Originally Posted by
mecabq
Sheesh. This is bogus -- any hotel will let a man and a woman check in together as long as they both provide ID.
That's because they ignore the law.
Originally Posted by
mecabq
The booking site gave you information -- if that is the first e-mail that you cite -- that is complete bunk. To the extent that sharia law applies in the UAE, it only applies to Muslims. If you got your information from somewhere else, I'd like to hear where.
I'm afraid the information is accurate, insofar as sharing a hotel room (or even a car) with someone of the opposite sex you are not married to is illegal, Muslim or not. Like most such things in Dubai, it's really not in any way a problem... until it is. The Tahseen Al Ma'asiya is not really enforced in Dubai... unless it is.
It will be, with near-certainty, fine for an unmarried couple to check into a hotel together in Dubai. Indeed, my now-wife and I did so many times. (I'd be much more nervous in Sharjah.) However, as with most things Dubai, it's worth understanding exactly what the position is.