schley

Without a great promo I can't afford to stay here as a leisure traveler. I am in Dubai often and have resorted to the 4 points basically and the Dar Los Sondos Le meridien for MR.

If this was a Cat 5 i would think about C and P stays but not at a Cat 6.

sfozrhfco

For the summer, there have been sales under 600 AED which is not too bad. The afternoon tea was great as well. If you get access to the club lounge, that is a very fair price--especially as you can use the facilities at Le Royal Meridien as well. Might not be affordable for most in high season but that is what points are for

Keyser

aed 600 is not a bad price for this property....but its a little difficult to explain to my clients why i'm staying here when most of the other properties are a couple hundred aed cheaper....

sfozrhfco

Grosvenor House is offering double points retroactive to July through September 30. Register by 15 September:

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...language=en_US

Keyser

great....thanks for posting....

crazyit

Does anyone know what the upgrade policy for award stays for Platinums would be at this Property ? Would Club Lounge access and late check out be offered? Am not a big expert on redeeming awards at SPG. Was planning to spend my HH's Q3FN at the Jumeirah Beach in November but could spare them instead for a later use and spend my SPG Q3 free night awards instead ? Worth switching ?

schley

Your award stays still qualify for all participating spg properties to extend the platinum benefits (or gold). Thus you will get

1. upgrade to best available room upon check in (including standard suites)
2. platinum amenity
3. late checkout (unless a resort or conference center property)
4. lounge access if available at the hotel
etc. etc.

Keyser

the upgrade policy at this property would be the same as if it were a paid stay....if a select standard suite is available at check-in then you will get it....

FD1971

They have two different suite categories, of which the Deluxe Suite is a standard suite whereas the Premier Suites are not in the pool.

The Grosvenor House is a high end Starwood property, worth the Luxury Collection branding. It is very British and even has a Dress Code for the top floor club lounge.

If you stay on the club floor or in suites, you are also entitled to breakfast in their main restaurant 'Sloane's and not only the club lounge. ^

We are talking about a high end brunch buffet, the only difference between their breakfast buffet and a full brunch buffet would be that they close it down at 11 a.m. We are talking about tiger prawn glass noodle salad, maki, california rolls, Lasagne etc as regular breakfast item, beside a ridiculous spread of food, partly of very very high quality. Some of the bakery items could be sold in high end French/German/Belgian bakery shops all around the world and you would not notice a difference.

I asked about kiwi juice and it was delivered ten minutes later, freshly squeezed, albeit it is not on any menu.... ^

From a quality and presentation point of view, the foof offered in the club lounge can be easily compared to what is offered at Ritz Carlton club lounges or upscale Asian Grand Hyatt hotels. Beautiful presentation, very attentive service ( no self service drinks ) , simply a classy atmosphere.

Hotels in Dubai are not well organised, even the best of them, however they are doing their best here, which means that they forget about 20-30 % of your requests, which is a good ratio for Dubai. It is sad to see that they do not invest more in their personal, because it is considered easily replaceable and cheap.

The spa is in nice shape, although both the steam room and the sauna are too small and also too dark. Service in the spa was top notch, the Gym is closed for renovation until the end of August, but one can use the spa facilities at the Royal Le Meridien a couple of stone throws away.

The Deluxe suite is a classic classic junior suite, actually a bit cramped. The AC cannot be controlled individually room by room, which is a major disadvantage, otherwise the equipment is state of the art based on its opening date right in the middle of the last decade. The entertainment system running on Windows is a bit slow and the unit in the armoire/sideboard is constantly running, so there is a bit of a buzzing noise in the room.

Full scale Bulgari items in the bathrooms, we are talking about the generous sizes ( 75 ml and 150 g soap ) not the el cheapo 30 ml and 40 g soup variety, often found in other SPG suites.

Unfortunately, the hotel has a major disadvantage.

They believe that they do not need to offer you all the perks that are standard for your upgraded room, in other words I had quite some problems with the transfer to/from DXB, especially at the airport where I was told multiple and in no uncertain terms that I need to pay for the transfers.

I have discussed this issue with management at the property who told me quite frankly that they can do whatever pleases them, when it comes to perks associated with upgraded rooms...left a very bad taste before and after my stay, especially after the lurkers posted the guidelines here multiple times in the last months after so many problems by other members.

They have a fleet of BMW 7 series sedans, but also some very beaten Lexus aka Toyota with a more upscale, but still plastic interior sedans.

Just to put things in perspective, this hotel cannot be compared to any SPG property in the US. I did not stay at the St. Regis New York yet, which I understand is by far the most luxurious hotel within the US, but otherwise this is a property that plays in another league and is capable of competing with real 5* brands and their hotels in Asia. ^

The current summer months rate is hardly dynamic and at 575 DH + 20 % taxes/fees, it is also a steal, albeit more or less thrice as expensive as the cheapest SPG alternative in town

crazyit

[QUOTE=FD1971;14530799]They have two different suite categories.......

Thanks FD1971 for the very informative reply . Really tempted by this Luxury Collection (my favorite at SPG on leisure trips such this one in November) in Dubai. Had initially thought to the Sheraton in Abu Dhabi (for location) but would rather get rid of my free nigh certificates at the Grosvernor and spare the HH's ones for later use.

sfozrhfco

Was ungraded to a deluxe suite which was very nice-bedroom, sitting room, plus a small kitchenette type area (no cooking facilities but there were kitchen cabinets and thing to make tea/coffee). The bathroom was very nice with copious amounts of Bvlgari products.

I wouldn't expect free airport transfers with an upgraded room. You don't find out for sure even what type of room you will have until you arrive so why would you expect something which was not included in your paid reservation that is also not a gold/platinum benefit? If you don't want to pay for a cab, you can easily take the metro and the connector bus and pay less than 7 dirhams.

FD1971

Pretty much the standard in Dubai, if you have a club room, so I expect the Grosvenor House to have a car waiting for me, if they upgraded me to a suite and stated airport tranfer as a perk on spg.com

Not a problem for all the Hyatt properties in town and I guess that the Grosvenor House wants to compete with them.

Of course you do, you see the information about the perks on spg.com

I know, it is not guaranteed until check-in, but I asked at the airport, if I still have a suite and was told "yes", but you booked a Deluxe room...

On a sidenote, the chances to lose your suite upgrade in Dubai in summer are close to zero. I understand that this happens frequently in other SPG properties and rightfully so, if somebody actually purchases the suite, but Dubai in summer during Ramadan is not really known to give you a hard time finding hotel rooms...

sfozrhfco

What Hyatt or an individual hotel may do makes no difference. Hotel transfers are NOT a Platinum or Gold benefit. If a hotel chooses to go above and beyond and offer such a benefit that is up to the hotel but if you booked a regular room you should expect nothing more than the benefits to which you are entitled based upon your status. Airport transfers are simply not one of those benefits.

FD1971

Basically, just plain wrong.

BlissWorld

Stayed there a few weeks ago. Very pleasant.

Check out my detailed trip report here:
http://travelupgraded.wordpress.com/...r-house-dubai/