My sister and I stayed at this hotel for a few hours due to a missed connection on to Sydney. Out Emirates flight had left Manchester late due to a problem loading First Class passengers on to the A380 and although we made time on the flight it appears that we had missed our landing slot and therefore missed our connecting flight to Sydney. Emirates staff were available as soon as we had landed and advised us that we had missed the connection and the next flight available was at 10am in the morning, it was now just gone 1am so we were entitled to a hotel stay.
Emirates staff tended not to get into conversation with us while changing our flights over and they did try to seat myself and my sister apart on our onward journey, I picked up on this and queried them, I am glad that I did as he rectified it after a small disagreement so make sure you are aware if travelling with friends and family and this happens to you.
We were escorted to the hotel in a mini bus with other travellers in the same position. First impressions were good and check in was dealt with quickly where we were allocated rooms and given food vouchers. We were entitled to a snack at the restaurant, we had a choice of sandwiches, crisps and drinks. A bit odd eating a sandwich at approx 2am which turned out to be very stale, probably left over from the lunchtime sitting earlier that day I would have thought. Drinks were self serve and they had a variety of soft drinks, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. We were also entitled to Breakfast the following morning before our onward flight. Breakfast was better than the snack we had recieved during the night. Breakfast was a buffet breakfast and the choice was sufficient.
As the hotel is an Emirates endorsed hotel I was expecting a much higher standard. Both the Restaurant and the room itself was quite dirty. Odd stains on the restaurant walls and the floor could have done with a brush and mop. The bathroom was clean however and sufficient for a few hours transit. The sofa in the room had stains on it as other reviewers have mentioned so this appears would be the case in many of the rooms at the hotel. The room was however made up for our arrival and was sufficient to get some sleep during our transit. A wake up call was provided for us to ensure we did not miss our transfer back to the airport.
I am glad this happened at the beginning of our holiday and not on our return as I would have been less than amused if we had been placed in this hotel after a 13 hour flight from Brisbane, but as we were on our outward journey and looking forward to reaching Australia it didnt effect us too badly.
On our return we decided to make a 2 night stop over in Dubai and chose The Meydan Hotel which is absolutely fabulous and much more what I was expecting from Dubai standards. It was also fantastically priced and provided shuttles in and out of the city. See my Meydan review for more.
I would never choose to stay in this hotel for a short break in Dubai regardless of cost. Afterall, I suppose Emirates are just fulfulling their duty in offering this hotel.
- Dubai Copthorne Hotel
