I just completed a great 5-night stay at Al Maha Desert Resort.  Lots of people have reviewed this hotel in the last several years and reviews of this property are almost always universally positive and it was my experience as well - we will come back for sure.  If there is one main aspect where my opinion would differ is that many folks mentioned that 2-3 days is enough there.  We stayed 5 days and we would have gladly stayed another couple of days. Perhaps for very active people, more than 3 days would be too much, but for us we took maximum advantage of the activities offered on the resort and we were not bored at all. 

Location

Al Maha is located about one hour drive from Dubai in the Desert Conservation Reserve.  Right on the resort premises several gazelles and oryxes are everywhere and casually walk around.  They frequently visited us by our pool.  

Room

I booked the entry level Bedouin Suite and I was aware that this property did not upgrade guests in the Starwood days because it’s an all-suite property.  What I did not know is that almost all accommodations are Bedouin Suites: there are only 2 Royal Suites, 2 Emirates Suites, and 1 Presidential Suite.  Not knowing if the upgrade situation had changed since Marriott’s acquisition last year, and not knowing the exact differences between room types, my ignorant self asked before our stay if they upgrade Marriott Ambassador Elite guests to higher room types and I told them that we do not mind changing rooms during our stay if being flexible helps.  They responded that they would see once we arrived at the resort whether an upgrade would be possible or not.  Upon check-in we were told that they could accommodate an upgrade to the Royal Suite for the last 2 nights which we were very pleased with because it would allow us to review two different room types.  For the first 3 nights they also indicated that they gave us one of their best Bedouin Suites on the resort.  While I did not visit other Bedouin Suites, given the layout of the resort I believe it is actually true that number 15 is quite good.  

Our suite was not far from reception in a short alley leading to suites 13-14-15 only, which means traffic there was very limited. The advantage of ours was that it was at the far end of that alley (a dead end) so there were never any guests walking near our suite.  Privacy was excellent given the bushes and shrubs on both sides of our suite.  As seen on the resort map, on one side our neighbor was suite 14, and on the other side the neighbor is actually the spa and main pool.  Vegetation was fairly thick on that side and not possible to walk directly from our suite to the spa/pool, ensuring privacy.  In order for us to walk to the spa we had to walk out of our little alley, back on the main path, and then to the spa.  I suspect the main pool does not have lots of guests since every suite on the resort has a private pool, in any event we did not hear noise from the main pool at any time during our stay.  

One of the advantages of our suite is that the view of the desert was great, in fact better than the view from the Royal Suite 30 later during our stay.  RS 30 sits higher on the resort and I suspect many Bedouin Suites up there do not enjoy the same views as we had down below.  Even though technically our suite 15 was exposed to the area right underneath, the reality is that nobody walks there particularly not during the summer so our suite felt so private that skinny dipping would have been safe.  Even if someone was walking in the desert down the hill it would be relatively far to have any view of our suite anyway.  

The Bedouin Suite has a great design suitable for the kind of resort this is including tented ceilings.  It is obviously not new and shiny – the resort is about 20 years old. However it is kept in good condition and the room had lots of artefacts from traditional settlers in this area. The water pressure was decent considering we were in a desert, AC was very strong, and the bed was amazingly comfortable.  I liked the cool floor tiles everywhere and the stone walls in the bathroom and shower.  

The Royal Suite is more than double the size of the Bedouin Suite because it is actually equivalent to two regular Bedouin Suites next to each other, with a large living area right in between so in total the Royal Suite is probably more than 2.5 times the size of a Bedouin Suite. It was great to have two full bathrooms available, but to be honest we had more space than we needed.  This room type is ideal for couples travelling with two children because one side has two single beds and the other side has a king size bed.  As a travelling couple, in other hotels I enjoy getting an upgrade when it is one large room; but having 2 or 3 bedrooms ends up not being the most useful for our purposes.  Now that I know how Al Maha is set up, and because the Bedouin Suite was great to begin with, next time I would not ignorantly ask for an upgrade.  Because the resort only has 5 suites above Bedouin and with the close proximity to Dubai I can imagine they get last minute guests booking premium rooms so they need to keep those available.  Bottom line I highly appreciated the gesture to allow us to compare rooms and probably they did not want to disappoint an Ambassador Elite guest, but next time I would not disturb them and I would leave those premium suites for people who really need them.  Instead, I would focus more about specifically which Bedouin Suite we will get, and request one of the better ones such as number 15 and not worry about other room types.  Back to the Royal Suite, apart from having more space inside, the patio outside was also larger, and there were a few other minor differences such as the bathroom amenities being Bvlgari in the Royal Suite rather than a brand I was not familiar with in the Bedouin Suite, and there were binoculars available in the Royal Suite but not in the Bedouin Suite.  

Dining

One highlight of our stay was dining.  All guests have breakfast, lunch, and dinner included in their rate which you can have either in your room or in the restaurant. Having in-room dining as a choice is great because sometimes we just wanted to stay quiet in our room by ourselves. The quality of the food was excellent for all meals and it’s not the junk food you can find in some all-inclusive resorts.  The menu has a little bit of everything for all tastes, for example filet mignon (even for breakfast!), lobster ravioli, several fish options, grilled jumbo prawns, etc.  It’s clear the resort aims to impress with food rather than trying to save costs. For lunch you can order three courses and for dinner if going to the restaurant it’s a 5-course dinner (amuse-bouche, appetizer, sorbet, main course, and dessert) with a more sophisticated menu than the in-room dining menu.  We have thoroughly enjoyed all meals, both in the restaurant and in our room, we have tried lots of different options and overall it was fantastic.  For the first couple of days we had several hearty meals but towards the tail end of our stay we simply no longer could eat three meals per day and/or we had to skip one or two courses from our meals because the resort had previously done such a good job ensuring we were not hungry!  This is on top of afternoon tea available near the hotel bar in the afternoon so you can basically eat all day.  The hotel changes its restaurant menu every year which provides some variety to returning guests, but one meal which has not changed over the years is the special Sri Lankan dinner which you must order before 3pm to allow the chef some time to prepare it.  We had it a couple of evenings and it comes with four kinds of curries in addition to rice.

Not only was the food great, but the restaurant venue is awesome as well with dining either in the beautiful restaurant or on the terrace outside.  One evening was cooler and many guests ate outside so it was a bit crowded, however a couple other nights were hotter and we were entirely alone outside – it was like having our own private dinner in the evening desert heat.  Even for breakfast I suspect some guests just order in their room, there were a couple of mornings that we were entirely alone in the restaurant – talk about a peaceful environment.  

Activities

The resort has several activities available to choose from and guests have 2 activities per day as part of their package.  I am not sure if because of the length of our stay or because of Ambassador status (or both), but we were offered two more activities which are normally not on the program: a visit of the Falcon muse and a visit of the horse stable so we had 12 activities in 5 days.  We took advantage of everything offered except for horseback riding which requires 3 years of experience minimum and unfortunately we also missed out on archery on our last morning because my wife was not feeling well so we rested in the room instead, otherwise we did all activities possible.  I would note that the desert drive costs 270 AED per person rather than free, but it was well worth it.  Drivers are trained before they can take guests out in the desert; in fact our field guide was doing his training the day we went out for a drive and we were driven by someone else on staff while our field guide was following in the SUV behind which makes it clear that the resort does not cut corners about safety. Because the weather is very hot in the summer, some activities start at 5:30am so you need to wake up early if you want to partake.  In the winter the schedule is easier as activities start at 7am instead.  We ended up doing lots of activities at 5:30am, then go to breakfast, and back to sleep for a morning nap, only to wake up for lunch and continue on with the day.  Perhaps not the best sleep schedule but it was fine for us particularly for a stay when you do not want to miss out on what the resort has to offer.  In the evening one key activity is drinking Prosecco at sunset in the desert, we went there three times, once with the camel ride where you have time for one drink, and twice in the SUV where you have more time available so two drinks.  The sunset views are gorgeous.  Alternatively you can also have drinks at half price in the hotel bar from 6-8pm.  

Service

Al Maha is a well established resort which lives up to the Luxury Collection brand service-wise.  I can say that service was top notch throughout: our field guide, staff at reception, staff in the restaurant, housekeeping, etc.  The little details are not missing, for example the cold towels and hand sanitizer they bring to guests in the restaurant, the way food is presented, housekeeping was well done and always exactly at the time we requested, etc.  Our flight out was at 1am so I booked a taxi to pick us up from the resort at 8pm.  At first we were told we could have late check-out at 4pm but on the last morning we got a call to inform us that we could stay in our room until 8pm because they had reorganized some things to accommodate us which meant we could enjoy the resort for even longer, in the Royal Suite to boot.  Just fantastic service.  Also in the restaurant we were told that we could order some meals not exactly like on the menu and they can ask the chef.  They were out of crab during our stay so I could not have the crab omelet during breakfast, but instead they prepared it with lobster.  My wife does not eat beef but she likes biryani, they prepared other varieties of biryani instead.  To conclude with service, the resort was kind enough to sponsor my wife’s tourist visa even though we were going to a different hotel in the UAE before coming to Al Maha.  This is normally not how it works: the first hotel is supposed to provide the sponsorship, not the second.  Generally speaking, every time we travel to the UAE our experience ranks very high in terms of hospitality compared to other countries, but Al Maha is excellent regarding service even relative to other great hotels in the UAE.  

Common Areas

The common areas of the hotels are all tastefully decorated.  We also took a couple of pictures of the main pool and spa but did not use them.

Overall

Overall our stay was memorable and we will be back. The resort provides a unique experience with the fine dining, the desert activities, the wildlife, all that in a peaceful environment with a private pool and top notch service.  When writing hotel reviews I usually try to be unbiased and present a balanced picture because no hotel is perfect so there is always something negative to say, and conversely even the worst hotels have at least one or two good things going for them.  For Al Maha honestly I am not sure what I can bring up that would be negative, perhaps I wish the rooms were a bit more modern but it’s not a new construction and anyway the age of the resort gives some charm to the property.  If there is one true negative I can think of it would be that the fitness gym is not the most attractive I have seen, but who is going to Al Maha to exercise in the gym?  We just stopped by to take a look but did not use the gym nor did we intend to use it, but I guess if someone wanted to go they would probably be alone and get use of the limited equipment there.  Commenting on a subpar gym at Al Maha for the sake of balancing the review illustrates how everything else is above expectations.