Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah

We met Laxmi from Nepal at the restaurant today. She is a very friendly and cultured person. It was lovely to get to know her.

We are regular guest at five star resorts (Bonvoy titanium and Hilton Honors Gold, Accor Diamond) so I have a wide range of comparison.

This place is special.

Lawrence was incredibly attentive and always quick to anticipate our needs at the beach. Super nice with our kids

Abi and Vinay delivered exceptionally fast, friendly, and truly guest-oriented service. We felt very welcome throughout our stay at the Waldorf hotel.

We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria as a family of four, hoping for a relaxing eight days by the pool and beach. Sadly, the hotel just didn’t live up to our expectations and, after 48 hours, we made the decision to leave early and move to another hotel.

On arrival, the check-in process was fairly average. Our room wasn’t ready, which we completely understood as we had arrived early, but we weren’t given any real information about the facilities we could use, where we could get changed for the pool, or what was available to us. We were essentially left to figure it out ourselves.

We had access to the Peacock Alley club facilities, which were lovely when afternoon tea or evening canapés were being served, with a pleasant atmosphere and comfortable seating. However, outside of these times, getting a drink was a different experience. We often had to try to attract someone’s attention and service could be very slow. There is also a dress code clearly stated on the website, but during our stay we saw very few men adhering to requirements such as trousers and closed shoes, which made the policy seem rather pointless.

We eventually had to chase up our room, only to be told that it had actually been ready for some time but nobody had notified us. The hotel’s business WhatsApp service was also disappointing. Responses were often very delayed, or we simply received no response at all.

Physically, the hotel is beautiful and grand, but unfortunately it felt very clinical to us. What it lacked was warmth, personality and those little touches that make you feel genuinely cared for.

We stayed in a Waldorf Astoria Suite, which was very spacious and impressive in size, but again it felt quite cold and impersonal. There were some surprisingly basic omissions for a suite of this level, such as adequate lighting around the wardrobe area and sufficient boxes of tissues for a huge suite. Even the flowers in the room were artificial and looked rather tired. It was the small details that made the room feel less special than we had expected.

Despite staying in a suite, there were no additional welcome touches on arrival. Having stayed at other high-end hotels, we have experienced things such as beach bags, welcome gifts or treats in the room, so we were surprised that there was nothing at all. Following our concerns, the hotel did provide some lovely chocolates, sweet treats and a bottle of Prosecco, which were much appreciated — but unfortunately these arrived several days into our stay rather than as a welcome to the suite.

The biggest disappointment for us was the buffet at Mezzerie. We found the choice very limited, particularly for our family. My husband and daughter aren’t keen on heavily spiced food, and with the themed evenings there were very few alternatives. Most evenings their options seemed to come down to a piece of grilled steak or a slice of pizza. For a family staying on half board, this became a real issue and was one of the main reasons we felt the hotel wasn’t right for us.

The pool was pleasant, but for such a large hotel we found it surprisingly small and cramped. At peak times it became very busy. One real positive was the pool team, who were fantastic — attentive, friendly and consistently provided excellent service.

Ultimately, after just a few days we decided that the Waldorf simply wasn’t for us and moved to another hotel. It was disappointing to leave early, but the move was absolutely the right decision for our family and we were much happier afterwards.

We are a family who enjoy nice hotels and value great service. We don’t expect to be treated like royalty, but we do want to feel welcomed, valued and made to feel special. Sadly, despite the beautiful hotel and surroundings, we never felt that warmth or care here. Ultimately, it just wasn’t for us.

Would we return? Sadly, no.