HOTEL REVIEW: Le Royal Meridien, Dubai – Genuinely a Hidden Gem (Why do we keep going back?)
Hotel and Location
We have got in a bit of a habit of holidaying in Dubai every December. Going away during some of the Christmas chaos and getting some winter sun is perfect for us. We choose Dubai because it isn’t too far away, we can always use companion vouchers (as long as we book 355 days in advance) and we know what we are getting; great food, great service, and perfect weather. I know Dubai is 50/50 with a lot of people but I’m not sure what there isn’t to like when you manage expectations. If you want culture there are plenty of other places. If you want a great winter holiday with guaranteed weather, then the UAE is your place!
For the last few years, we have stayed at Le Royal Meridien (rated 11/850 hotels in Dubai), which is classed as being located in the Dubai Marina, but it is situated directly on JBR Beach too. The location works perfectly for us as Dubai Marina is a great place to explore with many restaurants and shops. It is also easy to access most other areas of Dubai by car. We stayed at the far end of The Palm once at the Waldorf Astoria and it just felt like it was a bit too far to get anywhere. It can sometimes take 20-30 minutes to leave The Palm alone.
Le Royal Meridien has been open since 1994 and is one of the original luxury Dubai hotels. You can tell how old it is purely by the fact that it isn’t a huge high rise and is on such a large plot. The good thing is that it doesn’t feel old; it has had numerous upgrades to the rooms and grounds over the years. It has 504 rooms and suites spread across three buildings. It is a Marriott Hotel and we have used points in the past to upgrade. You can also collect points on all spending in the hotel resort during your stay, which is great as the hotel has 14 different restaurants and bars with varying cuisines and styles.
Check In
The reception area is modern, grand and is always spotlessly clean. Every time we walk into this space for the first time, the very recognisable smell reminds us that we’re back to somewhere very familiar. I love that smell!
One downside to flying to Dubai with British Airways is that the two options of flights leave you checking in at either 2am or 10am. The latter is our preferred time, having had an overnight flight, but it does mean that the room is usually not ready, understandably.
The staff, however, are always very welcoming and helpful. During this stay we had two rooms, and one of them was ready, so we could dump our bags, get changed quickly and go and have a much needed nap by the pool whilst the other room was being prepared.
Room
We have stayed in a few different room types over our years of visiting. We were in the Tower Suites for our first year, which includes club access. However, these rooms have had a very large apartment block built in front of them, restricting nearly all sea views. The next year we booked a club room but asked to stay in the suites at the opposite side, which have refurbished rooms and the best views. This was much better for us, despite the fact that the walk to the club lounge was much longer.
Since having our little boy and travelling with Grandparents, we have opted for a larger, connecting room, which is the Super Deluxe 1 Bedroom Suite with Balcony and it is located in the main building.
A tip for this building is that you need to request to be on the far right hand side (if you are standing out the front of the hotel) as these rooms have the best sea view and you can see the big wheel and part of The Palm.
The room is really lovely and spacious and our favourite room we have stayed in so far. You enter into a main living area with a dining table, sofa area and mini bar/drinks station. To the left is a connecting door to the other room we had and straight ahead leads to a long balcony with the previously mentioned stunning sea views.
The bedroom is separate with a large open space, including a bigger bed which was the most comfortable I’ve ever slept in, a desk, sofa and a large wardrobe area hidden behind a wall behind the bed.
The bathroom is modern with a double sink, and plenty of storage, a bath, roomy shower, toilet and bidet. The amenities are Malin and Goetz, which aren’t my favourite, but they’re still a nice brand.
The house keeping staff need to be mentioned, as they really do an excellent job. We were fully stocked with everything we needed, including more water than we’ll ever need, which is so nice to have readily available.
When we were shown to our room by the check in staff, they did ask us what time of day we would like the rooms cleaned in the morning and for turn down service. I thought this was a really nice touch, however, the message wasn’t passed on. It didn’t bother us, but our house keeping clearly took note of our routine anyway and adapted to when he was fairly certain we wouldn’t be there.
Hotel Grounds
The hotel grounds are immaculately kept and regularly updated. As I mentioned before, the hotel is based on a large plot so everything is a little spaced out which is a good thing and doesn’t bother us at all, but for anybody with mobility issues, or just not that into moving too much on holiday, there is a buggy buzzing around to take you to whichever point you need, and there is never usually a wait for it, you can just ask any member of staff to call it for you wherever you are and it’ll arrive within minutes.
There are three pool areas: main pool, infinity pool and childrens pool. We have found with the pool areas that at the time of year we go, you have to chase the sun a little. The high rise apartment block next door casts shade over all of them in the afternoon.
The water is always a little cooler than we would want it to be as well, despite being advertised as heated. It clearly is but maybe not as much as it could be.
There is also an adults only area that is located on a grass area between the three pools, it is always quite quiet there, which I guess is the point.
We spend nearly all of our time on the beach at this hotel. Le Royal has direct access to Jumeirah Beach with a really large private section. Having walked down the beach many times, we’ve always noted how small the other hotels beach areas are, and the loungers are crammed into row upon row.
Le Royal has such a wide beach area, that they have permanent wooden gazebos for each group of loungers, which is usually four between them. Each gazebo has their own buzzer to be able to buzz for service.
The food and drinks menu on the beach and by the pools is extensive and it is usually very speedy, although we have been at busier times where they haven’t had enough staff and they just can’t keep up with the orders. It’s worth mentioning at this point, though, that the staff are the main reason we keep coming back to this hotel specifically. The service is beyond what we would ever expect, and we are treated so well by each and every member of staff we come across. So many of the staff have been there since we first started going to the hotel, which seems strange in what is usually such a low staff retention industry. From speaking to them, they say that they are very well looked after and you can tell they enjoy their jobs.
One important thing to note about the beach is the noise. There are planes constantly flying overhead as the skydiving centre is directly opposite, and there are two beach clubs to the right of the hotel that play music that gets progressively louder throughout the afternoon. It actually doesn’t bother us at all, it’s nice to have background music, and watching the sky divers all day is pretty entertaining, but I can see how some people would not like it, so if you sit much further over to the left of the beach, you can eliminate some of it.
Restaurants
Originally, when coming to Dubai, we would travel out of the hotel every night and explore all of the amazing (but increasingly expensive) restaurants Dubai has to offer. However, since having our toddler with us, we have been including Half Board to our stay and staying at the hotel for most of our dinners. Now, everybody is different, but we just can’t get on board with a buffet dinner. No matter how good the offering is. When we are on holiday we like dinners to be calm and sociable with great service. The buffet at this hotel, Brasserie 2.0, is very highly regarded, and we do hear good things, but we make the most of our half board by using the dine around option. This means that you can visit almost all of the restaurants in the hotel and they have set menus that are totally included, or you can go a la carte and use AED 150 per person towards your bill. Usually with other hotels, we have found the set menus to be limited and boring; however, at Le Royal, the majority of the time, it includes most of what we would have wanted to order anyway, which makes it a very cost effective way to eat in Dubai. They usually include a few premium orders, which is a nice surprise, so you don’t actually feel like you’re eating off a set menu.
Our favourite restaurants are Zengo, which is Asian cuisine and up there with one of the best Asian restaurants we have been to, La Strega an Italian with fantastic pizza and Geales a British fish restaurant. Unfortunately, on this visit Geales was closed as they are have been refurbishing and rebranding it to The Beam. We are hoping it is just as good as before, because it was an exceptionally good place to eat for not only fresh grilled fish, but really delicious fish and chips.
The Half Board can also be used in restaurants in the sister hotel just behind called Grosvenor House. This hotel is directly on the Dubai Marina and has some really excellent places to eat. Plus there is a free shuttle between the two hotels making it very easy to get to. In fact the Dine Around can be used at over 100 restaurants throughout Dubai.
As far as hotel breakfast buffets go, Le Royal do a very good one. Like a lot of these hotels, it can get very busy, especially at peak times. They have quite a good seating system, which means you never wait too long, but it does still feel a little chaotic. There are multiple stations, from pancakes and waffles, to any egg you want, to Middle Eastern Cuisine, so a huge amount of choice, somewhat overwhelming if you’re anything like me!
When Geales was still open, if you stay in one of the suites you can have your breakfast in there. It is much smaller, with less options, but still plenty for what you need and a much calmer environment. I do hope this will be included as part of the new restaurant.
Other Amenities
During our stays here, we have used the gym quite a lot. It’s a great gym, with a range of equipment and dumbbells up to 48kg, which is a big tick for Eugene. It can get busy first thing in the morning, but never to the point that you can’t do a full workout.
The spa is located near the gym and has recently been upgraded. We didn’t use the spa specifically, but Eugene did have a massage. He said the area was nice and calming. It wasn’t one of the best massages he has ever had, so he didn’t feel like it was excellent value for money, although spa treatments in hotels rarely are.
There is also a beautifully designed Beauty Bar.
I mentioned earlier in my review about the Club Lounge. We haven’t used it for a few years as in the evenings it is Adults Only. I would definitely recommend it if you don’t have kids with you though. You can have your Breakfast there, like Geales, it is much smaller than the main buffet but fully caters for what you would need and is very relaxed. They offer afternoon tea between 3pm and 5pm, we haven’t ever done this, as we like to stay on the beach until much later, but it would be nice if you needed to get out of the sun. The biggest benefit, though is the pre-dinner drinks between 6pm and 8pm. We all know that Dubai is very expensive for alcohol, so Eugene and I used to very much enjoy a couple of drinks before dinner and it felt like we were getting very good value for the extra we had paid for Club access. They also offer a small buffet in the evening of canapes and light bites which some people have told us they can feel like they have had a full dinner from.
The kids club is open 10am to 7pm for children between the ages of 4 and 12. We haven’t been able to use it as our boy is too young, but it looks like a lot of fun and a very safe environment.
Conclusion
We really do have the best time when we stay at Le Royal Meridien. The main reasons are that we feel taken care of by the staff and it’s also the convenience. The fact that it is located so close to Dubai Marina and easy to get to the rest of Dubai is a huge bonus, but also the fact that if you aren’t doing a really long holiday, you don’t need to leave the hotel at all because of the large range of restaurants and the value of the Half Board.
Whilst looking for other hotels in Dubai, we also haven’t seen a beach area that can compete with Le Royal’s unless you go a bit further out.
We are definitely keen to try some other hotels around Dubai, but the key thing for us to beat is the restaurant choice and beach area, so if you have any recommendations, let us know!
Eugene will be bringing you a review of Jumierah Beach hotel next month, which was also half board and with club lounge access.
If you are interested in booking Le Royal Meridien, Dubai, or any other hotels, get in touch with our Travel Experts at Winged Boots for a quote here.
