First, Second, & Last impressions on PH-DXB, WOW! I just completed a 5 night run here last week with Ms. LFC. All we can say is WOW (again).
First Impressions of Hotel is how close it is to the airport. Located in the Dubai Creek area next to Marina, and about 10 mins w/out traffic (which is never, unless it is 6am IME) via taxi for about $40 DIR/$11 USD ($25 DIR initial fee from airport). Return to airport is $25 base taxi or $40 deluxe car DIR. Even with it's close proximity to DXB, noise as other mentioned above, is 100% a non issue. From my suite I loved watched EK-A380's taking off in the skyline afar.
Arrived just after midnight from DXB, after the gong show they call immigration at the airport. There must have been 10+ A380's
arriving all at the same time as us. "EK fast track cards" was helpful, but you can't hide 2000+ ppl arriving simultaneously. There is a fast track line for ppl with passports from "trusted" countries, but we were pretty tired, so will save that function for our next visit.@:-)
Car reception knew we were arriving late after midnight, so it was nice to be greeted by name first upon arrival.
DIA status was instantly recognized by front desk, and thoroughly explained all the benefits of our C&P+DSU stay. Our benefits were:
1)Park Suite #14XX (fourth floor) facing the Marina. 4pm late checkout
2)DIA Welcome Amenity of Bottle Red wine, Fruit basket + 3 types of snacks. Refreshed daily.
3)Wet Bar + all snacks are complementary and refreshed on demand for duration of stay. Choco cookies are yumms!
4) Free daily breakfast in Cafe Arabasque
During our stay, we found the following: The Pool is very peaceful and relaxing all day long. We spent a few hours here daily before our excursions into to heart of town. Staff was sometimes too relaxed, and if you needed refills of lemon mint water, you need to refill yourself in the canopy. Poolside food was very reasonable to order if one chose to do so. Pizza is dangerous to order, as the birds tend to follow the "crusts" LOL~~
SPA, while expensive, is in line with a 5-star resort of this kind in DXB. Ms LFC went thru the whole menu I think.
They do have specials daily, so this helps with the final costs overall.
Cafe Arabesque has a fab spread for breakfast, with a combo of buffet & a la carte dining options. All included in DIA benefits, but is very good value if your room/status does not include this option. Buffet Items in stations are as follows: Fresh Fruit bar, Cereal bar, Arabaque station, Cold Cuts station, bread bar, Fresh juice / milk station, Hot items are: eggs, sausages, beans, other misc items.
Had dinner at Thai Kitchen, set menu was awesome, and very enjoyable by us. Word of advice, when they offer you another scoop of the amazing Thai Steam Rice, resist it. There is soooo much food in this Tapas style dinner.@:-)
Conversely, Room Service is fast and very friendly at a reasonable prices.
Staff was totally awesome and all of them spoke almost perfect English. Including the housekeeping, which is amazing I find. Much credit to hotel management for having a great group of personnel.
WAFI Mall is closest AAA mall, and only a 10 mins cab ride away, and is next to Raffles Hotel. City Centre is 5 mins away, but is not as "interesting" as the Dubai Mall, Emirates Mall. The only area I did not frequent was the Marina District, the area that seemed the farthest away from us. We will save this area for next time.
Despite the remote hotel location from other landmarks, taxis are very cheap, and I am sure UBER is even less, so...... no worries as other things are SO MUCH more expensive in comparison. Even Shake Shack in Dubai Mall was as delish as ones I have had in USA, but more expensive.
Hope this helps future travelers that are considering PH Dubai in future, we loved it, have no regrets at all, and definitely know we made the right property choice. Until our next visit........
LFC
PS: no time for a quick visit to AUH, but will definitely consider on our next visit, and the PH Abu Dabi at the same time.^