Sheila the Fav
October 2, 2022
I've been in the hotel now for over 24days and mostly enjoyed my stay as the the hotel is clean, the bed is good, it smells fresh and the ambience is suitable for the price of UNDER Dh180 per night for this location. It's a really good short stay hotel but Safety is an issue and largely due to their neighbourhood.
I think that most of their hotel staff is good but watch out for sexism. They also need more training to respect consumer rights.
Also they have an issue with 'holding structure' wrt their insurance. It's now 2nd Oct 2022, so if you read this a few years later, this cld be a totally different hotel.
- Barsha Heights is an urban neighbourhood in transition. Not suitable for those a bit conservative as I am.
I seriously question the safety- marketing match for this property and would not deem it suitable for families with small kids.
1) the bathrooms aren't kid-friendly and easily over-splash. I changed to a room with a bath tub but the tub sides are too high and it's a safety hazard.
- aesthetics is good but Design is not their strong feature.
-The housekeeping staff does a really good job to wipe down the floors. These guys are good. Their senior management is also pretty good. Their overall staff in general is too inexperienced for Dubai standard.
2) the floor landings aren't well marked and some kid got off on the wrong floor and got scared and confused. I got him off on the right floor. I saw him later with his parents.
- most guests here are friendly and look out for one another. Another guest looked out for me too. It's a friendly and trustworthy space between most guests.
3) they don't put up signs that contractor work is happening. Can do better.
4) The front desk and F&B do seem to take the mickey out of solo female travellers, so be straight up on what you expect.
- Push back and know your legal rights. It's likely a cultural thing. Seen it here before decades ago too. It was wiped out then but clearly it's resurfaced. So do what you can or move to Abu Dubai or Sharjah.
5) excellent food deals! Heart of the hotel!
The food is quite good for the price. Not too oily, good selection. The breakfast per the entire week was dh200+ and comes with fresh omelletes, Asian, Indian and European as well as fresh fruit. They improved the coffee. Really good deal! Clean cafe since it's new.
The pub also has a good meal deals under Dh100 this Sept 2022. They change in October. Ask and know your consumer rights before ordering.
But like a few other Dubai restaurants, the plates and glasses smell of stale dish washer. They fixed it immediately so that's good. But no one else complained and that was surprising to me.
Potent cocktails. Good bar tender from Morocco and another from Philippines called Joseph.
6) don't stand outside to look for a cab. The Security came to get me a cab. It's safer.
Really good hotel for under Dh180 but the neighbourhood sets them back a bit. I've been here a while and thank the staff for a pleasant stay!