I spent 4 nights in Sofitel downtown Dubai. Very good hotel regarding location, service, Platinum treatment and having a Club Millésime. Some room for improvement for the Club (to be detailled in the review) but no big issues.

I apologize for the pictures not upright, but as you know it's a well-known and long time bug on FT with pictures taken on iOS device that the tech team has still not adressed for years...

Check In

Check-in was not done at the lounge because it was 1 am. But it was efficient and courteous. I was thanked for my loyalty, was given all instructions for the lounge and was upgraded one level (from luxury to Luxury/high floor Burj Khalifa tower view). Drink voucher was given + 2 vouchers with 20% rebate for the Georgian and Lebanese restaurants located inside the hotel.

Pictures of the main lobby :

Room

Room was large, very modern as you expect. On the 25th floor.

Large cabinet for storage but no drawers to unpack properly.  Another very annoying thing was a very complicated system to switch on/off the various lights of the room. This is annoying me in more and more hotels. Why is that egtting so complicated to switch on/off a light ???

Turndown service was provided every evening.

Welcome gift was a fruit platter + cakes

Bathroom had a bath tub + separate walk-in shower, Lanvin products.

Nice views on the surroundings and the hotel pool down below:

Swimming pool

The pool is in a separate building connected by a bridge to the main building, on the 5th floor. This is a pleasant pool with an adjacent bar/restaurant and a nice view.

Dining

If you get lazy at night and do not want to go out, the hotel has several restaurants :

• the main one on the 3rd floor where breakfast is served
• A lebanese restaurant
• On the top floor : a Georgian and a Peruvian restaurants.

I tried the Georgian and the Lebanese ones. Food was very good. Quite expensive but with the 20% rebate, it’s OK.

This is the outdoor terrace of the Lebanese restaurant, from the Skybridge going to the hotel guests pool.

Club Millésime

It is located in te main lobby. I was very surprised to learn it was located there as I was expecting it to be on a high floor as usual in that kind of hotels. For me, this is one of the point they can improve. Indeed, with the very high ceiling, it lacks the intimate atmosphere you usually have in a club lounge. 

2nd point for improvement : the food offering is quite limited for both breakfast and evening cocktail time. For BF, you can of course order egg products (BTW, the crepes are really good). The wine selection available at evening cocktail time is of good quality, but it was sometimes long to have your drink delivered. 

Overall no big issues, this is a nice facility and the staff was great.

At breakfast time:

At evening cocktail time:

Location

Very nice location in the heart of downtown area, 50m from Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa metro station. Easy to reach the Dubai mall and BK tower via a sky bridge from the metro station.

Overall

A very good stay in a nice and well-maintained hotel. Good service and Platinum treatment. I would return without hesitation.

Unfortunately, the hotel posted an incorrect number of points, as always when I am in the situation of a pre-paid stay partly with points and partly in cash. 

Second stay in this hotel, and 1st time as Diamond member. It was a 2 night stay. As I reported in the Diamond thread, it was great stay and Diamond status really means something in this hotel.

Check In

For people who are familiar with Dubai, you know that flights are often at inconvenient times, hotel constraints-wise. That was my case as I was landing in DXB very early (around 5 am) and I was leaving DXB at 1:30 am, so I was very interested in (very) early check-in and (very) late check-out. I know I was pushing hard in that case.

A few days before arrival, I contacted the hotel by email requesting what would be the earliest possible check-in time knowing a likely arrival time at hotel around 6 am, and they replied very quickly that instructions have been made to front desk staff to have my room ready at this time. Great answer and they honored their promise as my room was indeed ready and, cherry on the cake, I was told I was upgraded to Opera suite (from Luxury room booked), so that was a double or triple upgrade. Drink voucher was given (usable at the poolside bar, at the “Above” bar/club, restaurant, but also with room service).

So I went straight to my suite to finish the short night started in-flight.

Room

The room was very nice and large. 1st room has a separate toilet.

The welcome amenity was a bit minimal I would say, especially when you compare it to the one in the review of my 1st stay.

A lot of space also in the bedroom part. Huge bathroom (unfortunately, it seems that Lanvin products have now invaded all Sofitels, replacing Hermès, even in suites). One criticism I could make in the room : zero USP/power ports available on bed sides. Only available ones are near the desk.

I can say I was a very happy guest in this room!!

Pool

I already posted some pictures of the pool in my 1st review, but here are some more ;)

I used the drink voucher at the Above bar/club located on 5th floor adjacent to the pool.

Club Millésime

Among the changes since my 1st stay, the club Millésime is not anymore on the ground floor and this is a more than welcomed change. t is now on the 3rd floor at the place of the former Lebanese restaurant. This restaurant was huge, so it means that the Club has a lot of space. 

BF and evening cocktails food offering have been also improved. The staff was very nice and in total care attitude, very customer-friendly. For BF, you can also order of course any warm items that are prepared on-site (there is a kitchen as it was a restaurant before).

The day before leaving, during evening cocktail time, I asked at the lounge about late checkout (I mentioned having a very late flight). After a quick call to a manager, I was old I can keep the room until 6 pm and then stay at the lounge until closing time (11 pm) if I wish. This was really great and I want to address my sincere thanks to the lounge staff : Joan, Abbas and Abdou for their kindness and their sense of service.

Overall

Overall a great stay in a hotel where top ALL status means something. I will come back !!

Satellite note : one week post stay, points have still not been posted