cjd

Have stayed at this hotel twice, both times as Diamond. In 2006, paid for Exec Room and was given a large corner junior suite overlooking the beach -wonderful. Last year in 2007, booked standard room and was not upgraded as hotel was full. Was given a free dinner in one of the restaurants as an apology for not upgrading and given breakfast in the restaurant each day. The standard rooms are not very big, but do have balconies which are nice if you get an side sea view, which might be classed as an upgrade. Rooms and balconies at the back of the hotel are all now overlooked by towering apartment blocks which I imagine will not be so pleasant.
Breakfast in the lounge was laid out as continental, but they would also cook you eggs, bacon, sausage if requested.
Things might have improved now but last year, with all the construction work in the Jumeirah area, the traffic was horrendous and even taxis and buses were getting long delays in traffic jams. The hotel had a shuttle bus service which runs to the shopping malls which was useful.

beergut

Stayed there about 10 times and as Gold I've always got an upgrade apart from once when the World Bank were meeting in Dubai, I complained and got upgraded to a suite on my next trip.

Book a sea or pool room view, otherwise you're looking at a huge amount of construction. there's a few restaurants , shops etc now opened in the Marina area just behind

Staff are great and beach area fine but as others have mentioned the traffic into the City can be horrendous. Mall of the Emirates and Ibn battuta mall aren't too far away for shopping, restaurants etc.

If you want a couple of days in the City then look at the Hilton Dubai Creek.

Fraser

Guess I need to read up on Dubai more! Didn't realise we were 20mins from the city

Sounds like my instinct on booking a 'Deluxe Plus' room to avoid a 'Tower View' were well founded!

beergut

It can take a LOT longer than 20 minutes at some times of day, as someone else mentioned they do have a shuttle bus to the Gold Souk, City Centre Mall etc but you have to book a space.

It's not really a walking City as such but you can stroll up to the old part of town and souks along the creek from the Hilton Dubai Creek. Might be a bit too hot if you're going in a couple of months though.

Google earth will give you some idea of the distances and there's a very active Dubai forum on tripadvisor.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum...872-Dubai.html

Fraser

Thanks beergut, appreciate the links ^

bamboola

Does anyone know if there is still a shuttle? i don't see anything on the Hilton Jumeirah web site.

Richelieu

Yes, it was still running beginning of April, I found out when staying there, as there was no advertisement either. It's going to shopping centers and the gold souk.

Not very interesting location (no more "sea view" but "palm jumeirah construction work view", far away from everything, and even though the lack of upgrade is compensated by free breakfast and free dinner (even for gold), it's not one of the friendliest Hilton (I felt a warmer welcome in Hilton Dubai Creek, for example).

bamboola

For a first time visitor with only four days, which one would you recommend? Looking primarily for some R&R and some sightseeing. Thanks.

Fraser

The wife and I were in the same boat. We decided to do two nights at the Jumeirah Beach and two nights at the Dubai Creek location. We had a relatively early dayflight to London so thought the DC would be better for the airport.

bamboola

Fraser,

Thanks for your insight. My original plan was to do same thing - two nights in each hotel, but the 125,000 AXON award for four nights persuaded me to just pick one hotel for all four nights.

Which one did you prefer?

Fraser

Ask me again in a five weeks

I found the Hilton properties in DXB to be pretty cheap and not worth redeeming points for. We paid 750 AED/per night doing advance purchase for deluxe room at both hotels.

cjd

Have stayed at both hotels twice and like them both. The Dubai Creek Hilton is more of a very modern business type hotel. It has a small roof-top pool and we found the few sunbeds were claimed early in the morning. It is quite a walk in the heat to places like the Gold Souk and shopping malls and we tended to use taxis, which were quite cheap. The executive lounge is also quite small and once again filled up quite quickly for the happy hour evening complimentary drinks.

For 4 days, I personally would go for the Jumeirah Beach Hilton. Completely different to the Dubai Creek but still very enjoyable. Although there was an amazing amount of construction work around the hotel, it did not cause us any problems and the pool and private beach are very nice. There were plenty of sunbeds and umbrellas are available and if you want some relaxation, it is wonderful just to walk along the beach of the Persian Gulf - the water is so warm. You could even take chairs and sit in the warm waters!

As mentioned previously, I would be disappointed if given a room at the back of the hotel facing the new towers. The construction work on the Palms is visible from the beach, but we certainly didn't hear any noise as it is some distance away.

For sightseeing, we used the Big Bus Tour. You can hop on/off at various locations and then catch a later bus. See: http://www.bigbustours.com/eng/dubai/default.aspx

If you are given access to the Executive lounge, you can also use the Skyview lounge, which is a lot quieter. It was great - wonderful to sit outside on the balcony during the cool (relatively) 80 degree evening. Exec lounge each evening was very crowded and upon asking at the desk, it was confirmed we could get our free drinks up at the Skyview lounge.

bamboola

Thanks, Chris, for your informative post. I'll follow your advice.

NW-A332

I went to Dubai for the first time this past Dec/Jan and if I had only 4 days I would not stay in Jumeirah. I found it completely uninteresting especially where the Hilton is located. Construction is ubiquitous, but it won't affect you unless you leave the hotel or if your room faces the towers. There is nothing around and unless the shops across the street are open by now, there is nothing to do except go to the pool/beach, or go and see the Burj al Arab. You'll have to taxi everywhere though. I found the city of Dubai to be lots of fun with the souks, malls, and other cultural things. Jumeirah marina area is culture-less. It could be anywhere else in the world and you wouldn't know it. You'll definitely get R&R down there, but anything else will require a lot more planning than if you were by the Creek.

cjd

Further to my thread above, I just had another look at the Big Bus Tour and it now looks like they have changed the route of the bus. According to the map, it doesn't go as far as the Jumeirah Hilton now. However, the hotel did have a shuttle service to the Mall of the Emirates and to the Gold Souk. Sorry about that. I have amended the my previous thread.