In a city of over the top hotels with excellent service for high rates - the Tulip Inn has none of the above. Rooms are large, have OK furnishings, free broadband [rare at even the most expensive Dubai hotels] and a nice TV with lots of channels. Room service is edible and reasonably priced - unimpressive. Front desk staff is OK - however the really memorable piece of it all is that the lobby is shared with a local medical clinic - should you fall ill, help is near at hand :)
Extremely convenient if you have business at Dubai Knowledge Village - it is inside DKV and an easy walk to any DKV building.

When I checked in and when I checked out it was with the same girl in the reception. Both times she was having a PRIVATE telecon for 10-15 minutes before she had time for me - She didn't care about the guests at all !

In my room the AC didn't work. Complained twice to the reception (same girl as above) - nothing happened for 12 hours. Complained again when a new receptionist had arrived and got a new room .... where the TV was broken. The room was OK but without daylight/windows.

You had to be very hungry to enjoy the breakfast.

It was a problem getting a Taxi at the hotel - to remote ?.

Next time I'll go somewhere else.

I stayed here because I was attending a conference at Knowledge Village. It is a 5-minute walk to the Auditorium. On the way, there is a foodcourt (student canteen) to get reasonably priced food (Chinese, Labenese, fries, hamburger, sandwiches, etc).

Months before the conference, my hotel booking was confirmed in writing. Then, a few weeks before the conference, the rates were increased by AED100 because 'management decided'. This is despite having taken my visa card number earlier and given me a written confirmation.

I asked for a non smoking room (also confirmed months ahead); but on arrival, was given a smoking room. My whole wardrobe ended up with cigarette smell.

I arrived at 5am and the hotel wanted to charge me full rate for the night before. If I don't want to pay, I can only check in at 2pm. Finally, after some haggling, I paid half rate and checked into the room which was empty anyway.

There is no construction noise now. You can get a good night's sleep.

I was not daunted when told the hotel is far from the downtown core - and this turned out to be the biggest problem. Even though it is only 20 - 30km to downtown, a taxi ride to town between 4pm and 10pm (in the direction of downtown) would take you 2 to 3 HOURS. [Conversely, if you stay in downtown and try to get to Knowledge Village in the morning, expect a 2 hour traffic jam.] After being stuck in the taxi for 2 hours and still had 1 hour to go before reaching the Creek/downtown, I gave up and came back to the hotel. So, I went to Dubai but have not seen Dubai downtown!

Tulip Inn is located within 5 to 10 minute taxi ride from Jumeira beach and the hotels there. It's better to spend your time at Jumeira instead of being stuck in a traffic jam trying to get to downtown. The Royal Mirage has an Arabian Adventures office for you to book tours.

If I am not attending a conference in Knowledge Village, I will not stay at this hotel again. If I am, given the horrendous traffic conditions in Dubai, I would stay here (but only reluctantly).

As the other reviewer said, this is a hotel for business visitors in the area.

Negatives:
-Construction kept us awake at night
-Room service - avoid the food, especially breakfast as the meat is frozen and simply nuked, and often times the sausages were still frozen; also the menu never changes
-Front desk staff - pretty inept, no concierge and simple instructions not followed (e.g., I need a taxi at a certain time, please bring towels, iron was blackened, no foreign adaptors, etc.)
-Far from the downtown core but in the Media City area


Positives:
-the cleaning staff keep the place impecably clean, almost sterile, concrete envt.
-Nice Internet service within room
-bring you a fridge if you ask

Overall the rooms are nice but the service could be greatly improved upon.