Dubai & Avios points!

[JCKST1]

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.

[The Leaper]

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

[JCKST1]

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

[Prisoner 24601]

If you can afford to stay in a beach resort then do that. The best ones are 1) the Jumeirah complex around The Madinat (4 hotels (5 inc. Burj al Arab which we generally don't include)); 2) Fairmont the Palm; 3) Le Royal Meridien (Marina); 4) Grosvenor House (which gives you access to Le Royal Meridien facilities); 5) The Westin or Le Meridien Mina Seyahi; 6) The Hilton (the walk) bit old ; 7) The Sheraton (the walk) very very old but retains a shabby chic appeal .

If you cannot afford a beach side resort, we recently stayed at Millennium Place Barsha Heights Hotel Apartments and you can do a lot worse than this - it was fine and offered good value. Decent breakfast and the view from the pool area is 'interesting' overlooking the passing super cars. Taxi's are plentiful and it is well located to get around town. We paid for day use at Le Royal Meridien which is a bit of a cheat code to get access to a brilliant day time facility, without paying the expensive rates to sleep there (get there at 09.30, leave at 20.30 after dinner). Just ring them up the night before and ask to book for day-use.

[shirt]

for hotels, there are 2 main centres to touristic dubai, downtown and the marina/palm.

i'd recommend downloading the michelin guide app and looking at where you want to eat, then where your activities are, and go from there. i wouldn't stay near the airport at all tbh.

any specific reccos. just ask. i live here and have a love/hate affair with it so reckon i'm pretty unbiased

[Prisoner 24601]

I'm also happy to pitch in with any biased advice I can offer

[JCKST1]

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!)

[shirt]

you must be new though, its tecom man, tecom!

[Prisoner 24601]

JCKST1 said:

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!)

Two birds with one stone, did i hear you say???

https://brunchcrunch.ae/dubai-brunch/136/mas-mas-m...

One of the best days to be had in Dubai is the Maya Brunch but with day use included - you need to do some digging (or emailing) to see if it is still running as an offer, it comes and goes. Essentially you pay for the brunch but day use is thrown in. Arrive around 09.30 and get issued a wrist band, then head across the lawns to the restaurant at around 13.00, eat and drink, back to the pool (or beach) at 16.30. Bed at 18.00, wide awake at 04.00 wondering what on earth happened.

[Prisoner 24601]

shirt said:

you must be new though, its tecom man, tecom!

nah i know, it's just that i copied and pasted the long convoluted name from booking.com. Many an hour going round and round the Tecom ring road trying to figure out and find the best exit. Rinse and repeat 2 weeks later, never learning.

[JCKST1]

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.

[shirt]

JCKST1 said:

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!)

pick your hotel based on its views, the difference in standard between the major 5 star places is minimal. i'd avoid the palm though as with traffic it could be 30-40mins in a taxi just to get on an off the mainland.

caesars at bluewaters may suit, extensive beach club, great views at night,lots of cafes nearby [DRVN cafe is car themed, had the 71 le mans winning 917 in a glass case the last time i was in], just ask to make sure you're not facing south as that's where the main power station and port are.

brunches are now friday evening or saturday lunch. coya is hands down the best imo, but its indoor. check time out dubai for ones you like the look of. i'm headed to bubblicious at the westin tomorrow for a leaving do. first brunch for me since before covid. that and saffron at atlantis used to be the big party brunches.

if you want to really have the essex in dubai party vibe, then head to five palm. even after 12 years here i see things there that make me go wtf.

[shirt]

JCKST1 said:

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.

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?

[JCKST1]

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.

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.

[shirt]

just had a quick look on booking.com whilst i was on a teams call hehe.

keeping it reasonable on price, you can get a superior king at the waldorf astoria on the palm for 1250 inc breakfast and taxes, that is the best i can see. properly 5 star, pools, extremely good f&b, beach access etc.

others would be:

habtoor grand [jbr] for 1100. staple dubai hotel, been there forever so not so glitzy but the location is perfect as its just at the top of jbr before traffic gets silly.

habtoor palace in business bay for 1100. no beach and you're on sheikh zayed road by the canal. this used to be the st regis so the f&b, rooms and facilities are those of a hotel that used to cost double the amount.

the intercontinental on dubai marina for 1100. 5min walk to the beach. full marina views and has an excellent restaurant onsite [marina social].

wydham residences on the palm for 720. this is a studio so bigger room.

the [overly named] the retreat palm dubai mgallery by sofitel [breath] on the palm for 600. still 5 star, private beach, pools etc. more of a standard interior by look of it but then its about as cheap as you'll get for a resort.

[Prisoner 24601]

Shirt is all over this and i'd agree with him. I'd add my tuppence worth as well for consideration, Tryp is OK ish but in the middle of Tecom/Barsha Heights it isn't ideal. Atana is on the edge and might not be a bad shout to be fair. Again, kind of diametrically opposite Atana with much better access in and out, is Millennium Place Barsha Heights - for me, ticks all the boxes as a great base with the addition of a half decent podium area with pool. It's fairly new so still feels ok and the rooms are decent sized. Podium pool overlooks Jebel Ali racecourse and a desert area, so you really get the feel you are no longer in Europe (more so than Atana).

If i am guessing correctly at the kind of level you are looking at, i'd ask you to also check

Vida Emirates Hills
Media One
Media Rotana
Grand Millennium Dubai
Metropolitan Hotel
Dukes The Palm
York International Hotel
Amwaj Rotana
InterContinental Dubai Marina
Movenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach
Habtoor Grand
Sheraton Mall of Emirates
JW Marriot Marquis
Rove La Mer Beach
Pullman Dubai JLT
Bonnington JLT

[shirt]

@prisoner - are you on Dubai drives?

Grand millennium has 2 decent and popular bars also, so younger vibe. I lived there for 3mths so feels like home rather than a hotel for me.

Edited by shirt on Friday 26th August 13:55

[Prisoner 24601]

shirt said:

@prisoner - are you on Dubai drives?

Grand millennium has 2 decent and popular bars also, so younger vibe. I lived there for 3mths so feels like home rather than a hotel for me.

Edited by shirt on Friday 26th August 13:55

Evening - no, but i am on BDD if you have children and know what that is (FB). I've only been in Grand Millennium a few times, both occasions for Belgian Beer Cafe, i heard there was a decent Japanese restaurant in there on Entertainer. When Grand Millennium and Media Rotana opened they were both a cut above the other hotels in Tecom and remain a potential option, although not great.

From the ones you posted above, the Wyndham looks a good option to me. But you have ignored your earlier advice about getting round there - and you were right, i spent 3 years working on Royal Atlantis and it was a pain getting on and off the palm - i think it is better now, i was doing that 4-5 years ago.

@OP - the other day use pool day we recommend (aside from Le Meridien, which is our favourite) is Jumeirah Zaabeel Saaray - which is relatively affordable and really good.

[shirt]

Hey dads! Yeah I know and avoid bdd like the plague, it’s little Britain goes expat.

Yea going against my palm advice but there doesn’t seem to be better options at that price point.

[Prisoner 24601]

shirt said:

Hey dads! Yeah I know and avoid bdd like the plague, it’s little Britain goes expat.

Yea going against my palm advice but there doesn’t seem to be better options at that price point.

Yes I can see where you are coming from, I am not overly active on there but occasionally see posts on my weekly FB browse.