Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dubai

I guess a lot of people going to Dubai will be planning on spending most of their time on the beach and so will want a beach hotel. However, there are some who prefer to spend most of their time shopping (ladies?...) or who come to Dubai on business. For those, a hotel nearer the city might be better. Of course, if you want to combine both shopping and the sea, or indeed work as well, then you might want somewhere more central.

The Crowne Plaza is located on Sheikh Zayed road, on a strip of office blocks, hotels, shops and restaurants and is very central, ten to fifteen minutes from the beach, from the Deira and Karama shopping areas, and the airport, so very convenient for all. I've stayed here about ten times between 2000 and 2003.

AIRPORT
The Crowne Plaza has a meet and greet service at the airport as do most hotels. It is worth using as it is complimentary. This is particularly useful in summer when it is over 30C even at midnight. Taxis are plentiful at Duabi airport, but even then, you don't want to be waiting in a queue at that time of night.

Only once or twice was the transport not waiting, and that was when I arrived on one of the airlines that had been relegated to Terminal 2. This is a small terminal round the far side of the airport, where most of the airlines from Eastern Europe, or those operating Tupolevs, Antonovs and other "undesirables" fly from. Otherwise, as long as you fly with a "normal" airline, you'll find the chap waiting in the terminal just before you reach the door out into the heat. Hint: He's the one holding "Crowne Plaza" sign.

RECEPTION
The hotel is located above a ground floor shopping centre. Like most hotels in Dubai, the entrance is fairly small and congested. The airport bus (or taxi if you felt so inclined) arrives with a bit of horn blowing and you scoot out, through the doors into the air conditioning and take an escalator up to the lobby and reception on the second floor. As you ride up you'll see the bright, sumpteous decor and hear the piped music.

At the top, the reception are is in front of you - concierge desk ahead, reception on the right and three lifts on the left. A corridor leading off to the right goes to several conference and meeting rooms, including a theatre which sometimes has plays and shows. The corridor to the left takes you past the miniscule business centre to two restaurants and a pub.

There is also a sprawling coffee shop/lounge in the lobby, behind you and, to one side, the entrance to the pool and area and an Italian restaurant.

CHECK IN / CHECK OUT
I do not think I have ever had a quick, efficient check in or check out here. The process itself is a bit slower than normal, but it is made worse by not having enough people on at peak times.

Most flights at Dubai arrive and leave between 11pm and 2am, so there is always a rush for check in last at night. Check out is busy around 9am of course, but also between 6pm and 10pm. However, they still seem to only have two staff on duty from late evening onwards.

The receptionists are usually polite but quite abrupt and brisk. They give the impression of being rushed but both check in and check out are not as quick as many other hotels. They need to take a photocopy of everyone's passport, then they ask for a business card to attach as well. when you check out they always make a phone call to tell someone you are checking out, then wait for a call back before letting you leave - it seem that someone is checking the minibar, or ensuring you haven't packed the bed or the armchair into your weekender bag. While doing this they are also fielding several other phone calls, so you always end up feeling like you are interrupting them, when all you want is to be checked in, or out, and get going!

ROOMS
The rooms are standard hotel room - you enter into a small passageway with a cupboard on one side and bathroom on the other. It opens into a room with a double bed (or twin large beds), beyond which is a work desk and chair, an armchair and coffee table. On one side is a unit with a TV and, underneath, a minibar. Here, the main colour of the decor is green.

I have always found the rooms here rather nice. They are always clean and well maintained. The minibar is always stocked, the TV is a sensible size, the desk is large enough to work, the phone has a modem socket on one side and the bed is large and comfy. There is a small, electronic safe inside the cupboard. Very importantly for Dubai, the air conditioning is efficient and not too loud. There is a small sticker on the bedside table indicating which direction is Mecca.

The bathroom contains all of the usual porcelain fittings, including a bidet. The shower is in the bath, which is full size. The usual Crowne Plaza amenities of shower gel, shampoo, soap, flannels are there plus a hairdryer, TWO toilet rolls (the end of both folded into points of course) and a separate box of tissues. Even for single occupancy you get two hand towels and three bath towels.

In the mornings you find an english language newspaper hanging on your door, which is a nice touch. (I assume that Arab guests have a local paper).

Just once, I was upgraded to a "Captain's Suite". Ahoy Ahoy, I thought, what have we here, me hearties? The room was larger than normal, but not huge. The bathroom, too, was bigger than usual but if I had been expecting a separate lounge area I would have been disappointed.

BUSINESS FACILITIES:
There are two suites of meeting room on the third floor, one on each side, each with around a dozen rooms from small board rooms for ten or so people up to larger meeting rooms for fifty or more.

On the second floor there are several larger rooms offering conference or banqueting facilities, which can be opened together to accomodate over 1000 people. There is also an auditorium seating a few hundred and a large open area which they use for exhibitions.

Bearing in mind the number of meeting rooms, the general business centre is surprisingly small. It is located in a cupboard-sized room just off reception and only has about 3 PCs, a photocopier and fax. However, the conference and meeting room area also provides these facilities.

LEISURE FACILITIES
If you have a day to relax, or if you are here with someone else who is out on business all day, there is plenty to keep you entertained!

Pool:
There is a small outdoor pool on the second floor, near the Italian restaurant. As I say, it is not large and there is not much room around for sunbeds.

Fitness Centre:
There is a fitness centre on the third floor with the usual gym equipment, as well as other health club services like massage.

Outside the Hotel:
Guests staying at the Crowne Plaza are able to use the Metropolitan beach club. Courtesy shuttle buses run several times daily to the beach club and also to Deira City Centre shopping mall.

Closer to home, the hotel is located over a small shopping centre so down on the ground floor are numerous shops, a supermarket, jeweller, souvenir shop, plus a TGI Fridays and McDonalds.

RESTAURANT
There are a total of ten places to eat in the hotel:

Al Dana: a 24 hour restaurant on the 2nd floor where they do buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. The buffets are plentiful - breakfast offers cold meats, smoked salmon, trout, several cheeses, cereals, yoghurts and a large selection of fresh fruit, from delicious dates to mouthwatering melon. The hot selection includes both traditional arabic and western selections.
The lunch and dinner buffets are equally sumptious and the seafood buffet on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings, is simply stunning - crayfish, mussels, lobster, oysters and more.

Western Steakhouse:
Next to Al Dana, open for lunches and evenings, a more posh or romantic atmosphere. The steaks are excellent, and the overall ambience i very pleasant for something more special.

Harvesters Pub: Adjacent to the steak house is a pub, which also does pub grub and sometimes has theme nights, life music, etc. During major sporting events they have a large screen TV on. Note, this is not the UK Harvesters, so you don't get asked if you have been here before, nor do you get a salad bar!

Al Fresco Italian, in the lobby area, runs alongside the pool and has a mediterranean feel. The usual Italian menu, but portions are quite generous and the food is good.

Outside, in the lobby there is Capuccino Coffee Shop that serves light snacks and pastries.

Sakura Japanese Restaurant, up on the fourth floor, has a regular dining area one side; on the other there are two teppanyaki counters. The menu is very varied, catering for either newcomers to Japanese cuisine or regulars. The food has always been excellent.

Al Tannour: a Lebanese Restaurant. Next to Sakura, they have belly dancers and singers at certain times and all the bread is freshly made by an old woman sitting near the door, beating lumps of dough into submission! The food is varied, I've had good and not so good.

Piano Bar: Here they have a pianist (you'd never have guessed) and sometimes singers, usually the worst ones evicted from Australia or South Africa for murdering lounge lizard standard songs. It is supposed to be open to 1.30am but when I went in on Saturday at 1am it was closed. They do have a limited food menu - satay, prawns, burgers etc.

Trader Vic's: This can be accessed by walking round the back, or through a walkway on the third floor. This is themed like a Hawaiian or tropical beach bar, with pretty good food and cocktails.

Finally there is a new nightclub opened on the ground floor called Zinc, which is one of the most buzzing night clubs in Dubai. It is busy every night, with face control on the door and often queue to get in.

SERVICE
Service is normally very good in Dubai, they do try to make an effort but sometimes they lose it in seeming too rushed, too hurried and harried. This gets you feeling like you have to be quick as well, and afterwards you leave feeling slightly stressed. Reception is like that, as is the service at the breakfast buffet.

The other parts of the hotel are fine. Service in the restaurants is generally good; the Al Dana can be a bit hit and miss at breakfast, but is good in the evenings. The Piano Bar service is also inconsistent. The service in the Lebanese, Japanese and Steakhouse restaurants has always been good.

SIX CONTINENTS CLUB
The Crowne Plaza is affiliated to the Six Continents frequent guest club and members will earn points. Unfortunately there are no special services, even for gold card holders. I was hard pushed to get a late check out; I asked for 6pm several times and was always refused, which really annoys me as most incoming guests won't arrive till late at night.LOCATION
On Sheikh Zayed road, on a strip of several hotels and office blocks, not quite in the city centre. The main shopping districts are about ten to fifteen minutes away by taxi and the Jumeirah beach area is about 15 minutes away. However overall pretty central.

The shopping centre on the ground floor is of course not very cheap but it is convenient in that you can pick up anything you may have forgotten.

A few minutes walk down the road will bring you to a small 24 hour supermarket, where you can pick up soft drinks or snacks if you arrive late at night but don't want to go for a full meal. There is also a sandwich bar and - just in case - a florist!

SUMMARY
The good things - wide choice of restaurants, excellent seafood buffet, generally pleasant service, use of a beach club, free airport transfers.

The bad things - not enough people at the Reception desk during peak times, no attempt to improve that over three years, no extras for gold card holders, small business centre, congested lifts.