I’m not sure I get the dislike for this place. Here now and having a very good stay - actually just extended. I have now stayed at every supposed ‘high-end’ Marriott in Dubai proper other than the W and LRM over the last 12 months and would rate this place second after GH. Not perfect but the current pricing is also pretty good vs. lots of massively inflated prices elsewhere.

Likes
- Breakfast is great, not the biggest spread but probably the highest quality buffet I’ve found within the Marriott portfolio in Dubai. Selection of cured fish (including two types of salmon), giant bowl of berries, salad bar with all the usual Middle Eastern dips, very good coffee; I’d take that over a large range of cheap fried carbs and processed meats any day
- The adult pool area is truly excellent, sun all day, nice breeze, super relaxing / quiet, great service
- Gym is very good and the first one I’ve used in Dubai that’s actually set to an appropriate temperature for cardio rather than 23-24 degrees!
- The welcome gift is impressive - giant bowls of i) fresh fruit, ii) stuffed dates, baklava, Arabic sweets, chocolate etc that I am still eating three days later…
- Rooms and hard product generally look much better in real life than photos and, unlike the St. Regis Downtown, this place is actually built to St. Regis standard; the bathroom in particular is beautiful
- Food in Cordelia is very good. My main food disappointment at GH was Bellavista which is probably the quality of a decent Italian chain restaurant in the U.K. Had basically the same saffron risotto there and then here at the St. Regis and it was night and day (here it was perfectly al dente and loads of flavour vs. overcooked and bland)
- Nakheel Mall downstairs is useful, including a giant Waitrose if you want basically any item of food or drink

Less good
- Low suite upgrade chances, they only have 26 suites (including the speciality ones) out of 290 rooms. My SNA was denied and I got an upgrade to a Grand Deluxe room instead
- Elite benefits seem limited to basically what is contractually required
- Housekeeping feels like the weak service link, one day I came back at 4.30 and my room hadn’t been serviced so had to call to ask. There are also a couple of pieces of fluff that have stayed on the carpet so I don’t think they are vacuuming extensively during stays but was very clean when I checked in
- They have taken ‘rainfall shower’ too literally and max water pressure in the shower is like being lightly rained on, quite annoying; the air conditioning also blows directly onto the bed which is bad for me (but some may like that)
- The rooms are 43 sqm and because the bathroom and dressing area is so large and opulent it takes up at least half of the room and makes the actual bedroom feel a lot smaller and less luxurious
- The location is obviously a bit isolated, but I much prefer this to being 10 minutes further out on the actual exterior Palm, given you have the Mall, monorail and taxis are cheap and readily available in Dubai I don’t view it as a huge issue if you want to stay around the Palm / Dubai Marina / JBR area
- No balconies in rooms, which is always disappointing in Dubai

As an aside this is the most Russian guests I think I’ve ever seen in any hotel (beating the Four Seasons Dubai). Not sure if it’s the time of year. Fortunately, they are the Instagram in the gym type not the get very drunk type but still, was unexpected!