Dubai & Avios points!
Discussion
So I have an upcoming birthday this November and thinking of heading off to Dubai for a long weekend break with the wife.
We haven't been before and to be honest never really fancied it but that time of the year limits us on where we can go with good weather and also offers a couple activities we would like to try so we thought why not.
The hotels vary wildly, I presume the ones further north nearer to the airport are not the best location with them being the cheaper?
Where would people recommend we stay, we would like to be able to walk to some restaurants, bars etc so we thought maybe closer to the Marina?
Secondly, we have about 50k in Avios points which we have never used. The flights are with Qatar airways who seem to link with BA, we have set up a BA account and will move the points to this but how do we go about upgrading seats etc? is this done after checkout or should we be given the option when paying for the flights?
Hopefully 50k points will get us something worthwhile!
Any help appreciated.
We haven't been before and to be honest never really fancied it but that time of the year limits us on where we can go with good weather and also offers a couple activities we would like to try so we thought why not.
The hotels vary wildly, I presume the ones further north nearer to the airport are not the best location with them being the cheaper?
Where would people recommend we stay, we would like to be able to walk to some restaurants, bars etc so we thought maybe closer to the Marina?
Secondly, we have about 50k in Avios points which we have never used. The flights are with Qatar airways who seem to link with BA, we have set up a BA account and will move the points to this but how do we go about upgrading seats etc? is this done after checkout or should we be given the option when paying for the flights?
Hopefully 50k points will get us something worthwhile!
Any help appreciated.
The Leaper said:
Using Avios points is easy. When booking (you may need to be flexible on dates if you want to use Avios for the flight itself), you can choose to use Avios to upgrade if that's your plan.
50,000 Avios is not much. It will get you 2 off peak economy returns leaving you with no points for an upgrade. You can pay for the economy seats and use Avios to upgrade, and do this at the time of booking.
R
Thanks. Yeah we didn't expect much for 50k, we were going to pay for the flights regardless and thought it might get us an upgrade to business which would be a bonus but other than that were not too bothered, might as well try and make some use of them though 50,000 Avios is not much. It will get you 2 off peak economy returns leaving you with no points for an upgrade. You can pay for the economy seats and use Avios to upgrade, and do this at the time of booking.
R
Thanks guys, much appreciated.
I didn't event think of the day passes.
We both like to explore a bit so I might take a look for a hotel in the downtown region which is reasonably priced and then look at purchasing 2-3 day passes so we can try other hotels and their facilities rather than being stuck at one.
I presume most of the hotels have restaurants we can pay for dinner at when using a day pass?
One thing I forgot to ask is regarding Brunch, where do you recommend on a Friday?
Somewhere a bit lively with a younger crowd would be good (30th Birthday in November!)
I didn't event think of the day passes.
We both like to explore a bit so I might take a look for a hotel in the downtown region which is reasonably priced and then look at purchasing 2-3 day passes so we can try other hotels and their facilities rather than being stuck at one.
I presume most of the hotels have restaurants we can pay for dinner at when using a day pass?
One thing I forgot to ask is regarding Brunch, where do you recommend on a Friday?
Somewhere a bit lively with a younger crowd would be good (30th Birthday in November!)
That would be perfect.
Having had a look at some other hotels close to the palm area I think we might go with the option of a cheaper hotel which we will use for a base and then spend out days at other hotels so we can get a bit of variation. We have about 4 full days there so probably 2-3 day passes and the brunch included in one would be ideal.
The TRYP Wyndham came up with a good offer, about £590 for 4 nights which included breakfast & dinner plus free beach and airport transfer. The location seems okay too and its cheap enough where you dont mind spending a bit more on day passes.
The Atana is another cheap one too, slightly cheaper than the above.
Having had a look at some other hotels close to the palm area I think we might go with the option of a cheaper hotel which we will use for a base and then spend out days at other hotels so we can get a bit of variation. We have about 4 full days there so probably 2-3 day passes and the brunch included in one would be ideal.
The TRYP Wyndham came up with a good offer, about £590 for 4 nights which included breakfast & dinner plus free beach and airport transfer. The location seems okay too and its cheap enough where you dont mind spending a bit more on day passes.
The Atana is another cheap one too, slightly cheaper than the above.
shirt said:
that would be a no from me. its not well located and tecom is bit of a mess as a suburb. its a freezone so lots of offices and cheaper end business accom. its handy for the metro but thats about it. the neighbouring buildings are all owned by emirates as hostie accomodation.
what are your dates and budget?
Thats good to know then, I probably would have booked one of them just by going of the proximity to the Palm/Marina area.what are your dates and budget?
Dates are the 3rd November - 7th November, we have a late flight on the 7th so ideally somewhere we can get a late checkout.
Budget, probably nothing OTT as we have a few activities we would like to do, roughly something like this:
3rd - Arrive late evening
4th - Day pass & brunch combined if poss
5th - Relaxing/Day pass (likely be hungover)
6th - Jet Ski tour and probably hire a Lambo for a couple of hours (typical), then relax on the afternoon.
7th - Flight leaves at 23:00 so we have all day, ideally need a late checkout or some kind of day pass which gives us facilities to change.
In between we will probably go for a wonder about, grab some lunch and a few drinks, checkout the mall etc.
Ballpark figure, maybe £200ish per night for the hotel, I dont mind spending more if its worth it or dinner was included but we dont want to be spending £2000+ on just the hotel.
Hi guys,
Apologies for the delay, I have been away with work so just had chance to get back to sorting this.
We arranged the flights and we dont get in to Dubai until about 11pm on the 3rd, what we have decided to do is book a cheaper hotel near the airport for that night, then checkout early and arranged an early check in.
We got a good deal on the C-Central Hotel on the Palm, premium room and all inclusive for about £1100, there was only about £300 between half board and all inclusive and we figured by the time we pay (and travel) for lunch, drinks etc we would do more than £300 easily, the hotel looks nice and seems a good location.. we do however have free cancellation until the day before so let me know if this is a hotel to avoid!
One other thing I was going to ask is regarding Lambo hire, I was talking to a family friend last weekend who lived in Dubai for a few years. In his opinion there isn't much point in hiring these type fo cars due to the amount of cameras around the city and the hidden fees most companies add on. He recommended going to somewhere such as Yas Marina or the Autodrome and hiring a car but thats not exactly what we were after.
Its not cheap hiring a Lambo for a day and I do want to get some fun out of it, is there much point in doing so or will I just be stuck doing 50-60mph around most of the city and getting frustrated?
Apologies for the delay, I have been away with work so just had chance to get back to sorting this.
We arranged the flights and we dont get in to Dubai until about 11pm on the 3rd, what we have decided to do is book a cheaper hotel near the airport for that night, then checkout early and arranged an early check in.
We got a good deal on the C-Central Hotel on the Palm, premium room and all inclusive for about £1100, there was only about £300 between half board and all inclusive and we figured by the time we pay (and travel) for lunch, drinks etc we would do more than £300 easily, the hotel looks nice and seems a good location.. we do however have free cancellation until the day before so let me know if this is a hotel to avoid!
One other thing I was going to ask is regarding Lambo hire, I was talking to a family friend last weekend who lived in Dubai for a few years. In his opinion there isn't much point in hiring these type fo cars due to the amount of cameras around the city and the hidden fees most companies add on. He recommended going to somewhere such as Yas Marina or the Autodrome and hiring a car but thats not exactly what we were after.
Its not cheap hiring a Lambo for a day and I do want to get some fun out of it, is there much point in doing so or will I just be stuck doing 50-60mph around most of the city and getting frustrated?
Much appreciated again guys.
The places mentioned look like good fun, we were going to drive to Abu Dhabi and have an explore but heading in land might be a nice change of scenery and hopefully less speed cameras..
I have tried a few hire companies, superior rental seem to be one of the main ones?
Any other suggestions welcome though.
The places mentioned look like good fun, we were going to drive to Abu Dhabi and have an explore but heading in land might be a nice change of scenery and hopefully less speed cameras..
I have tried a few hire companies, superior rental seem to be one of the main ones?
Any other suggestions welcome though.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff