A leisure hotel. Not for business travelers
Jan 28, 2025 Ravenna2006 Vienna, Austria
Spent 9 nights at the hotel. Returning to the hotel after more than a decade although I am a regular traveler to UAE. The JBR neighbourhood has grown dramatically as is the story of Dubai and has evolved to being a predominantly leisure visitor area.
There are a number of reasons why I would recommend that business travelers and especially Hilton…
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Spent 9 nights at the hotel. Returning to the hotel after more than a decade although I am a regular traveler to UAE. The JBR neighbourhood has grown dramatically as is the story of Dubai and has evolved to being a predominantly leisure visitor area.
There are a number of reasons why I would recommend that business travelers and especially Hilton Diamond guests avoid this hotel. Before I get into details, I would like to emphasise that I had a long conversation with the hotel manager who graciously found time to take my call and who made efforts to “rescue” the experience including a fruit bowl and some chocolates- thank you!
Here are the reasons:
(a) The reason for the call was a ‘breaking glass’ moment as I had returned to my room after 15.00 in the afternoon having left early in the morning (around 7.30) to find that my room had not been cleaned. I asked the hotel manager whether the housekeeping team had a priority system to decide the order in which rooms were to be cleaned. The manager replied in the affirmative. It seems that hotel loyalty program status doesn’t play a role on the day in question. To be honest, in the days before the cleaning team had been quite perfunctory in their cleaning (they left used slippers on the floor; did the minimum etc.)
(b) The main breakfast room is way too small for the number of guests so at busy times, there is a decent probability you will be waiting for a table. Luckily, I could access the executive lounge which is much quieter.
(c) The elevators, the elevators, the elevators. Absolutely awful. I have never stayed in a hotel when I had to factor in extra waiting time for an elevator. On multiple occasions during the stay, I would be waiting up to 5 mins to get one which was invariably packed with guests. When I stayed at the hotel a decade ago, they had the same issue. It is clear that it has not been resolved.
(d) The rooms themselves are in ok shape but could do with a refresh - especially the bathrooms. My shower unit had a fixture missing and the hot and cold water was almost impossible to regulate in the shower (either to hot or too cold). The hand shower also has low water pressure (I was on the 14th floor of a hotel tower upto 40+ floors.
(e) Not so important but there was no attempt to enforce a dress code in the executive lounge. Guests would routinely walk in with flip flops and shorts.
All in all, issues got resolved only when I raised a complaint. This reactive approach should not be the essence of hospitality. Rather great hotels anticipate customer needs.
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