We stayed 3 night in a deluxe suite, check in 22 Jan 2012.... simply perfect! It's also true that this is a charme hotel, so please Stupid people that rated very low this place .... Write on google Charme Hotel. Next time book a business Hotel or if you are so rich go to burj Al Arab!?!?
XVA is located in the only and last old part of Dubai, very close to river and creek, but in a very quite spot. Breakfast is simple and fresh done. Staff smiling and polite. We stayed in room 1 but in general all the rooms are not so big due to the old building that was born hundreds year ago not to be an hotel.
If you are a traveller book this Hotel, if you are a turist....

Pretty expensive place for little value. The rooms are small and quirky, which is cool, but they WAY overcharge for it. For over $250 USD a night my first room had no hot water, then I changed rooms and the sink didn't have hot water. It was later fixed, but the staff was a little inexperienced and generally were not overly customer service orientated. When we checked in we were just taken to our room with no explanation of the hotel. For the prices they are charging, they need to get their act together.

The neighborhood is cool, unique, and the hotel could be a very nice boutique hotel- but they need to drop their prices significantly. I don't recommend it unless you get the price down to about $150 USD.

We arrived in Dubai very early in the morning and were lucky to find a parking lot just around the corner (on weekends, parking may be an issues, we felt). The hotel's location is perfect to discover Bur Dubai and Deira.
We were pleasantly surprised that our room was already avalable ro check in. The room (deluxe) was located next to the courtyard which we first thought might be noisy at night, but it wasn't at all. The room was clean and well furnished. Breakfast was small but tasty, and the lemon mint juice just great.
The highlight of our stay was a cruise on the Dubai Creek on a dhow owned by the hotel that we booked for celebrating a visiting friend's birthday. The cruise was perfectly arranged by the hotel staff, with dinner aboard including a birthday cake. It was just plain fun to cruise along with four people on a dhow that could easily accomodate 20 passengers.
Thank you, Salim!

XVA Gallery Hotel is no doubt a very a beautiful place which is decorated tastefully. Unlike the other mega hotels, it nicely preserves the Arab-feel to the place at the same time adding a modern arty touch to it.

It's located in the Bastakiya quarter. It's difficult to locate for first time visitors. Cars and taxis cannot access the hotel directly (only for pedestrians), guests will be dropped off at the entrance opposite the post office. Our experience in locating the place was not a pleasant one, the taxi driver could not find the place, after asking around, no one seemed to know either (most people in Dubai seemed to be tourists or foreign employees!), after calling the hotel, the directions given by the staff were just not clear as the staff themselves could not really describe the location properly. I would suggest for any first time guests to request a hotel staff to wait for them at a designated area to avoid the excess taxifare and the frustration. It took us more than an hour to locate the place when in fact the taxi ride was supposed to be only 15 minutes.

The check-in was quick and we were invited to enjoy a "light" breakfast. We were given our room within an hour. From the outset, the room looked clean and the sheets seemed fresh. After we returned to the hotel in the evening, we found 3 silverfish wriggling on the pillow and the duvet cover! It was a real rude shock to us. The bathroom seemed well-stocked with their "house" toiletries, but after 5 minutes into the shower, there was no hot water. As the rooms all face the courtyard, if there are groups of visitors chatting in the courtyard, the sound echoes in the whole area.

The breakfast is included in the daily room rates but it is somewhat simple with a choice of omelette or pancake, coffee or tea, a juice and pita bread with cream cheese.

The location is very good, it's only 10 minutes taxi ride away from the Downtown area but it's just a 5 minutes walk away to the creek, the abra and the souq. They do not have a bar and do not serve any alcohol beverages.

The hotel has so much potential and the staff seemed to be trying their best. I hope the management will fix the teething problems mentioned and provide their staff with proper training.