In a way this Hotel (we stayed at the Arabian Court) should be awarded 5 stars. However, unlucky for the hotel complex which has been at that location a while, the surroundings have changed dramatically, rendering the "naturaly beauty" less appealing.

First the good/excellent stuff: The decor (arabian of course) was stunning, especially in the lobby area. The food in the restaurants was very good quality (we were able to try out restaurants in the Palace). Even the "standard" buffet at the Arabian Court was excellent. Some of the restaurant locations were stunning, being poolside oder directly on the beach.

Room service was impeccable and this - in my opinion - is very important when weather is extremely hot and sticky and you're travelling with small kids. I have travelled a lot and this service was near on one of the best. Discreet, but attentative. The rooms could have been slightly larger as we were staying there with our four year old son and things were slightly cramped. Please do not opt for a ground room floor, always up and with balcony.

The hotel grounds were wonderful. Trim gardens, beautiful pool areas and again fine poolside service. The Arabian court pool was wonderful for small children as they had a huge area to paddle. Kids Club was also great even though we tried it out a little too late.

The downfalls: the natural beach is unfortunately ruined by the palm that is directly in view. The water quality was ok, but because there wasn't much tide movement it was like bathing in a hot bath tub (not refreshing). Also too many jelly fish which is probably due to the above. Before the palm (we had previously visited Dubai before) this strip of beaches was much nicer. Further to this, there is some huge concrete parking building right by the hotel and of course the freeway leading to the palm. But in general this concrete oblivion is typically Dubai, so I suppose you get what you expect.

Overall this hotel is a fantastic and hard-to-come-by mixture of luxury hotel with good food where small kids are still exceedingly welcome and positively enjoyed. Great for all of us! Would return.

We stayed at the Palace in November, so I apologise for not submitting a review earlier - pressure of work, Christmas etc! There is very little to say about the One and Only Royal Mirage except that it was just superb in most respects. The welcome was professional and low key and they had heeded our request for a top floor room. The room itself was very large and well equipped. There was a decent sized balcony and the bathroom was sumptuous with high-end products and well decorated - bathrobes were so soft!

We dined at the buffet the night we arrived since we were on the complimentary HB offer and found the choice of starters and mains someahat limited in choice but high in quality. Deserts decidely sparse but again high quality but no ice cream - and this restaurant has an Italianate theme - with no gelato!! The restaurant itself had a lovely feel to it, much more like a non hotel restaurant and the service was excellent. We could have chosen from the a la carte menu, but wanted to see how the buffet fared. This was one of 2 breakfast buffets and we tried them both and, apart from the toasters in both, again found them adequate as opposed to outstanding; perhaps too small to offer more?

The pool areas were provided with plent of sun loungers but there was so many mature palms it made it difficult to select a spot which wasn't in the shade, so we opted for the edge of the green and all day sun. Nice touches of cool fruit mid afternoon, or sunglass cleaning, and free water regulalrly topped up. The beach wasn't too crowded and the sand was white and soft. Plenty of sunloungers and not overshadowed by palms, but provided with large beach umbrellas.

I visited the gym which was bijou but well equipped with high tech equipment and opened early at 07.00. There was a sauna and showers. Didn't visit the spa so couldn't comment on that.

We ate around the resort during the week as the HB offer provides for either full dining in some restaurants or supplement dining in others. The choice therefore was enormous. We ate in most of the restaurants and found the food to be excellent as was the service. Our favourite was the steak and seafood grill at the Palace, but we did venture to the Arabian Court to sample their restaurants which were also amazingly good. Prices for (alcoholic) drinks was astronomical and we didn't imbibe.

Overall this was a very relaxing holiday with no complaints and, other than the limitations of the Buffet/breakfast, was excellent in all other respect. We will probably return and are considering our options for a spring beak an O&O is top of our list.

me and my wife spent one week at Arabian court, nice room, rich breakfast, considerable variety of options for dinner inside the property, amazing service. I was positively impressed that even if the property is huge you can reach all you need in a few steps (room/pool/breakfast/lobby). The staff is delighted to serve you with natural dedication.

What can I say about One and Only in Dubai...its stunning, wonderful, great food, great staff, great location, exotic rooms, wonderful pools and surroundings. We stopped in Dubai for 3 days before heading out to the Maldives, and Dubai is exactly what I expected. Very busy and expensive you if want to do excursions. We were there during their Ramadan so you need to be careful not to disrespect their culture. You cannot eat after the sun rises and if you do you cannot eat in public. there are some restaurants that offer a lunch special but they put black covers over the window. If you are a woman, you need to be covered. I was wearing a white long sleeve blouse and jeans. you cannot show your shoulders or knees.
While we were there, we visited Atlantis, there you can wear whatever you want. Atlantis is a must see and is a lot of fun. its so hot there that you want to be in the water all day long. Make sure you wear flip flop when you go because the cements at the water park gets so hot that it burns your feet. We also took a city took which was fun and interesting. Since the recession hit Dubai, a lot of building are half build or are abandoned. The malls are great but expensive. You can get the same stuff here for much lower. Overall, it was a great place to visit but you only need 3 or 4 days there.