrade was offered. Elite members take note; upgrades to suite on weekends, even if available is unlikely. After the weekend was over and the Suites had sat empty I was finally offered the same one that had been available from the first night. I appreciate the upgrade, but having to move 2 nights after check in when the room was available the whole time does take the shine off the experience. The Elite Lounge was not open so as a substitute Elite members were offered Afternoon Tea, and Evening Happy Hour and Canapes at Latitudes 25 which was a nice option. Elite Happy hour has a great range of drinks, but very weak cocktails. Canapé plate was well presented but unfortunately they weren’t explained at all so you didn’t know if u were eating vegies, fish, or meat (not good for my wife who is pescatarian or people who have allergies). Having a set plate like this also doesn’t cater well to taste preferences as picking your own food from the lounge does. I personally wouldn't normally put sweet dessert cakes on a plate with a savory dish to go with drinking a beer. Perhaps you could have a menu of the canapes and let people pick the ones they want/like? Late check out was granted which was nice as we had a late flight. 2) Onto the general stuff. Airport pick up good. Nice to see the Hotel using electric cars. Fast check in which is nice when you arrive after midnight. Friendly staff everywhere. We were given a recently refurbished room but on entering room it smelt of cigarette smoke despite being a non-smoking room. No Bathrobes in the room but this cod be to do with COVID. If so perhaps the hotel could ask people at check in if they want the robe. Breakfast was good, staff were really helpful with serving so you didn’t have to touch the food. There was no cooking spray for people who want low-fat options for cooking eggs and omelets which is disappointing particularly as healthy options are so important. Sometimes I had to ask for smoked salmon as it wasn’t always on the buffet. The "croissant of the day" was always amazing. Huge congrats to the pastry chef. He is a genius, these were the best looking and tasting croissants we have ever had - and we travel often in France. Its really nice to see that they keep filling the buffet even when it’s close to closing time. The gym size and equipment is really excellent for a hotel gym. The gym staff need to be more proactive in reminding the members of the mask policy. It states "wear a mask when not doing high intensity". There are several members walking around without masks or wearing them under their chin every, day when I visited, who should really be reminded. It is their gym policy. Also if the gym provides lockers so why do they allow people to bring big bags into the gym and leave them in the free weights area? Surely if someone trips over one that could create a problem. Afternoon tea in latitudes 25 was nice and the staff were good. The Hotel as a fantastic selection of restaurants so you would never be bored in a week but with some of the hotel closed finding the restaurants is not intuitive. We walked past the path that leads to them by the gym several times without realizing. Thai restaurant great food, very tasty. We went on several nights. The Thai Dancer is lovely to watch. I like that the restaurants have the menus on a bar code that you can scan rather than having to touch a menu. We also had dinner at Casa Mia and it was okay. I was surprised not to see any truffle dishes on the menu at an Italian Restaurant. The Breakfast info given to the guests on check in had the wrong venue on it which needs updating. We went to the spa 3 of the 7 days we stayed and had excellent Spa treatments with Patita from Thailand. Great with both firm and soft pressure, lots of checking the pressure is okay during the treatment. Amazing facial. The Spas lounge/waiting area is horrible. Stained cushions, worn dated upholstery. This doesn’t match the quality or price of the treatments. The whole Hotel felt very covid safe with the exception of the gym. Lovely and friendly staff everywhere we went. We found several moths in our wardrobe which is not nice if you have expensive clothes in there. We accidently left some Jewellery in the room. After we got home we contacted the hotel and they found it and sent it to us. Its great to have honest staff working there. As a general hotel I liked it. As a Marriott Elite I might try one of the other Dubai hotels next time to see if they honor the suite upgrades on the weekend.…
Booked directly with hotel as usual a club room with all the related privileges but unfortunately no one informed me in advance that pool, dedicated lounge and breakfast area were closed notwithstanding I paid the full price for the package.
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