I have to admit, its been ages since I last stayed at a hotel in Dubai ... so much so, that I cant even remember when I did last! Last weekend, I was excited to stay at the Avani Deira Dubai Hotel ... a hotel that I pretty much didn't know existed until 2 months ago. Avani Deira Dubai Hotel is centrally located luxury hotel. It is more of a city hotel and is perfect for business travelers and visitors alike.
CHECK IN/CHECK OUT
Check in was super quick. We were greeted by the friendly front desk staff who we even managed to have a little chit chat with. Check out was equally quick. Thankfully we were the only ones during both check in & check out!.
ROOM
We stayed in an AVANI room & were given access to the executive lounge as well. Our spacious room had a view of old Dubai's busy streets. Believe it or not ... we saw an airplane pass over us every 5 minutes! However, it didn't disturb us. Our room was also equipped with a work table, safe, seating area, ironing facility,fully stocked mini bar and fridge. And of course, a super comfy bed!
I absolutely loved how the hotel welcomed us - the moment we entered, we saw a plate decorated with choco-starberries and gigantic chocolate bars. In addition to that, we were given our very own mason jars. They also put a nice, welcome note in there. Talk about attention to detaill!
I liked the bathroom because it had a rain shower. Personally, I am a big fan of hotels with rain showers rather than regular showers. However, I was rather surprised when there wasn't any hand-washing soap. When we called housekeeping and asked them for soap. they brought us shower gel (something which was already placed in the room)! Naturally, we assumed that hand soap wasn't available. However, while checking out, we got to know that they had forgotten to place the handwash in our room. The rest of the bathroom amenities including plush bathrobes and slippers were all available.
Some of the benefits as an executive guest included - full access to the executive lounge (breakfast, afternoon tea, light dinner), airport transfers to Dubai airport, suit pressing, and access to Oceana Beach Club.
LOCATION
AVANI Deira Dubai Hotel is located in the older part of Dubai (which is Deira) and is very convenient to visit some of Dubai's most popular attractions like the Gold & Spice Souqs, Dubai Creek, etc. Even the airport is a mere 4 kms. away! If you want to venture into the newer part of Dubai, there's a metro station located just 2 minutes away from the hotel. Hop on the metro, and you can visit other popular attractions like the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall etc. If you use a car/taxi, there are chances that you can might get stuck in traffic, and believe me, thats the last thing you'd want! I'd definitely recommend sticking to public transport.
RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
The hotel has its own gym and a swimming pool.
But the best part is, we had access to one of Dubai's best beach clubs "Oceana Beach Club" located on the Palm Jumeirah. From the beachclub, you can get a magnificent view of Dubai's every changing skyline from a ginormous infinity pool or a private beach. Yup! Thats once fancy beachclub. Lets not discuss how packed it was though, it looked like the whole of Palm Jumeirah was there that weekend!
EXECUTIVE LOUNGE
Even though the selection of food was limited in the lounge, I absolutely loved it! The choice of items there were excellent. During tea time, we enjoyed sandwiches and during dinner, delicious canapes. I personally felt that a lot of thinking went into choosing the right items. And the cheese selection was fantastic! The good part is, in the evening you can enjoy happy hours.
We even had a sneak peek of the breakfast at the lounge (sneak peek because we already had breakfast at the hotel's Jigsaw Restaurant). And I loved the breakfast selection too. Plus, they allowed us to take away hot beverages.
DINING
Besides a pool bar, the hotel has a 2 other restaurants and a sports bar. I had an opportunity to dine in one of them for breakfast i.e "Jigsaw". Breakfast was buffet style, with a live egg station, selection of juices, and a variety of Asian, Indian, Arabic and International cuisine. In my opinion, the choice of items were just average. The hotel could definitely improve on the selection as well as presentation ... maybe make it a bit more appealing. As I mentioned earlier, I had a sneak peek of breakfast at the lounge and immediately regretted not choosing to dine there.
SERVICE
One thing that I absolutely loved during my stay here was the staff. They went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. Everyone, from the valet to the front desk, housekeeping to the lounge were all so warm and friendly. It definitely made my stay at lot better.
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