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.