We visited Dubai on the first weekend of Feb-2011. It is a time when Dubai and the Middle East has good weather and as a result Dubai was extremely busy. We selected from an array of hotels Holiday Inn based on my previous good experience with Holiday Inn. But I must say this one lacked in the kind of service we expected. Murphy's law took complete control.

We had specifically requested for a king sized bed and all I get is 2 separate single beds. Also, there were no other rooms free with a double bed. All we had to make do was with a makeshift double bed.
The hotel "restaurant" on the top floor was mediocre in terms of ambiance. The breakfast was average.

Overall, I would say that it was just not value for money. I could have rather stayed at a simple B&B hotel instead.

holiday inn downtown dubai seems like an old hotel with no major renovation done for quite some time. i was upgraded to an executive room, though, with gave me internet access. it is also near to the al rigga train station, another plus factor. breakfast was so-so.

Stayed here on our way back from Australia, the hotel is looking a bit tired and dated, especially the roof top pool area, it is not dirty or anything just a bit dated.
However, the staff really made up for this they were friendly, helpfull and pleasant throughout the stay.
Value for money is second to none, the food was nice, hot and tasty with a buffet option available evening meal for 65 d's (around £8) for as much as you could eat.
Breakfast was plentyfull and hot, individual eggs cooked however you wanted them.

Make sure you only use registered taxi's at the airport, we got into a car, on arrival at the hotel, the driver asked for 120d's for the trip and would I pay him in the car so no one could see, it took around 15 mins and should of cost less than 35d's (we didn't pay !!!!).
The registered taxi's all have coloured roofs, they are not plain coloured cars .....

I moved to this hotel from the Holiday Inn Express Jumeriah Beach, and don't feel I make a good move in terms of both quality and value for money. This hotel needs an makeover in the communal areas. The bar, the reception and the resteraunts are all very old and shabby. My bedroom was very good, but they may have been because it was on the exective floor. The swimming pool on the roof is tiny, and in need of some care; it's not a place to hangout.

My opinion of this hotel was set from the off by the reception, the man checking me in had to refer every single simple question - "is there broadband" (no) ? "is breakfast included" (no) ? to the manager stood next to him, even though the manager was doing nothing he continued to ignore his floundering colleague and carried on playing on his computer. If I was more sure of the cultural rules I'd have probably have lost my temper with their behaviour, as it was a bit my lip and suffered in silence. Of the six of seven members of reception I dealt with over the two days, I would say only two of them know their jobs well enough.

Best thing about this hotel is the night club on the first, not advertised at the front desk - I only found it by accident. It's hosted by a great phillipino band and dance troupe who put on a great event until 3am; playing a whole spectrum of western tunes. Don't know where they got the energy from. There is also an Indian dance club and a Lebanese (?) club on the same floor.