There isn't a master thread, so I figured I would put this review here:
The First Collection Collection Waterfront, Dubai, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel
Dubai has a wealth of great Marriott Bonvoy hotels to choose from..........and this is not one of them. Just finished up a one night stay here with my wider family and to say this place was a disappointment would be an understatement. Firstly, this hotel is in the Business Bay area, across the water from the downtown area. This is a relatively new part of town and there is still a significant amount of construction going on, although that doesn't really affect the hotel. I booked a total of 4 rooms and paid around AED 640 per room, which was a half board package including breakfast and either lunch or dinner. The price was very reasonable for this part of town, but ultimately the experience matched the price.
We arrived for check in at around 15:30, and found the very small lobby in a state of utter chaos. There was a significant number of people trying to check in and the staff seemed severely overwhelmed. The lobby doesn't feel particularly premium either. I had booked 1 king room and 3 twin bed rooms, but when I finally made it to the counter, the lady informed me that only the king room was ready, and that the other 3 twin rooms would take about 45 minutes. This despite already being 30 minutes past check in time. I was offered to change them to king rooms, which were available, which we ended up accepting as we were tired from our journey. She then proceeded to take an absolute age to assign the rooms, scan passports, and do whatever else needed to be done. She then informed me that only one of the rooms I booked had half board, and that the rest were only breakfast. I showed her the app and the email confirmation which showed half board for all rooms, but she refused to believe me. She then had to call reservations and stay on hold for about 15 minutes. Finally she relented and admitted the rooms did have half board.
Next up, she said she needed to add the voucher for dinner to our Apple wallet on our phone, but she needed 4 phones to add each voucher separately. It took about 5 minutes to add each voucher, so when she requested phone number 3, I asked if she could just print it out or something or put everyone on one voucher. This didn't seem to have occurred to her, as she then added all 8 people onto one voucher!
At this point, it was already almost 1 hour since we had started the check in process, and my patience had run out. I expressed my disappointment to her in a polite way, highlighting that we didn't get the rooms we booked, the issue with the half board rate, and then the voucher problem. Instead of being in any way understanding or apologetic, she doubled down and responded angrily that it wasn't her fault, and started blaming the housekeeping staff and the reservations team. This lady lacked even basic customer service skills and shouldn't be anywhere near a customer facing role.
Finally, we had our keys. The lifts here take forever, and there is frequently a long wait to go up or down. The rooms are overall not bad, apart from a few key problems.
The bathroom in the room was the smallest I have ever seen in a hotel. It was more like a powder room. You had to squeeze in just to be able to close the door. I had never seen such a small bathroom in a full service hotel. The towels were small and paper thin and the water sprayed everywhere when you took a shower due to not really having an partition.
The included buffet dinner was quite a limited spread. Restaurant felt dead and staff were disinterested and kept their heads down to avoid being asked anything. Dinner only included water, and trying to get a water bottle refilled was like getting blood from a stone.
This was an incredibly disappointing experience, and I will never return to this hotel. Customer service is the absolute most important thing for me in a hotel. I can forgive the other downsides of this hotel, but not the staff attitudes. Definitely avoid this place.
Pros- Location is not bad if you are going to the downtown area. It's about a 10 minute taxi to and from Dubai Mall. The side of the river the hotel is on is a lot less developed than the other side though, so it feels quite unfinished. I imagine this will change dramatically over the coming years.
Neutral- Breakfast spread was fine, although a very chaotic experience - staff are completely indifferent and avoiding any kind of work or interaction with guests.
Cons- The biggest issue with this hotel was service - the vast majority of staff were completely indifferent, and didn't seem to have any customer service training or instincts. The most telling example was you had to walk directly by reception counter from the lift to the restaurant - all 5 staff stood there with heads down, not one person said good morning or interacted with guests. The only staff member that seemed to have a great attitude was the bellhop, who was always friendly throughout.
- The hotel provides glass bottles of filtered tap water, about 750ml, and they are unbelievably stingy with it. If I am somewhere that people don't usually drink tap water, then the hotel should be a lot more generous with water.
- Lifts take forever to come
- Towels are small and paper thin
- The rooms are poorly lit and one of the lamps wasn't working
- This hotel had the smallest bathroom I have ever seen in a full service hotel - I have seen bigger bathrooms in those tiny hotels like CitizenM.
- The box on the toothbrush was opened already and the brush wasn't wrapped in plastic inside - absolutely disgusting
- The shower has a tiny piece of glass, so water sprays everywhere when you take a shower.
- The included dinner buffet was very limited in selection.
- There is a switch beside the bed for do not disturb/make up the room, and it is lit and stays on all night disturbing sleep.