Thinking about where to stay in a city is always a difficult decision to make.
"Where is it located? What amenities does it have? Does it have good food?" - These are just a couple questions that I know many of you ask when deciding on where to stay.
If you're picking a hotel in Dubai, it doesn't help that Dubai has a hotel situated at almost every single street corner of the city! My priorities when picking a hotel is the location, the view, the food, and the amenities.
With that said, staying at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel was a no-brainer.
Meant to be shaped like a wave, it is located right next on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. With 618 rooms with the view of the sea & the Burj Al Arab, over 20 restaurants on site, and numerous amenities for the beach lovin' vacationers, there really isn't anything more I could have asked for.
If you didn't know, Dubai is also home to the world's only 7-star hotel, the Burj Al Arab, which is owned by the Jumeirah International as well. Although the security for the Burj Al Arab is super intense - you can't even drive up to the hotel without showing a reservation at a restaurant inside or unless you book a room there - I actually got a chance to take a tour of the Burj Al Arab and dine at one of their new restaurants, Scape Restaurant. You can find photos on my Instagram here.
Read on for a full review of my stay at Jumeirah Beach Hotel during my trip to Dubai early March 2017.
Meant to be shaped like a wave, it is located right next on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. With 618 rooms with the view of the sea & the Burj Al Arab, over 20 restaurants on site, and numerous amenities for the beach lovin' vacationers, there really isn't anything more I could have asked for.
If you didn't know, Dubai is also home to the world's only 7-star hotel, the Burj Al Arab, which is owned by the Jumeirah International as well. Although the security for the Burj Al Arab is super intense - you can't even drive up to the hotel without showing a reservation at a restaurant inside or unless you book a room there - I actually got a chance to take a tour of the Burj Al Arab and dine at one of their new restaurants, Scape Restaurant. You can find photos on my Instagram here.
Read on for a full review of my stay at Jumeirah Beach Hotel during my trip to Dubai early March 2017.
> The Room & Service
As a lover of beautiful views, I requested to be on one of the higher floors of the hotel. I was given one of the Ocean Superior rooms on the 14th floor. Tapping my room key on the door, I walked through a little hallway and into my room. Greeted by a king-sized bed, the comfiest L-shaped couch, desk area, and a stunning (and fully stocked) bathroom, I was quickly amazed!
This room is measured at 540 square feet, which is more than half the size of my 2B2B apartment in Toronto! It's safe to say I was not lacking space at any point in time. One thing I have to mention is that you can control everything from every single light in the room, to the 'double' curtains, to calling front desk, from a touchscreen device next to the bed.
But besides wow-ing at my room, check out the view as well!
I actually had a lot of fun using and playing with all the different things in the room, but the amenity I used most besides the bed (to sleep, lol c'mon guys) was the bathtub. They thoughtfully laid out a towel on the ground next to the tub, provided bath salts, and a shower cap for my hair - haha, how could I say no?!
Okay, one more thing I have to mention is the service I got here. My housekeeper was the most thoughtful. Besides always making sure I had enough water because Dubai is so hot (lol, he literally gave me 6 bottles of water a day), he also folded all my clothes and arranged my shoes every day. And because he saw my shoes and how small my feet were, he actually switched out all the larger slippers to smaller ones so that it would fit my feet! They really tailor your experience by what they notice every single day. By the end of the trip, he actually prepared my bed to the way I slept (I like untucking the blanket from the bed to form a dumpling lol). Just the best!
> The Food
As mentioned above, Jumeirah BH has 21 restaurants, bars, and lounges on site. This included full-service indoor restaurants, restaurants outside on the beach, swim up pool bars, gourmet buffet, stunning terrace where you could enjoy a drink, and the list goes on! You bet you can find something to fit what you are looking for in the 21 spots around the property, which is what I loved! But out of the 21, I was only able to check out 5 of them. Considering I was rarely at the hotel during the day as I was out exploring, I'd say that is pretty good.
During my stay, the first meal I had was at Villa Beach, a seafood fine dining restaurant situated right on the beach with the perfect view of the Burj Al Arab. I had some of the best scallops ever (see below). It was quite hard to top that meal, but included in my stay was breakfast at the hotel's international buffet, Latitude. And when I say international, I really mean it. They have 3 full rooms with so many different cuisines to choose from. I was quite overwhelmed on my first day as I wanted to eat everything from all three rooms!
But of course, if you're tired and lazy like I was some days, ordering in room service is also not a bad idea. Even if you don't want breakfast and you are too tired to turn on the complimentary Nespresso machine in your room, they can also bring you a pot of fresh coffee to your door! As you can tell, I was as happy as a clam with my coffee pot all to myself.
> The Location & Amenities
The location of a hotel is one of the most important factors to me when choosing where to stay in a city. If you think of Dubai as a vertical rectangle, Jumeirah BH is located smack in the middle on the left side (with the left side being the Arabian Sea, and who doesn't want to be next to the water). It was a 15 minute drive north to Downtown Dubai and a 15 minute drive south towards Dubai Marina & the Palms. Such a perfect location if you're like me and pack in as much as possible into your travel itinerary!
In terms of amenities, the Jumeirah BH is located on the a piece of property that consists of a number of other hotels owned by the Jumeirah group. This means that all the amenities of the other hotels are also fair game - score! Even better, you can take a 'buggy' (aka a golf cart) across the property to wherever you want to go - double score! And, if the buggy can't make it there, they will put you in a boat and calmly float you there - triple score! I mean, I took a boat from my hotel to my spa appointment at Talise Spa. It was pretty damn amazing.
Oh, did I mention that the property also includes unlimited admission to the Wild Wadi Waterpark that is also on the property of this hotel? Yup.
So if you couldn't tell from my post, I had a beyond wonderful experience here at Jumeirah Beach Hotel. It checks off all of my important factors when considering where to stay in a city, and I would definitely come back here again!
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Click here to check out the hotel's website & make reservations.
