Hi,
We have a 20h layover on our way to MLE in August arriving in DXB a 7:55am and living at 4:30am the next day. We are a family of 4, with a 3 y.o and 6 month old baby. We were thinking of spending the day in Dubai -certainly at the mall as you may not want to step a foot outside in august- and were wondering if it's worth it to book the hotel inside the airport so we can shower and have a rest after and before our flight, shower etc.. Or if we can just use the business lounge as we're traveling in J ?

What do you think ? Is the hotel really worth it ? If we were traveling as a couple we would definitely pass and just go to the city and come back chill at the lounge but because of the kid's we don't really know..

Last question, If we were to book the hotel do you know which concourse to chose? I believe the departure concourse and gate are not determined in advance and when I check the previous flights it seems to be random, sometimes it departs from A, sometimes B.

Why not book a much more affordable hotel in the city of you're going there anyway?

I would book a cheap hotel in the city and use it as your base for the day.. You can also use the lounge when you return to the airport

Oh I saw that we're eligible for Dubai Connect which is weird because there were 2 other flights available, before our actual flight -which I didn't book because we would arrive in Male late in the afternoon and miss the last seaplane, and the other one was way too expensive. I booked the room and got a message from Emirates telling me to collect our Dubai Connect voucher at the airport while checkin in.
Now my question is, what hotel will they book for us? I am not really familiar with this system, hope it's not far from the airport and it has a nice pool so the kids could have some fun in between the flights!

I didn't consider booking a hotel in the city because since we're arriving early in the morning I didn't want to risk having to wait for our room until the official check in at noon or 2pm and I liked the idea of sleeping right next to our gate so we can leave the room an hour or so before the departure.

Since you're in J it should be the Le Meridien right next to the airport. They have been know to use others if the Le Meridien is full but it is not that common. There is a pool.

With Dubai Connect they expect you to check out about 3 hours prior to flight departure regardless of time of day so no worries there and you can head straight to the lounge

There are at least 5 pools

You'll also get meal vouchers that can be used at the various restaurants - lots of choices.

Check out when you want, and they'll get you a car.

Are there? I can only recall 3...clearly didn't explore enough

And remember that STPC has complex rules. There may have been other earlier flights but you maybe hit some of the other criteria such as spend etc.

Thank you for all your feedback,
Le M�ridien looks great, the kids will have a blast there!
So Emirates will arrange the pick up for our 4am flight from there? Does the lounge offer breakfast or buffet at that time of the day? I am not really used to flying that early (or late).

Yes EK will arrange car, there should be a dedicated desk for this at the hotel, you can leave whenever you're ready. Lounge is open 24/7 with full buffets (plural)

Yep - as you checkout they call your car. Sometimes takes 10-15 minutes depending on how busy the roads are.

Thank you for all these useful information, I really appreciate.