I stayed at the Golden Sands 5, for 5 nights.

The rooms are old, and you could easily see that they have not been renovated for a long time. The rooms where clean.

I like the size of the rooms, but could have wanted a softer bed. The bed was hard, and so was the pillows.

Loved that it had a small kitchen, but I did only use the fridge.

We had the breakfast inkluded, but only used it one morning. Both me and my daughter think it was not that much to choose from. And the breakfast restaurant was so crowded, and I could not leave my table to get more to drink without anybody taking my table. After that experience, we decided to go to the supermaket to get breakfast.

My daughter thinks it was a bit far to walk to the metro station. But for families without kids, the 15 min. walk is no problem.

It is about 10-15 min. walk from Burj juman center, where you have different restaurants.

There are two pool areas, one next to the restaurant. It is very small, and a lot of pigeons poo around it, so not that pleasant.

We used the pool on the rooftop, it was big and had a lifeguard that was looking over it (almost all the time). My daughter loved the pool, and I had problems getting here up. The downside on the pool, was that the tiles/floor around it, where the sunbeds where, was dirty. So when you got up of the pool, and walked to your sunbed, your feets where black underneath. There where not enough sunbeds, to all of the persons wanting to use them. So if we wanted a sunbed we had to go up early to get one.

We had booked Golden Sands 3 for a month, as we were travelling with kids and wanted the en-suite kitchen facility. The one bedroom room offers you a private bedroom with an attached bath and an additional two beds, and one sofa - bed, along with a mini kitchen and separate bath. Though the kitchen can probably be best used for breakfast only, as it is not fully equipped. The rooms are not the cleanest and the service is very slow.
The location, although central,is a fifteen minute walk to the train station though taxis are available easily. It also has close access to 2 different grocery stores and a pharmacy and a supermarket. A fifteen minute walk will take you to a range of different cuisine restaurants with a delivery facility. Okay for a short trip without kids.

If you are staying in Dubai for a significant length of time but not long enough to justify renting a place for 12 months the Golden Sands is a solid option. If you don't like to look after yourself don't go - it is NOT a hotel and is not really geared up to be one although they will do your laundry if you can't (there is a washer/dryer in the room) and there is a "cafe"

The following review applies to GS 3 - I haven't stayed at GS 10 for a while so will review that if/when I next stay there but a few years ago it was of a much higher quality in terms of rooms - all other comments still apply.

It is clean and good value and gives you some independence. I would NOT use this place as a hotel for a few days but when in town for 2-3 weeks it makes total sense since being in the same hotel for that length of time can drive you round the bend. A bit spartan but that is reflected in the price.

If you are a drinker make sure you raid Duty Free on the way in!

Positives - it's clean and good value, near a big Spinneys (and a couple of smaller supermarkets) and Bargeman Mall, the internet (wired in room) is both excellent quality - better than the Interconti and 4 points - and free (well done Golden Sands - very refreshing), well equipped, good TVs with good channel choice, almost all taxi drivers know where it is

Negatives - you are in Bur Dubai and it can be a pain to get a taxi, it is full of budget travellers, the service is average, there is no bar, restaurant or room service, it can be a bit noisy at times since doors are made of cardboard apparently, they will tuck you up with a dodgy room if they can so be robust when checking in, immediate area is pretty bleak. NOT a good place for a family unless you are on a serious budget since pool is very average and it's nowhere near beaches or much else to do but fine for business and/or solo or a couple.

Stayed in October, 2011. Chose this place based on friends' suggestion. And it was a good decision to book this place. We stayed in GS-5. Room was decent and it had washing machine, oven, fridge, iron, etc. The food was good. Even the service was good. The location is also very good. It is quite close form many places that you would want visit; like malls, etc.
Breakfast was included in the package and was good. The food ordered once in the room was also very good and the quantity was enough.
There's a small super market called Grand across the road. You can buy stuff like soaps, water from here very cheap. The restaurant next to it is also good and serves nice indian veg. non veg food.