My wife and I will be doing JFK-DXB-KHI in November, 2007, and we are planning to do a Dubai stopover for a day or so on the way there.

We'll be in Dubai from Nov 9, 8:10am (EK204) to Nov 10, 6:15pm (EK602), minus a few hours for immigration, going to/from the airport, etc.

1- Do you have any hotel recommendations from the Dubai stopover page? Since, we'll be there for one night only, we're not very particular, as long as the hotel is clean and convenient. Probably would like to keep the cost less then USD 250 for the night.
2- We were thinking about the Sundowner safari with Arabian Adventures for the evening of the 9th. Any comments on this one or other recommendations?
3- We would also consider getting a hotel, visas, on our own rather than going through Emirates. But figure that it's a lot easier to go through Emirates anyway (and a good value too). Thoughts on that?
4- Any other caveats or recommendations?

Thanks in advance for your replies. We're always amazed by the quality of answers on this forum and grateful for the time people take to answer questions.