W Dubai The Palm = Fitting Hotel for the Dubai Glitz

100   Recommended
Marvelous Suite
July 12, 2019 by

 Map | 2 Reviews | 100% Recommended
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W Dubai - The Palm
 Map | 2 Reviews | 100% Recommended

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Marvelous Suite

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Marvelous Suite

I have had my eyes on W Dubai The Palm since it opened a few months ago.  We almost did not stay there but fortunately it all fell into place and we had a great stay. In my opinion Dubai is one of the best cities in the world for hotel hospitality and over the top experiences; while W The Palm still has some minor issues to iron out, it is on track to become a world class W property and I am confident it will be far more successful than the previous W Dubai which has since been deflagged.  While I am not as much of a Dubai hotel expert as some others, I have stayed at enough hotels in Dubai to have an idea of the local market, for example I stayed at Grosvenor House, Grand Hyatt, Conrad, and a couple of Hiltons.  In addition, I have stayed at a few Ws in the last 12 months (Verbier, Amman, Bangkok) so that is also enough to have perspective for what a W brand hotel is expected to offer.  It’s with that in mind that I can highly recommend W Dubai The Palm.  

Sponsorship of Immigration Visa

My wife needs a visa to enter the UAE.  We often visit a couple different hotels in the country when we go there and the way it normally works is that the first hotel must sponsor the visa if guests are not flying with Emirates.  This is what we did last year when we stayed at Grand Hyatt Dubai followed by Le Meridien Al Aqah: GH provided the visa sponsorship no problem.  I already had a 5-night stay booked at Al Maha and I needed 3 nights in Dubai prior to that.  I booked at W and asked my Ambassador to contact the hotel for the visa sponsorship.  We did not get a response and my Ambassador ended up asking them three times before they finally contacted me.  They responded that they can do so only if we stay at W during our entire stay in the UAE, but that as an exception they would give us the sponsorship if we had more nights at W than at other hotels.  This was not working for me, the split 3-5 nights was already set so I responded that I was disappointed and that my dates were not flexible, so I told them I had no choice but to cancel and book somewhere else.  I had moved on and I asked Al Maha if they could provide the visa sponsorship even though we were staying there second in the country, not first. They kindly agreed to do so, and later on I booked at Fairmont for my first 3 nights instead of W with a very low Best Rate Guarantee rate in a suite to boot so it was a decent alternative to W. Interestingly, W contacted me again and told me they were sorry that I had cancelled and offered to provide the visa sponsorship even if we stayed only 3 nights.  They also mentioned that they never got the first two e-mails from my Ambassador otherwise they would not have waited so long before answering. Given the frequent e-mail problems with Ambassadors I actually believed them but I answered that I already booked at Fairmont instead and that the visa was all set.  However out of curiosity I asked what kind of upgrades they normally give to Ambassador Elite guests because in July it’s low season and hotels in Dubai tend to be quite generous with upgrades.  They told me that they would be able to upgrade me into a suite if I changed my mind and rebooked there.  I was then back to my original preference of W over Fairmont, so I cancelled Fairmont and booked at W a second time.  

Room

Right after I booked, they promptly upgraded me from the entry level room to the “Fantastic Suite” room type which is above the “W suite” and the “Cool Corner Suite”.  I assumed that it was a way to make up for their earlier fumbling issue on the visa therefore I do not think this is the normal upgrade by any means, but to put icing on the cake by the time I checked in I was further upgraded to the Marvelous Suite.  It was probably one of the best upgrade I ever received anywhere, even better than some Presidential Suites I received at other hotels in the past.  

The Marvelous Suite is absolutely massive with 184 square meters in total and is ideal for groups who want to organize a party. The living area is enormous with a large sofa, dining table with many chairs, wet bar, Bose portable speaker to connect to electronics and play music, and huge TV suitable given the size of that room.  There is a half bathroom behind the living room and it is convenient that there is not only a sink in the toilet enclosure, but another sink right outside the toilet so guests could access a sink even if the half bath is occupied.  That is in addition to the sink in the bar area. There are a couple of fridges one for soft drinks and one for alcoholic beverages.  The entire area looks great especially with the curved walls with shiny mirror tiles with colors matching with the sofa and other furniture.  If there is one weakness it would be the entrance to the room can be quite dark due to the black floor tiles everywhere and also black walls, compounded by the fact that there is a wall right in front of the entrance so you do not get natural light there.  Even during the day we had to turn the lights on.  I guess the advantage is that a party would remain undisturbed whenever someone comes in or out of the room, either guests or hotel personnel because the entrance door is out of sight.

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The bedroom and main bathroom area are completely isolated from the living room via two doors which you can lock so guests in the bedroom can have privacy from the rest of the party.  In the bedroom there is a large bath in front of the bed and you find the same style of curved walls as in the living room.  Behind the bedroom there is a very long hallway with closets on the entire length of the wall until you reach the vanity area and the second toilet.  Unlike the toilet near the living room, this toilet does not have a sink but it has a bidet.  The shower has a tinted glass which you can see a bit through from the entrance side, but not from the bed side because the glass there is more opaque.  The shower is actually a dual rain shower where you can set different temperatures for each, and there are also a couple of hand showers which can also work at the same time as the rain showers.  It is a great place for a couple to shower together which reminded me of the shower in the suite at Le Meridien Bangkok, but it’s even better in W Dubai.  The bedroom also has floor tiles everywhere with similar dark color tone and it looks slick overall.  One minor issue is that the room could probably use some more power plugs and USB ports by the bedside which would be an easy fix.

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In front of both the living room and bedroom there are floor to ceiling patio doors and a terrace on the entire length of the room as well. The patio doors are thick and heavy – similar to what you can find in Switzerland quality hotels.  

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Air conditioning was very strong in our room, in fact so strong that I suspect there might be an issue with the temperature control.  Even when moving the temp up to 25C or higher it was still very cold in the room so during the day we just turned off AC and the room was fine.  We only used AC in the night.  These minor bugs are typical of hotels still in their growing phase and I do not think this is going to be a long term problem; anyway I prefer AC which is too strong rather than too weak if staying in Dubai in the middle of July! 

This being a new and modern hotel, there are other electronic features such as wall panels to open/close curtains or sheers. Regarding the light controls you can only turn them on/off in groups rather than each individually, I guess since there are so many of them everywhere.  So if you wanted a reading light in the bed, then lights above the bathtub would turn on as well.  There were different settings such as “soft & seductive” and “relaxed & playful” which offered different choices for the mood of the room.  

During our first two nights there was no special event in the nightclub and we did not hear noise from our room during the night. On the third night it was “Ladies Night” which we intended to attend in rooftop SoBe, but perhaps we enjoyed our time at the pool too much during that afternoon and early evening, combined with jetlag we just crashed and went to sleep earlier than expected and did not make it to the bar.  Unlike the first two nights, we could hear music from the bar so depending on the day of the week, this hotel might not be the best for a quiet night of sleep, but at the risk of stating the obvious, people who want peace would possibly not book at W anyway and could find a more boring hotel somewhere else instead.  We could sleep fine despite the noise but I should note it objectively in my review nonetheless.  

Dining

Breakfast was less of a highlight than the room unfortunately particularly when comparing with breakfast in other Dubai hotels, which can be quite impressive.  First the good: in terms of vegetables W has lots of offerings including a salad bar, also several vegetarian cooked dishes and healthy cold salads such as quinoa salad, etc.  One morning they had fried rice and a fried noodles dish, but another morning no such thing and generally speaking the spread is not nearly as great as other hotels in Dubai especially if you are looking for dishes with fish, chicken, beef, shrimps, etc.  I would rank W the last of the Dubai hotels I have been before.  Usually Dubai breakfast buffets are enormous with lots of choices for all tastes and they can thoroughly impress a guest who has never been there before so a first timer in Dubai would probably be satisfied with W’s breakfast but if you compare with local competitors the choices are lacking. The breakfast at Grosvenor House is significantly better, I still remember the spicy crab salad for example, which there is nothing of the sort at W.  Also the choice of fruits at W is basic and similar to what you could find at a hotel in North America.  There were no special exotic fruits such as mangoes, pomelo, mangosteens, dragon fruits, passion fruits, etc. which you can often find at competitors.  One positive would be for people with a sweet tooth: lots of pastries available, and even sorbet for breakfast!  Also the breakfast room (Liv restaurant) has a good seating arrangement and did not feel crowded at all, unlike some hotels where the space is cramped and can be less pleasant.

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We ordered room service a couple of times and the quality was good.  Same for the food by the pool which was fresh and delicious.  I found prices to be reasonable for a hotel where you are partially captive on The Palm.  In addition, at the moment Marriott members also get a 30% discount on food & beverage (except room service) in most Middle East hotels until mid September, so bottom line prices are very good considering the venue.   

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Pool

The swimming pool is great with several subdivisions and several areas of a different style, including an adult only area, and one other pool area was within glass walls and probably for parties that book it specifically.  Cabanas can be rented by hotel guests with a minimum spend of 500 AED / 1000 AED (week days / weekends), otherwise guests can use standard lounge chairs for free. There are also several seating pods in the water.

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Beach

The beach is equally great as the pool: the beach at W is more private and cleaner than busier beaches for example the one at Hilton Jumeirah or Royal Meridien (which you can access from Grosvenor House) close to the marina where each hotel has their own beach area but given the density of hotels and the size of those hotels, the end result is that the beach is more crowded. At W the beach felt more exclusive, although they open it to outside guests for a fee so I can imagine that in high season it could get more crowded than what we experienced.  

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Service

Service is good at W, in some ways excellent, but not universally so therefore it’s still work in progress; I suspect that in a few months it will be a better oiled machine.  There was the initial issue about the visa, however once we were all set with our reservation, Ivona was great to prepare our arrival including the upgrade.  Upon arrival Emmanuel and Adnan gave us a warm welcome to the hotel and helped with our luggage.  On the first morning for breakfast nobody came to offer us coffee or something else to drink.  On the second morning service was better and I was even addressed by name so their learning curve was quick.  At the pool, our server Moussa had the kind of personality which is a perfect fit for a W brand hotel – young, energetic, friendly, funny, and personable.  He used to work at Burj Al Arab hotel so he knows about luxury hotels and he was able to enhance our afternoon by the pool to ensure we had a great time.   We also received some gifts and souvenirs of the hotel which was a nice touch.  Upon departure the manager of rooms Sergio came to greet us (he was off the days prior) and chatted about our impressions of the hotel and comparisons with other hotels in Dubai.  

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Location

The Palm location has positives and negatives, depending on one’s purpose in Dubai.  One day we had some business in the city center and the only viable transportation is taxi (no public transport) which takes a bit under 30 minutes so not exactly the most convenient.  However once you are on the hotel grounds and intend to stay there and relax, as pointed out above the entire area is more isolated and exclusive including the superior beach.  I also prefer the views from The Palm because you can see the Dubai skyline.

Overall

All in all the new W was fantastic for us and we will be back for sure.  There are lots of great options in Dubai but in my opinion W can provide a memorable experience in ways that other properties cannot.  If they can improve their breakfast and a few minor service issues and room issues which are normal for new hotels, they will position themselves to provide the best that a W brand hotel was designed for.

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