We booked Comfort Inn for 5 nights on hotelclub.net at the airport, about an hour before we showed up at the hotel. No doubt this contributed to the great confusion and a bit of frustration upon our check-in, since our reservation and paid deposit hadn't yet shown up on their system. When we tried to pay the remainder of the balance, the male receptionist insisted we were paying below their acceptable room rate and asked that we pay more, despite our receipt stating exactly what we should be paying and that we'd already paid the deposit, which did add up to the lowest rate the hotel would accept. We were puzzled by his insistence and failure to understand and honour our receipt. We couldn't convince him for about half an hour, but the exchange was polite enough. He spoke to someone several times on the phone to no avail and we were told the manager wasn't available till the next morning. It was after 11pm and at least, he offered us a room in the end, and told us that we can sort it out tomorrow. This situation caused a bit of stress, but we managed to get a decent night's sleep anyway. Next morning, there was a different, lady receptionist on duty and she immediately told us that everything is fine and sorted. Just a misunderstanding. Phew! We have to say though that the male receptionist remained professional at all times. In fact, all the staff that we encountered were great- very helpful with tour advice, directions etc. They also booked our Desert Safari for us.

We don't have many photos of the hotel and the ones we do have may not be that flattering, but the rooms were very comfortable and clean. Everything worked. The selection of TV channels was good- Foxmovies was very entertaining. Every morning, an English newspaper was left at our door- a free service we were totally impressed by. It's a great way to get some insight into Emirati life and issues. However, construction work was going on outside, near our room, as well as renovation works on the same floor or above, so it got noisy after 8:30am. Two nights later, we were offered a different room on the 5th floor instead of the 7th. We didn't ask for it- maybe there were other people complaining? Anyway, our second room was much less spacious, particularly the bathroom which needed more hanging space. Room service here also came much earlier, at about 9am, which was too early for us. Nevertheless, this room was just as comfortable and clean as the last one.

The location is quite excellent- right in front is the Kadooli supermarket. Around the corner is a small mall, where you can have McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Chinese Palace food etc. Best of all, the Union metro is just a short walk to the right of the hotel- across the street via the hanging bridge. This was so convenient and saved us some money. Also, none of the taxi drivers we encountered had any trouble finding the place.

Despite the check-in issue, which wasn't fully the hotel's fault and was dealt with calmly, we'd definitely come back if we were in Dubai again, because of its combination of price, location, helpful staff, good rooms, and the free daily English newspapers. By the way, Dh$10/hr for the internet is comparable to other hotels, but it's much cheaper around the corner, near the hanging bridge and it's not charged by the hour.