This 5-room motel is a great value for money. I've yet to find a hotel in Dubai that can match the price for this hidden gem.

It does not offer any of the usual 5 star hotel facilties; no 5 star dining, no swimming pool, & no butlers.

What is does have is good friendly staff who were willing to go out of their way to help you. The rooms are clean. The acrhitecture IS Dubai, not the generic hotel rooms you get all over the world. This motel is within the Al-Ahmadiya/Heritage House Museum complex, thus giving the the phrase 'Night at the Museum' a reality.

Airport transfer were provided, but we had missed him. My dad who arrived later during the day had no problems though. Point to remember, if the rates include airport transfer, get the motel's phone number and call them if you did not find your driver. He's there somewhere in the crowd of other hotel pickups.

Location may be difficult to explain to taxi drivers, but simply tell them to get to the 'Al-Ahmadiya School Museum'. This disadvantage is also the plus point. It's in the centre of Al-Ras and within stricking distance to the Gold, Spice and Naif souqs.

Photos of my trip to Dubai/Al-Hijaz Motel:
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A pick up service is purportedly to be available as stated in the email, but none when we arrived at night. Do direct the cabby to Al Ras , Al Ahmadiyya Museum about 40 AED. Cabbies can see the signboard from the primary road directing to the museum. You have to alight along the road as the motel is at the museum compound.

We got to know this hotel through Lonely Planet Best of Dubai and got the help of our card concierge service to call them up.
Location wise is good as its at the Deira souq area. You wont be bored at night. It has an internet "cafe" that is fully occupied at night with foreign workers from India etc.

We were assigned a family "suite" which is spacious with clean bathroom. Dun expect nice curtains,beddings, carpeted floor and nice toiletries. But I certainly feel that it is overpriced even for a double. You can get a good deal for St George's,a hotel down the road, from priceline or octopus with all the services and other decent frills. . Regretted for choosing Al Hijazz.

As a frequent traveller with experiences in living from a dinghy room with good service to a 5* accommodation. With a price of Euros $150. One could get a 4* suite room in a heritage hotel in Singapore, Marrakech, Istanbul and lisbon. These are the expensive cities that I've stayed more than twice. The plus point of Al Hijazz is that it is in a beautifully restored house.

Service was of third world standard. It is a pity that YWCA Kolkata, India is even of better service from reception, calling of taxis,help and to the breakfast table. Big question...Is Al Hijaz an auberge de jeunes or heritage motel?

Breakfast is just two strawberry jam buns for each person, coffee/tea and orange juice. we were offered cups of complimentary tea/coffee which were never served after waited for 40 minutes at the courtyard. We saw an Indian "brewing" the tea, gone, came back.... and its time for us to leave the motel.

No offer is given to help with the luggage upon checkout except for a courtesy call for a cab. The cabby cursed the hotel when he had to wait 30mins along the road and was fined 200AED. No one at reception responded to the driver's call. We left with a bad experience of the poor motel service. A total ripped off!

A great hotel for those looking for the authentic experience in Dubai. Located next to the Gold Souk, it was great for exploring. Air conditioned and with an internet cafe inside. Set around a quiet courtyard with no external windows (Yes, it sounds strange - but that's how it used to be!). Complete with lanterns and dark wooden furniture. This is not the place to go if you're looking for a relaxed beach vacation - but an excellent choice for backpackers or those just wanting a little something more.

On our way to Germany my wife and i decided to spend 4 nights in Dubai. I had heard there was alot of exciting things happening so wanted to have a good look around. The first thing we organised was accomodation and discovered that accomodation anywhere in Dubai is not cheap! After searching the internet we found Al Hijaz Motel (---), and given that we only wanted a clean place to sleep (as we would be out for most of the time) we booked it, the motel responded to our emails.
Point to note, when you get to the airport head straight for the legitimate taxi rank (if your hotel cannot pick you up, Al Hijaz does not have a pickup service). Don't get suckered into getting into a "private car" like we did. It cost us AUS$30 to get to the Motel when a taxi would have cost half that!
One thing i realised is that, not many people know where Al Hijaz is, so take along the address with you in case you have to tell your taxi the exact address. We found Alhijaz to be centrally located in Dubai, in the old city of Al Ras. You have to walk down a small walk way off the street to get to it. The
building is a restored heritage building leased out from the goverment as a motel.

Point to note, the website says 10% service charge, its actually 20% when you get there, but at the end of the day, much cheaper than most other places.

Given we could not find any reviews on this motel, we were pleasantly surprised that the building was in quite good condition. I'd class it as budget 2 star, but what you get for your money is the chance to stay in a historic building with very large rooms, great atmosphere and a resonably modern bath room with shower and toilet.

The door to our room was opened and locked using a sliding bolt and padlock (interesting). The room we stayed in had a great 4 poster queen and 3 air conditioners !!!

All in all, if your after budget accomodation and just want something affordable and clean, Al Hijaz is a nice place to stay.

While in Dubai we did the big bus tour, a great way to see the sights cheaply over a 24 hour period. Also point to note, alot of "around the clock" construction is going on in Dubai, and alot of it around the expensive resorts, so if your looking to
stay in 5 star, many of the resorts especially along the beach front are surrounded by construction. Al Hijaz was not.

Pro's
Good location
Good price
North African Food prepared in the restauant is delicious!
Internet cafe within motel is cheap and handy
Room size is large and 3 air cons
bed was confortable
room was clean
very safe
Manager "Sal" very helpful and friendly
Right next door to the famous Gold Souk

Con's
Alot of guests are north african, and although very friendly, some nights it was a bit noisy in the lobby area.
Right next door to Mosque so expect the regular "call to prayer" wailing coming through the next door megaphones.
Early morning call to prayer woke us up on the first morning.

We had a great time in Dubai, one of our highlights was booking an overnight stay in the desert with Arabian Adventures called Starlight Express. It was unforgetable (if you dont mind roughing it a bit!)
Dubai is a great place to visit, we would highly recommend it to anyone. We found it to be very safe.