Well this is mighty suspicious. The Dubai EDITION is now open, even though just a couple of days ago this hotel was supposed to be branded differently.
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The Dubai EDITION is now open
EDITION is Marriott’s modern luxury hotel brand, and it’s growing at a good pace. The Dubai EDITION has been in the pipeline for quite a while, and the hotel has opened its doors as of November 15, 2021.
The hotel is located in downtown Dubai, and it’s supposed to feature 275 guest rooms and suites, several food & beverage outlets, a pool, a spa, a fitness center, and meeting space (as I’ll explain below, I’m not sure how much of that is being offered as of now).
The hotel is described as being “boutique.” Personally I don’t consider a 275 room hotel to be boutique, but I realize everyone has different definitions. The pictures on the hotel’s site are also strange, and look like someone just took them with an iPhone with no editing, rather than the typical professionally taken pictures.
The Dubai EDITION is a Category 8 Marriott Bonvoy property, meaning that a free night redemption here costs up to 100,000 Bonvoy points per night. That’s steep pricing, as that’s Marriott Bonvoy’s highest hotel category.
Aside from those basic facts, there’s not much else we know about the property yet. Marriott’s luxury footprint in Dubai sure is expanding, with two St. Regis properties having recently opened, in downtown and on The Palm.
What happened to the E Hotel Dubai?
Here’s where the story gets confusing. When I first wrote about the hotel’s opening a couple of days ago, I mentioned how there was a change in plans. The Dubai EDITION was supposed to open as the E Hotel Dubai. There was a dedicated Marriott webpage about the E Hotel, and it wasn’t marketed as any specific brand, but rather was just described as “E Hotel, operated by Marriott International.”
According to reports at the time, the plan was for the hotel to initially be marketed as the E Hotel, and then to eventually be converted into the Dubai EDITION. Why? According to a statement from the hotel:
“The hotel will open in the future as The Dubai EDITION when it meets the standards and requirements of the brand.”
Over the course of two days, the hotel has done a complete 180. The website for the E Hotel Dubai is gone, and now it’s just stated that the Dubai EDITION is open. As a matter of fact, I got an email from the PR company behind the hotel, asking me to “correct” my story, not at all acknowledging that there were actually plans for this to be known as the E Hotel.
This is all very bizarre. Clearly there were plans for this to open as the E Hotel Dubai, and I guess last minute someone decided that was too much trouble, and wasn’t worth it. Maybe the hotel was reminded that Marriott doesn’t actually do a great job enforcing brand standards, so being branded as an EDITION without offering EDITION levels of service is fine. 😉
It really does make me wonder what exactly is wrong with this property, though. Is it still a construction site? Are there no restaurants? Are other amenities not available? The hotel is already starting to charge top dollar, despite there being almost nothing out there about the hotel.
I’m not terribly optimistic about what’s being offered based on the hotel’s website. When you go to the dining page, the first thing that’s highlighted about “dining services” is “local restaurant dinner delivery.” Hmmm…
Bottom line
The Dubai EDITION is now open. The hotel is located in downtown Dubai and features 275 rooms, though we don’t know much else about the hotel.
Oddly this hotel was supposed to open as the E Hotel Dubai as of a couple of days ago, and there was even a dedicated webpage for this. This was allegedly because the hotel wasn’t up to EDITION brand standards yet. That’s not the case anymore, so who really knows what’s going on…
Anyone have more insights as to what the Dubai EDITION’s deal is?
Amazing Italian Restaurant in the lobby of the Dubai Edition the burrata is fresh and delicious and the truffle pizza outstanding. We all visited a hidden bar Leon serving signature cocktails and good selection of cigars. I will return with my work colleagues
Usually I do accept all issues a restaurant might have, but this was really too much.
I reserved a table at Jolie for my parents anniversary.
No indication, that we might expect anything unusual.
At arrival we were informed, that they are stilli a “Soft opening” phase and 50% of meals were not available. Actually 100% of those we would have chosen.
Although only 3 (!) tables were taken the main...
Usually I do accept all issues a restaurant might have, but this was really too much.
I reserved a table at Jolie for my parents anniversary.
No indication, that we might expect anything unusual.
At arrival we were informed, that they are stilli a “Soft opening” phase and 50% of meals were not available. Actually 100% of those we would have chosen.
Although only 3 (!) tables were taken the main course (lamb) was served and we had to wait 10 minutes until the side dishes were served. Then the lamb was cold.
When talking to the manager he offered
desserts as compensation. Sorry, we have seen enough. Finally the bottle of wine was taken off the bill for a ruined anniversary dinner.
Sorry guys, if you need to train, do it with staff and not with paying guest.
Cool music and stylish decor is not enough, as loyal Marriott people we need to say, this is a shame for the Marriott brand!
Been there across NYE. Very far from an EDITION. Seems like they rushed an opening with no budget and try to rip off every cent from the clients. The staff serving was without uniforms, in ripped jeans and t-shirts, more than half menu and basic products unavailable, such as gluten free bread and non dairy milk. They charged me and my husband for an extra dish and juice we ordered at breakfast!
Every request...
Been there across NYE. Very far from an EDITION. Seems like they rushed an opening with no budget and try to rip off every cent from the clients. The staff serving was without uniforms, in ripped jeans and t-shirts, more than half menu and basic products unavailable, such as gluten free bread and non dairy milk. They charged me and my husband for an extra dish and juice we ordered at breakfast!
Every request in the room was taking longer than an hour: probably they have one room attendant doing it all.
Positive: only the location and the furnitures.
From someone who worked at The Dubai Edition during the pre-opening and opening phase:
A toxic working environment and complete lack of ethics resulted in more than 30% of the associates (mostly management) to resign within 3 months. Having employees unhappy, frequently threatened, rudely shouted at, and living in uncomfortable conditions can only result into delivering a poor service to the few guests checking-in.
A cost cutting and saving culture was not only...
From someone who worked at The Dubai Edition during the pre-opening and opening phase:
A toxic working environment and complete lack of ethics resulted in more than 30% of the associates (mostly management) to resign within 3 months. Having employees unhappy, frequently threatened, rudely shouted at, and living in uncomfortable conditions can only result into delivering a poor service to the few guests checking-in.
A cost cutting and saving culture was not only leading into providing products below standards, but often reaching the dangerous point of compromising guests’s safety (i.e. serving expired items to guests to avoid wastage). Hopefully Marriott will realize what’s happening and bring the Company values to this beautiful property.
Well they did now get you to write two articles about it by changing the name at the last minute. All publicity is good publicity?
This looks like the old Address hotel where there was a major fore 2-3 years ago. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Downtown
You are right. The picture is a view of downtown, taken from the Edition hotel.
This looks like the old Address hotel where there was a major fire 2-3 years back.
Dubai properties have been some of the highest performing properties throughout the later part of the pandemic, and are still doing quite well compared to most international markets, so the developers/owners here have more negotiating power than they usually would in regards to opening properties or threatening to close/rebrand. Consider the new St. Regis Downtown Dubai, which is nothing more than a rebranded Renaissance and now classified as a Category 8.
Whew, and here I was almost tricked into thinking Marriott actually has brand standards.
Thanks for fixing the error Marriott!
I booked 5 days there in a couple weeks. Will report back!
Very courageous. To me this story basically screams how unprofessional the operation at the hotel might be.
This is how I see the conversation played out between Marriott Corporate and Edition..
Marriott: You can't open this hotel as a different brand, one we don't even have in our portfolio.
Edition Dubai: But we will dilute the Edition brand if we open with without any services for our guests. People will be upset.
Marriott: Just open as Edition but don't have any services available, "Due to Covid."
Edition Dubai: Oh! Great idea!
Seems like we should use quotes around the name until someone visits and can attest to its brand standards - whatever form that takes. So, the Dubai "Edition". Or maybe "Dubai Edition née E Hotel".
It sounds like the brand "E Hotel" was supposed to be a scapegoat for growing pains, and then it would be an EDITION once they had it figured out. Considering savvy travelers make up a very small minority, I could see that being a good marketing move.
It doesn't "sound like" that... it is that. They literally have a statement out saying so, quoted in this article.
There is an article in Time Out Dubai regarding one of the restaurants in this new hotel. Not sure if this will be the place one goes on a breakfast rate or not however.
https://www.timeoutdubai.com/food-drink/first-look-duomo-at-the-dubai-edition-opens-on-november-15
The probably got skewered over the E Hotel thing and backtracked on it...
Unless Marriot International has now licensed Edition, Edition as a brand is operated by Marriott. In fact, I believe the management division overseeing Edition properties is Ritz-Carlton. That doesn’t mean a Marriott-operated property can’t cheat, but generally rogue properties (across all brands) are operated by franchisees, licensees or their third-party operators. One such case is the Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur. Marriott licensed that property to YTL. I believe it’s one of only a handful (perhaps...
Unless Marriot International has now licensed Edition, Edition as a brand is operated by Marriott. In fact, I believe the management division overseeing Edition properties is Ritz-Carlton. That doesn’t mean a Marriott-operated property can’t cheat, but generally rogue properties (across all brands) are operated by franchisees, licensees or their third-party operators. One such case is the Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur. Marriott licensed that property to YTL. I believe it’s one of only a handful (perhaps less than a half-dozen) Ritz-Carlyon properties not operated by Marriott.