Recently had some business in Dubai and in need of stays tried a few properties. For easy access to meetings and because several properties in the area do not participate in SPG I chose the following The Dar Al Sondos Hotel Apartments by Le Meridien, The Al Sondos Suites by Le Meridien and the Sheraton Deira. All were terrible in my opinion.

1.) Dar Al Sondos Hotel Apartments by Le Meridien – The condition of the hotel is atrocious. This hotel in no way represents a Starwood property and leaves much to be desired. I was appalled by the condition of the lobby and the rooms. This hotel which appears to have been converted from Apartments is in no way laid out or designed to be a hotel with transit visitors and should be mentioned. The room was dated without any of the standard amenities of what one expects when seeing the name Le Meridien attached, it resembled a hostel at best and did not even have in-room internet. This hotel would rank as the lowest property I have ever stayed in and I am being generous when I say this hotel would be a two star hotel by US standards if that. The only redeeming factor was the friendly from desk staff.

2.) The Al Sondos Suites by Le Meridien – Do to meetings in the area I stayed at this property. I again found the rooms a bit off and in need of an upgrade. My concern here was with room service. I ordered room service only to be call back 20 minutes later and told my choice of the Oriental Breakfast was not available. I went with another choice that took over an hour to be delivered and it arrived cold. The front desk manager took the meal off my bill. However, as a business hotel this does not work when one is in a hurry. I was also disappointed at the lack of amenities offered as a Platinum and again no in room internet that functioned in this case.

3.) Sheraton Deira – Again another property in the Starwood chain that needs a refresh. With so many choices in Dubai this hotel at best rivals a Motel 6 in the US. I had to call engineering to fix the TV, no hot water in the shower. My biggest concern was the amount of prostitutes that seemed to be wondering the hotel lobby, the Lindbergh Bar and the Night Club attached to the hotel. In a country that outlaws such activity the hotel staff did nothing. In fact I noticed while getting a new room key that several of the male staff were checking out the prostitutes in the lobby rather then asking them to leave. In the morning I ordered room service again this took more then the normal 45 minutes and arrived cold. I shared this with the front desk along with my other concern and nothing was done about it. This was the straw for me and as I needed to extend my stay in Dubai I went with Marriott. I shared my concern about the prostitues with a travel agent friend and was told that this property is one of the know pick up spots in Dubai, among a few other low brow properties in the area.


I will say I visited the Westin one night this property actually seemed very nice but upon checking with the Plat Concierge I was told this property does not participate in SPG.

I ended up staying at the Marriott which was a great hotel with easy access to the Metro and no need to bother with taxi's. Now, I know the Marriott Marina that I used is new but in the past I've stayed at a few different Marriott properties in the area and found them steps above the SPG properties.