Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach

We decided to stay in Dubai for a couple of nights to break up our journey home from Vietnam and arrived at the Sofitel around 9am after an overnight flight. Firstly, having heard lots about Dubai and the amazing hotels there, we expected the 'wow factor' on arrival in a hotel which claims to be 5 star. We stayed at the St Regis in Abu Dhabi last year and maybe we were naïve but we really did expect the same level of hotel, in reality, the 2 simply do not compare.

Arriving early, we asked about early check in to be told we could have this for an additional charge. The caveat being that we would have to change rooms at check in time at 3pm so not really early check in but more a room we could use to store our luggage! If we weren’t going to be able to settle properly into our room then all we really needed was somewhere we could access to get into our swimwear later on but the receptionist insisted that our only option was to pay for early check in. Not only that but she then tried to get us to pay for 2 rooms as there were 4 of us!!! We booked 2 interconnecting rooms for our stay but were told on check in that they didn’t do this type of room and that she would try and allocate us as close together as possible, however, when we got into our temporary room, this was clearly interconnecting. We walked over the road to explore the local area and have some breakfast before returning to use the pool, advised that we would be contacted when our rooms were ready.

The pool was complete chaos, no loungers, towels strewn everywhere, children running riot, it certainly wasn’t the quiet, relaxing infinity pool experience we envisaged. We ended up sharing 2 loungers between 4. It’s important to add that the pool staff were fabulous, so friendly, patient and worked really hard to try and find loungers for people alongside serving at the bar.

By 3:10pm, when we still hadn’t heard about our rooms, my husband went to enquire and was informed that our rooms weren’t ready. Knowing that we’d been there since early that morning, the hotel had made no attempt to ensure our rooms would at least be ready by check in time and if it hadn’t been for what we think was the general manager overhearing the conversation, they would have left us waiting further. Anyway, a few conversations over the radio and within a couple of minutes both rooms were ready AND they were interconnected as booked. As a token of goodwill, we were offered late check out- we didn’t need late check out but at no point did they consider refunding us our early check in fee! Rooms were comfortable and well equipped, carpet could do with replacing and the corridors could do with a freshen up.

We booked full board but we only had breakfast and evening meals in the restaurant. Food was good quality and the staff were generally lovely. The chefs brought a chef hat out for our daughter to wear, they asked us to take a photo which our son did, seemed nice enough. What we didn’t realise was that they then stood over our son while asking him to upload the picture alongside a review onto TripAdvisor, they then took his phone off him and wrote their own review! Would have been nice if food from the pool bar was included in the full board as we’ve experienced previously but not a game changer for a couple of nights stay.

Walking around the local area, we were frequently invited into shops to try their wares, we expect that out and about, what we didn’t expect was to be mithered as we walked past the shops within the hotel that you can’t avoid as you have to walk past them to get to the lifts. That didn’t sit well with us at all and is definitely not what you would expect in a 5* hotel.

On check out day, we called to request our bags be taken down to reception. A short while later, there was a knock on the door and someone standing there with 2 coffee cups asking if we’d requested extra cups! After a short while, we decided to go down to reception to check out and remind them that we had requested our cases be brought down. Our taxi transfer arrived but still no cases. The concierge said our request was not on their system, while reception insisted it was and there we were stuck in the middle. We were told bags would be 15 minutes, then told by someone else they were on their way, neither was true. Unfortunately, we’d handed our keys back by this time, or we’d have got them ourselves but staff wouldn’t allow us. The same man from check in day was floating around so we told him about the issue and he assured us that our cases were on their way- they weren’t. We were offered a free coffee for the inconvenience, we just wanted our cases and to get in the taxi to the airport. Our driver advised that he had been told there were 20 rooms checking out and one poor lad running all over the hotel collecting baggage. That’s simply poor planning and did nothing more than ensure our final experience of the hotel was as poor as the start. Wouldn’t recommend and wouldn’t return. It’s important to note that Sofitel are now largely franchised and this one is clearly poorly managed.

My husband and I received great service from Kuang at the restaurant this evening. He is a valuable member to this beautiful hotel. We have both had the great privilege to enjoy wonderful service whilst staying here.