The bedroom was clean and compared to a Travel Inn back here in the UK. The bathroom required a refurb, the bath tub was cracked and patched up with silicone and the tub edges were a bit mouldy. When the shower was in the holder it sprayed the water onto the opposite wall so you would have to hold the shower. The aircon didn’t work in the room and luckily it didn’t take them long to fix. The room has a television and a small fridge which was ideal to store cold drinks. The television has about two English channels and several Asian channels. But you don’t go on holiday to watch television.

The breakfast room is on the first floor and once again the area was very clean and tidy. The only complain I had about the breakfast was food range was limited and orientated to Asian food. For dinner we ate out all the time as there was a number of restaurants within walking distance of the hotel; McDonald’s, Burger King, Fish and Chippy, Pizza Hut, Chillis and Nando’s.

There are two clubs on the ground floor and one on the fourth floor. From reading previous reviews I requested that I wanted a room on the second floor as the clubs can get a bit noisy.

The receptionist could be a little proactive - the day before the last day I placed a request with reception to order a taxi to the airport. On the day of checking out I asked if they booked my taxi and they said no, they couldn’t get through and tried several times. We ended up flagging down a taxi from the main road, which took 30mins. They could have told me this a bit earlier as we got a little delayed for checking in at the airport. At the checkout we also found that someone had booked drinks to our room. We said it wasn’t us and the lady at reception was happy to have it removed.

Overall I was happy with the hotel and the service.


Other tips...
There’s a Big Bus Tour that’s similar to the red tourist busses you get in London. We bought our ticket from reception. The tickets are valid for 24 hours and there are two routes, one takes you on the city tour (red route) and the other goes up to the beach passing the Al Burj Arab hotel (blue route). Note that the opening hours for the big bus are 9-5 so it maybe best to use the ticket in one day.
At the Gold Souk you will probably get approached by a number of people of asking if you want to buy fake watches, hand bags or DVD’s. We had a browse but didn’t buy anything, they lead you down some back alleys to a room so don’t be alarmed.
We booked a car for the day for a bargain price from a shop round the corner. The driving can be a little chaotic at times so bare this in mind if you decide to hire one. The excess on the car was 2000 DHS so it can be costly if you do have an accident. The hotel offers a free parking so leave the keys with the car valet person.


Prices of some services (something to compare too)
Metered taxi to Panorama from the airport- 29DHS
Metered taxi from Panorama to the airport- 14DHS
Metered taxi from Gold Souk to Panorama- 10DHS
Car hire (round corner from Panorama) / Mazda 6 - 100DHS
Big Bus Tour - 150DHS