Bump. I have a similar situation to the post above. Not flying with EK, two different hotels in UAE. Can the first hotel sponsor the visa for the entire length of the stay? I got one hotel which refused already. The hotel for the second part of my stay is refusing too but at least for them I agree with their call because I am not arriving in the country the day my reservation with them starts. I want to do this by the book but if it's too much of a hassle I will just book flexible at the first hotel to cover the entire stay in the UAE and once I get there I ask them to cut out the last few days of the stay, then move to the second hotel.

Any idea what the current situation is?

My friend needs a visa, and the hotel is willing to do it but won't apply for it til 15 days in advance. Is it pretty much guaranteed?

It is very standard that the hotel requests the visa only a couple of weeks in advance. Not more.

I don't know about 100% guarantee, I guess immigration is doing some checks but if your friend has nothing unusual such as criminal record or overstaying a previous stay, etc. then indeed it's pretty safe to assume it will be fine.

Great! Makes me feel better (I dislike the whole visa thing. Amazing how some countries rarely have to aoply for visas and some countries cannot go anywhere)