NickW

I saw a documentary about the building of the hotel a few years ago, and I distinctly remember that the designer of the interiors originally proposed a much simpler, almost understated, design but was told in no uncertain terms that something more 'colourful' was required.

Kagehitokiri

indeed, the atrium had to be redesigned >

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN8nQWrk3EM
from 5:15

ojala

We had to pay rack rate during our stay, 2550 AED w/o tax, and a lot of other places were full. BAA was 6500 AED incl. breakfast, welcome coctail, bottle of wine, sweets, massage for two etc. BAA was basicly double the money and 10x better hotel.

GH Dubai was "ok business hotel", nice lobby, very standard rooms that could be anywhere, friendly service, breakfast was average (and full of business people), the restaurants were nothing special. The pool area was pretty bad (we chose the place due recommendations on tripadvisor for nice pool area), not very fresh, packed with chairs, noisy, and bad service (once we finally received anything the water was warm). The location is fine if one prefers to next to a highway in the middle of nowhere. Our check-in too quite a while and we were upgraded to the club level.

The big difference is, of course, that GH Dubai is a business hotel and very poor for leasure travellers. BAA is more of a leisure hotel or an leisure experience. Deciding to stay at BAA is like deciding to go to Disneyland, do I want to have this experience or not.

Not that GH Dubai would have any chance if you're arriving from Emirates Palace and the next stop is BAA..

Basicly what I mean is that if you want a nice cup of tee, there are better places than Burj Al Arab. BAA doesn't feel much unless you actually stay there and get a feel of the room, services and other details. The restaurants are nothing special there.

mangokitty92262

BAA is worth the price for 1 night or even 2 nights, but only for the novelty factor. The restaurants are good, maybe even very good. The hotel is unusual, colorful and over-the-top. I think they wanted uber-luxury, but in my opinion ended up with "we don't know what we're doing, but here's some cashmere!".

Flyingfox

We stayed for a night at the Burj, 2 nights at the Madinat al Qasr, and 2 in the desert at the Bab al Shams resort, all in a stopover on our way to Egypt in Feb 2008.
The Burj is very different from any place we've done before, in good and bad ways.
The decor is actually attractive and not as gaudy as we'd expected. Very "happy", lots of golds, blues, reds. The suites are large but you'll end up spending most of your time in the living room anyway.
Get the panoramic suite, not the regular one - views are MUCH better.
I beleive the Rolls transfer was around $375 dollars one-way, a bit much for a short 15 minute ride from the airport.
You will definitely not see the same number of children in the Burj compared to the JBR.
During the daylight hours the place is OVERRUN with non-guests coming in and leaving constantly for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or "high tea" - this makes all areas of the hotel except your suite, the pool, and the spa unpleasant, as it is extremely crowded with people posing for pictures, wandering around, etc. This seriously brings the whole experience down for those paying the money to actually stay there. Way too crowded and they clearly do NOT enforce their dress code upon these visitors - lots of shorts, trainers, flip-flops and a tad tacky.
That said, the architecture is quite beautiful and you can take my advice and get up early in the AM (before 7:30-ish) and walk around the lobby and everywhere else - the "non-guests" are not allowed in then, and it is very peaceful and an excellent time to take pictures of the place.
During the day you can take a stroll around the grounds outdoors (go all the way around the entire building) and have a good look at the design - we didn't see anyone else doing this on the morning we did it after breakfast, and I don't believe non-guests are given this much freedom to "stroll".

As for breakfast, you're better off ordering room service. The food is excellent and actually less expensive this way, and you can stay in your suite in privacy without the masses. Ditto for lunch.
We did have the afternoon tea in the lobby, and it was very good. They will NOT let you take pictures there, but oddly enough we could take them in the "al Muntaha" buffet on Friday on the top floor (the only day they have a "buffet" is on Friday). Our waiter actually offered to take some pictures of us when he saw my camera, which was very nice. More relaxed than the tea had been.
They cheat a little by saying they have caviar on the buffet - it is actually just lumpfish and salmon roe, not true caviar! The buffet was $130 each plus $20 for a bottle of San Pelligrino fizz water. We did not try the very expensive seafood restaurant as we did not care to subject ourselves to the crowds!

The al Qasr was nice but at $1,000 a night not great value for money. Bab al Shams was alot of fun at half the price!

GK

have myself only been for a number of business dinners...totally agree on the crowds of non residents.. the dress code policy is not enforced, and even when dining in the restaurants, one gets disturbed by tourists poking around "wanting to have a quick look", hence would never want to stay there.

vuittonsofstyle

The Burj gave itself 7 stars - nobody else did, apart from some gullible journalists.
It is not a very good hotel in my experience. The pool is dated and tiny and there is nowhere to walk outside. It looks its best from the outside, seen maybe from the Dar al Masyaf Villas at Madinat Jumeirah.
The best resort hotel in Dubai is The Residence & Spa at One&Only Royal Mirage. The best business hotel is Raffles.

Kettering Northants QC

.... in your opinion

gallagher

IIRC officially there is nothing higer than a 5 star hotel. They made the grading up themselves

Kibison

Not necessarily. BAA may have started the trend but they are not the only ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(c...en_star_hotels

The whole star rating thing is very subjective. I have found a world of difference between "5-star" hotels. Some I would say are 3-star. It is more in the eye of the beholder since there is no legitimate rating service.

Kagehitokiri

officially i know of mobil, AAA, AA, qualmark, michelin, and paris/france which has its own IIRC. they all go up to 5, except the paris/france one which i believe stops at "4 etoiles luxe."

the directories of the first 4 of those are in the sticky.

dobba

Flash, garish and tasteless have all been used in this thread.

That's always the impression I've had when having seen publicity pictures of it. Is it aimed at the Americans? Another fine reason to avoid it (in my opinion).

UncleDude

There are no pockets in shrouds..if you have the Bucks then use them before your Heirs or the Inheritance Tax Man does, neither of them will sit and consider if what they are doing is worth it.

If you want a few nights of Unashamed Luxury and something to talk about for the next few years go for it.

By the way Americans represent a small percentage of visitors to Dubai, The Burj Guests are mainly affluent Europeans and UpScale Toursits looking for that once in a lifetime experince..Oh and few Footballers Wives [Soccer Players].

KenT

Kagehitokiri

as mentioned above, it was designed to sheikh mohammed bin rashid al maktoum's specification..

RCyyz

That's an odd comment.

In any case, based on the posts in this thread it strikes me that I'm not particularly missing out on anything other than hype and a somewhat overpriced experience at the BAA. I was pondering staying there but now I think I'll pass and stay elsewhere at a "normal" high-end hotel.