Nightly rate: AED 306 nett (S$111)
Nightly rate after BRG and Marriott eGiftCard: AED 151 nett (S$55)
Length of stay: 11 nights
Membership level: Titanium Elite
Sheraton Dubai Creek Hotel & Towers was the first SPG (now Marriott Bonvoy) hotel that opened in the United Arab Emirates in 1978. The hotel last underwent a renovation in 2014.
I had initially booked a 4-nights stay and another 7-nights stay the following week.
Location
There is nothing much around this hotel. I tried walking to the nearest mall, Al Ghurair and it took about 15 minutes. Dubai is generally not a very walkable city in my opinion and there was nothing much around me during that 850m walk.
The mall is huge and is connected to Swissotel Al Ghurair. There is a large Carrefour supermarket, cinema and plenty of dining options in this mall. I also saw the new Hyatt Place Wasl just across the road where I’ll soon be spending a number of nights in to go for Hyatt Globalist status!
Private transportation is fairly cheap in Dubai and I booked a taxi through the Careem app to return to the hotel for AED 17 ($6.20).
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Arrival
The check-in process was fairly quick even though there wasn’t a separate line for Elite members. Platinum members and above receive complimentary breakfast and a choice of 1,000 points (worth $10), fruits basket or local sweets as welcome gift. I chose the points.
As a Titanium member, I was pre-upgraded to the Executive Suite for my first stay and the Junior Suite for the second stay, which I thought was very generous, considering the fact that it was 7 nights long.
The room
I knew the age of this hotel before making the reservation. Hence, I came with lowered expectations of the hotel’s hardware.
The corridor offers a nice internal view of the hotel but didn’t look child-friendly, especially with horizontal railings that kids can easy climb on.
Shortly after entering room 426, the hotel sent the fruits basket and local sweets even though I chose the points! So very kind of them. Although I wasn’t sure what I could have done with the uncut pineapple.
The furniture looked very acceptable for an old hotel. Although the bedroom was fine, the living room, unfortunately, had the dreaded moldy smell. This is similar to the suite at Hilton Garden Inn Bali. I left the balcony door open most of the time but the smell was still there. It didn’t help that the work desk was located in the living room too.
View from the room was fantastic. It had unblocked views of the creek and also downtown Dubai. This westward view gave me amazing sunsets every single day.
As mentioned above, I made a second reservation at this hotel for 7-nights the following week. This time, I did not want a suite upgrade but guess what? I was forced to have one!
I appreciated the pre-arrival upgrade but what bothered me was that there was no other “normal” room available as the hotel was fully booked that evening. Unsurprisingly, the living room of the Junior Suite (room 303) had a moldy smell too. Worse than that of the Executive room.
I asked for a room change the following day and was given room 425, right next to the Executive Suite that I stayed the previous week. This room had the same amazing view and smelt perfectly fine!
It had a new problem though. There was a connecting door to the room beside mine and there was hardly any noise isolation. Looking at the floor plan, I also noticed that almost all normal-sized rooms are connecting rooms. Bummer.
This is not the hotel’s fault but I was awaken by the noise from the room next door for the next 6 mornings.
Breakfast
Breakfast was served at Vivaldi restaurant from 6.30 till 10.30am every day except for Friday, when it ends at 11am. Selection was pretty small and quality wasn’t good. Besides the freshly-made eggs from the egg station, paratha and pastries were tough and tasted like they have been there since early in the morning.
It wasn’t a huge deal for me as I am always contented with eggs and coffee in the morning. Having unlimited smoked salmon was great too!
I also found the service staff very friendly and attentive throughout my stay!
Executive Lounge (Temporary)
The executive lounge was temporarily located at Vivaldi restaurant or Lobby Cafe (if Vivaldi is occupied for a private event). Platinum members and above had access to coffee and fresh juices here throughout the day.
Happy hour ran from 4 – 7pm. Guests were entitled up to 3 alcoholic drinks each and “chef’s selection” which includes hot food. Food during happy hour was good on most days and really good on some days. I had crab pasta and mini steak on a couple of days.
Other facilities
There is also a business center, gym, sauna, steam room, pool and tennis court in this hotel.
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Ratings
Breakfast: 6/10
Service: 9/10
Location: 7/10
Room: 7/10
Facilities: 8/10
Executive lounge: 8/10
Elite member recognition: 10/10
Value (for what I paid): 10/10
Bottom line
I loved this hotel for its amazing view of the creek and downtown Dubai. The service staff, from the restaurants to the housekeepers to the front desk were amazing throughout my stay. The only problems that I have with this hotel are the moldy living rooms of the suites and that there are too many connecting rooms. I would try to reach out to the hotel in advance to avoid those rooms if I return in future.
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