The location could not be better right opposite the Dubai Museum and within walking distance of the souqs and the Bastakiya quarter. The pool area was disappointing (rather crumped) although this was more than compensated by the friendliness of the staff and the food in the Chinese / Thai restaurant. The rooms were quiet, comfortable, clean and spacious with a flavour of Arabia which gave a sense of place. Nice stay.

Nice clean and welcoming hotel. This hotel is situated in the old Dubai area near Dubai Creek. It is very conveniant to explore the local area and the taxi's are more than affordable should you wish to go to the new Dubai. We stayed here prior to our cruise and I was really pleased with the service we received and the location of the hotel. We had a drink in the sherlock homes bar where they had some singers performing who where really good. All in all nice experience.

Booked in for 3 nights online (not direct with the Hotel) in a standard room.

Check-in was smooth, although the receptionist was not at all friendly. We were offered a (very) small glass of fruit juice. We didn't know beforehand, but the Hotel requires all guests to put down a 900 dir deposit. We decided to treat ourselves and opted to pay extra to upgrade from our basic room to an executive room.
Our exec room on the 7th floor had a great central view of the Old Fort. The room itself was adequate - clean and comfortable, although the bathroom was a bit small and could have been better lit (plus the bathroom floor got soaked in one corner every time the shower was on).
There was tea / coffee making facilities in the exec room, but no metal teaspoon - only a long thin wooden stirring stick. Our room was an adjoining one and we could hear the guests in the room next door quite clearly.

Having informed them upon booking that it was our first time in Dubai and that we were celebrating my husband's belated birthday, they told us we would have a nice fruit basket and cake in our room. Well, the cake was nice, but the 'fruit basket' consisted of exactly one apple, one orange and one banana - well, I suppose it's the thought that counts!

The exec lounge was 'okay', although the choice for breakfast was very limited and so we chose to have breakfast every morning in the mezzanine floor. The 3 free alcoholic drinks are only served 6-8pm and the canapes were nothing special, nor was there a big selection (there were no nuts or crisps).

Location is on a fairly main road in the old part of Dubai. Taxis are easy and quick - the hotel porters will hail a taxi for you (and all taxis are metered). A taxi to the Mall of Emirates from the Hotel cost approx 55 dir.

We booked 2 tours via the hotel tour organiser:
The Dhow cruise was nice, albeit a little disorganised. The hotel tour organiser had us waiting in our rooms for the driver for far too long - 45mins (she knew we were staying in an exec room and could have told us to wait in the exec lounge).
The Desert Safari trip by Desert Dreams wasn't that great. The actual desert safari driver was unfriendly - he didn't even introduce himself to us. There was so much time spent hanging around with no knowledge from him as to what was next on the itinerary. He even had us waiting for 20-25 minutes after the whole evening had finished (he said he would be 10 minutes!) - apparently he had to make an errand. It was also a cold evening and the hotel tour organiser had not told us (but she told the other guest in our group) to bring a jacket due to the cold desert evenings!
All in all, I cannot recommend Desert Dreams for this trip. They claim it is a 6 hour safari, but actually around 4 hours of it is spent travelling and waiting around. Also, the so-called camel ride was a joke - it's actually a 20 metre ride!

The Sherlock Holmes pub was good. There was live entertainment and a good selection of alcoholic drinks.

We both had a massage at the hotel's spa. I'm a regular for having massages and can quite honestly say that it was not worth the money. The room wasn't appropriate for a calming massage - each massage room had a wall and door made entirely of glass and faced the corridor, which meant you could hear conversations going on in all the other massage rooms!
The massage table was effectively a long bench with no ability to move up or down and was quite hard. The massueuse was 'just okay' - nothing special and certainly did not deliver the 80 minutes that I had paid for (more like 60 minutes actual massage time).

Note that this hotel is very near a large mosque and if you are a light sleeper, you will hear the call to prayer(s).

Check out was again delivered by an unfriendly receptionist (Michelle I think her name was).
Overall, it was a nice stay, but I probably wouldn't stay here again as I would want to experience another part of Dubai.
I would however, recommend it for people who want to experience the older part of Dubai.

I stayed at this hotel for a week, and did not regret. It is an affordable accomodation with good quality. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The hotel has an ok swimmingpool-area, and a little gym.
The neigbourhood, Bur Dubai, is just great, and if feels a bit authentic. I loved to speedwalk in the area and down to the canal. You find all kinds of restaurants nearby the hotel, really convenient.