Crowne Plaza Dubai Deira (Dubai, UAE)
What is your Priority Club status?
Spire (Ambassador)
Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Definitely!
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked a standard room with points and requested room with 2 beds; upgraded to Executive Club Twin.
How are the rooms?
Huge! My Executive Club shows as 30 sqm., which is the same as the Deluxe, but I guess the club rooms have higher floors and nice views. The beds are nice and firm, there's a work desk, various inputs on the TV for VGA, S-Video, HDMA, etc., Also a spacious amount of floor with a couple chairs and a table over toward the window.
How is the exec. lounge?
Fantastic! Access was granted as a Spire member. Overall, it's as good as any lounge I've been in and even rivals the IC Istanbul I enjoyed last week. In fact, CP Deira is probably my new favorite. It's a large, well appointed room with some TVs, many tables, some couches, computers, etc. We didn't see the breakfast because Club access also entitles you to free breakfast downstairs in the Spice Island restaurant. There are refreshments throughout the day. Evening apps/drinks are great; they had a variety of food options like paneer tikka, quesadillas, stuffed jalapeņos, and fish kofta, plus your usual assortment of beer, wine, and liquor. Lots of variety; the next night it was lamb samosas, chicken tikka, roasted cauliflower, and tomato penne. Excellent!!
The lounge is also open until midnight, which is later than most. I would say the ambiance is not quite as cozy as some others due to it being so big, but the quality of the offerings is among the best and I would choose it over others any day.
Seriously, when is the last time you saw lounge food that looks this good?
What was good and what was bad?
Good:
- Spire recognition is great; upgraded to a Club Room with a nice view, given some BOGO drink coupons for the bars, and lounge access.
- Lounge access also includes the breakfast buffet downstairs in the Spice Island restaurant, which is one of the better breakfast buffets I've seen at any CP or IC.
- The rooms are fine; not over the top, but no problems either.
- Friendly staff that take care to remember names
- Heated pool, hot tub, and pool bar with a great view.
- 10 minute walk to the metro station, which is very easy to use, and doesn't take much longer than a taxi out of and into the Deira area.
- 3-5 minute walk to a supermarket
Bad:
- No bedside outlets unless you want to unplug the alarm clock.
Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Spent 25K points/night and am upgraded into a room that normally costs $148 US, so the $0.0059 cpp is about average. But in terms of the overall value, 25K points/night for a nice hotel, a great lounge, scrumptious breakfast, etc. feels like a steal.Would definitely return!