Dubai is a huge market for Starwood. Many people don't realize that Dubai is actually the city with the second most Starwood properties, after New York City. I guess that in part explains the Crossover Rewards partnership between Starwood and Emirates. While Starwood has a lot of properties in Dubai, there aren't really many luxury…
Continue reading: The St. Regis Dubai Is Now Bookable… But The Rates…!
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
@ Lucky: I Am in Dubai now and drove past the complex today. I would be suprised if they can go ahead with the 20th of November looking at the work that still needs to be done.
Why not try Conrad on Sheikh Zayed Road: very central and nice Puro beach pool area
Or
Waldorf Astoria on the palm? Both great as diamond hhonors (suite upgrades!)
I rode by them on the metro when I was in Dubai. It's an interesting concept to have the St. Regis and the W right next to each other. I wonder if we'll see Starwood do this elsewhere. Very high prices, indeed.
It's almost certainly that 2700 AED is the rack rate. It's too consistent across dates/days of the week, and it's too high to be the actual rate.
My guess is that it'll fall into a range slightly above the Ritz in DIFC (ie, in the high 1000s, but not often above 2000 AED).
I second the Conrad. I've stayed there a few times and it is excellent. The Puro Beach pool area is awesome and the rooms are beautiful. If you want Starwood I was impressed by the Sheraton Mall of the Emirates - we did the concierge floor. The room was great, concierge floor amenities awesome, and the pool was also wonderful. I enjoyed the Sofitel in JBR, however, the road in front of it on Jumeirah Beach is absolutely horrible. Always clogged with traffic and it can take a LONG time to get in / out. Fun location though, and nice pool area.
Like Preston said above, not all rates have been loaded into the inventory yet. This is just the Rack. They have to benchmark their rates vis-a-vis Ritz DIFC and Rosewood/Four Seasons DIFC (2016 Q1) who are the other high end non resort properties.
They're in a slightly less ideal location than the DIFC properties and are sitting atop a cluster of 3200 rooms (1600 from Al Habtoor complex itself and 1600 from the JW Marriott Marquis next door), a few (100s of) metres away lie a bunch of other luxury properties such as Oberoi and Taj. Oh and a Sofitel.
Lot of high end rooms in the area to sustain a 2000+ rate. They could of course not bother about occupancy since its the same owner as W and Westin and just leave it half empty and keep the exclusivity.
There are pics of the room decor and stuff, I'll send them to you via e-mail
@Jason:
Intriguing choices!
I actually dislike the Sofitel, Sheraton MoE and Conrad. No bad experiences, just too 'meh' for Dubai.
I'd recommend Sheraton Grand (best hard product) next to Conrad. Suites for Plats and the some of the best suites I've seen (modern contemporary but not spartan like Hyatt).
In Marina, Grosvenor house and Westin are safe bets. All SPG Marina properties give you 2 way airport limo transfers if you book a suite, T2 in Grosvenor or are Elite member. Furthermore the lounges in LRM and Grosvenor are some of the best in the world. Grosvenor in particular has 3 *full* meal services (so essentially a full board package). Their drinks are so varied they actually have a menu with multiple pages.
I was going to stay at the St. Regis in Dubai, however I am leaving one day early of the opening. With those prices I am glad not missing this opportunity. Stayed at Conrad, which is well kept.
My favorite is JW Marriott. Tallest hotel in the world. Great service and amenities. I booked the Ritz DIFC at 1100 AED, so 2200 AED is a joke.
I recently stayed at the Sheraton Mall of the Emirates and was really surprised how nice it was. Sure there's flashier places in Dubai but given the patchy, dated state of some of the hotels in the Sheraton chain (the Doha Sheraton is like staying at Granny's house) I was delighted. Nice club room with lounge.