Hotel recommendations
 

Hello,
My wife and I will be celebrating our 10 years wedding anniversary with a trip around the world in business class. We will be flying Singapore Airlines from LAX to Dubai with a stopover in Singapore, then we will be coming home from the UAE on Etihad.
Since we have the flights all figured out, we would like to stay at some luxury hotels using mostly miles and points.
What do people recommend in terms of hotels in both Singapore and Dubai?
Any positive input will be greatly appreciated :)

Congratulations! Sounds like a nice trip.

I'm sure you'll get some good ideas here, but you also might want to check out Tripadvisor.com hotel rankings and reviews for these spots. Plug in the dates and you'll get prices as well.

You do have to be a bit careful at TA in terms of valuing more the reviewers who've posted numerous times there, as opposed to just one or a few times. And of course, if you see great reviews for a really cheap place, it could be that travelers on a real budget might consider it great but it likely won't suit your needs.

Beyond that, are you a member of any hotel guest programs such as Hyatt, Starwood, etc? And do you prefer to stay at such properties? If so, mention that here in order to get better recommendations.

Happy trails!

Hey Thunderroad, thanks for the kind words my man :)

Our trip is scheduled to start on December 24th which happens to be both our wedding anniversary date and the earliest Singapore Airlines could clear some award space for us, talk about a coincidence!
Since our trip is 10 months away my wife and I should have plenty of time to apply and meet the minimum spending requirements on specific Hotel cards. In fact, a few days ago I applied for Chase IHG card with 80k sign up bonus and I got it.
I am seeing the Marriott 80k offer floating around as well as Hyatt's and I am trying to decide which one would fits our needs better if not both!

You might want to check out the Luxury Hotel forum in addition to the various hotel program forums here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxury-hotels-220/

Congratulations on you trip! Neither Singapore nor Dubai has what I would call 'luxury' properties that are part of the bigger chains (Park Hyatt Dubai a possible exception). I would recommend reading up in the luxury hotels forum as noted above.

In Singapore both Raffles and the Fullerton are special, and I like the One & Only or the Address (damaged by fire) in Dubai.

I'll definitely defer to LE's excellent advice here re the best hotels. But since it sounds like you're looking to maximize stays using credit card bonuses, two credit cards I'd recommend are the Hyatt and Fairmont, both very good chains, both affiliated with Chase, and both offering two free nights per card after sign-up or some modest initial spending. Fairmont has a hotel in Singapore and Hyatt has a few in Dubai (and I assume in Singapore), including a reportedly nice beach property (though be aware that beaches in Dubai can have very nice hotels but look out on tankers and refineries and other non-exotic stuff in the distance rather than tropical settings).

The one hotel that I've really liked in Dubai is the Grosvenour (sp?) House, a Starwood property. In terms of sign-ups, you can each get a Starwood personal and business card, each of which is worth 25K points but usually after $5K spending.

In Singapore, Fairmont has Raffles!

Be aware of the Chase 5/24 rule and reports that it is being applied to co-brand cards. The rule denys anyone with 5 or more new cards from ANY bank in the past 24 months.

With that in mind make sure you strategize your applications and prioritize any Chase cards or else you could be denied.

I think Chase Hyatt and current Marriott offers are no brainers. I would also grab a Chase Sapphire Preferred. SPG Amex is a good one too.

Lastly the Citi Prestige gives you a 4th night free on a revenue booking which can be a better deal than points depending on price.

Hotel recommendations
 

the best place to learn about hotels in specific destinations is the forum for that specific destination (under Destinations).

You guys have been a tremendous help, thanks a million (miles!)