Hotel Review: Raffles Dubai
The Raffles Dubai is a luxury business hotel located in the city center of Dubai, not far away from the airport. In this extensive review, we’ll explain what you can expect of the property!
You can find plenty of luxury hotels in Dubai, so making a choice is often pretty difficult. One major factor when choosing a property is the location. The Raffles Dubai for example isn’t located at one particular spot, but rather strategically between the airport, the creek and the city center.
- Classification: Five Stars
- Room Category: Club Room
- Month of Stay: October
This allows makes the property a bit more affordable than many other luxury hotels in Dubai. For my particular stay I paid around 250 euro per night via Virtuoso and got plenty of benefits with it. This made staying at the pyramid shaped luxury hotel a fantastic deal.
Rooms at the Raffles Dubai
Upon arrival at the property, I was pleasantly surprised to get an upgrade to a room with club access. This also meant that the room as such wasn’t different to a standard room, which is nice for this review. In general, most rooms will look like this, just with a different room. That said, I generally felt that the room was more a Junior Suite like a Standard Room, so you can definitely expect to get a really nice room when staying at the Raffles Dubai.
When entering the room, you can find a spacious luggage room on one side. This is a feature I really value as you don’t see the luggage when in the room per se.
On the opposite side, you can find a large bathroom. However, let’s start with the room per se, which really makes a spacious impression when entering.
It’s basically separated between two different areas, one dedicated as a bedroom and the other one as a living and working area. There are even curtains that you can pull accordingly.
The bedroom consists of either a large King Bed or two very comfortable Twin Beds, each with a night desk on one side.
Opposite of bed, you can find a little make-up area, which surely will come handy for some.
The living room and working area is where the television can be found (you also have a view of it from the bed).
There obviously is much more than that though, for example a really nice and spacious desk with two comfortable chairs. It’s not an issue at all to work here simultaneously, which is not given at luxury hotels.
The rest of the area is compromised by a large and very comfortable sofa, which even comes with a blanket and individual pillows for added comfort.
It’s generally worth noting that the whole design at the Raffles Dubai is really nice and has an amazing local touch. I personally enjoyed it more than the design at the Conrad Dubai, for example.
On the table in the living room, a nice welcome note alongside a fruit basket was already waiting for me upon arrival in the room.
Later in the evening, I was also brought a plate with local sweets – such a nice gesture!
Obviously, all rooms at the Raffles Dubai also come with a coffee machine and a minibar, with the former being complimentary.
One of the highlights at this property definitely are the spacious balconies, which are nicely equipped as well.
You can relax on one of the chairs and enjoy the views of the city – it can get a bit loud here though.
Aside from the balcony and the room itself, the bathroom is also worth mentioning. It’s definitely as luxurious as the rest.
There’s a large and very nice bathtub in the corner of the all marble bathroom.
Then there’s a double vanity, which is great when travelling with another person.
The toilet is slightly separated from the main bathroom, but there is no door, which I thought was a bit odd.
The shower is pretty amazing though, it’s very spacious and comes with great pressure from both shower heads.
All in all, I’d say that the rooms at the Raffles Dubai are really exception and among the nicest hotel rooms I’ve seen in a while. Particularly the spaciousness for a standard room really is amazing and reminded me a lot of properties like the Waldorf Astoria Beijing.
Breakfast at the Raffles Dubai
Luxury hotels in Dubai usually offer an absolutely lavish breakfast spread and the Raffles Dubai is no exception here. The buffet is really exceptional and comes with incredible options.
I particularly enjoyed the corner with local specialties, which had plenty of different options.
However, Western choices aren’t worth as you can enjoy a great selection of breads and pastries, for example.
There are also dozens of different yogurts, muesli and fruit options. Everything really felt high quality and tasted exceptional. As it is the norm for luxury htoels, there is also a large hot buffet with dozens of different choices, including Indian, Western and Chinese.
I’d highly recommend making use of the live cooking options as well as you can enjoy omelets, pancakes and more – all very yum.
The service is quite good as well and you can even sit outside when having breakfast at the Raffles Dubai, so the whole experience is really enjoyable!
Club Lounge at the Raffles Dubai
As I’ve been upgraded to a room with club access, I also had the chance to check out this area.
The lounge is a medium-sized room on two floors, which is flooded with light and a nice place to sit for a coffee or a drink, in my opinion.
The lounge offers a full service concept during the day, so drinks are brought to your table. There is no food offering during the day though and breakfast is only available in a very limited way (you are asked to rather go downstairs for proper breakfast).
One of the two daily food offerings in the lounge is afternoon tea, which is served on a tray with a couple of sweet and savory options. To be honest, this wasn’t an exceptional afternoon tea, but just “okay”. For example, I had much nicer afternoon tea at the Hotel Hermitage Jakarta or the Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur.
The evening spread in the lounge is much better though and a timeslot I’d definitely recommend for spending some time in the lounge.
There is a nice buffet with plenty of different options, ranging from a couple of salads, local spreads and more to a couple of hot options.
Various desserts and cheeses can also be found on the buffet, additionally there is a selection of alcholic beverages available.
Honestly, I thought that lounge at the Raffles Dubai was a rather weak spot compared to other areas of the hotel. It’s definitely not on the same level as for example at the Conrad Bangkok or the Conrad Singapore.
Lunch at the Raffles Dubai
As I had a 100 US-Dollar voucher to burn during my stay at the Raffles Dubai, I had a nice lunch with some friends.
We had some classic lunch and room service snacks like a yummy Caesar Salad or a Hamburger.
We also had some special drinks with lunch, which all were quite good as well, so was service.
Pool & Gym at the Raffles Dubai
When staying in Dubai, a nice pool and gym are important for many. As I’ve mentioned before, the Raffles Dubai is not located on the beach and is generally more a business than a leisure hotel. However, the property still offers a unique pool area.
The swimming pool has a particularly quirky shape and is great for just chilling around (in the more shallow areas).
It’s also possible to swim laps and longer distances though as the pool has many areas, which I thought was very enjoyable.
Furthermore, there are plenty of loungers, so there was never a shortage in that regard. Upon getting to the pool, a poolboy is making sure that your lounger is being prepared with a towel and a cool drink – great service!
I also very much enjoyed the little garden located right next to the pool, which is a nice spot to escape the heat and have a little work without leaving the hotel.
As you’d expect in a luxurious hotel like the Raffles Dubai, there is also a spa area, which comes with plenty of treatment rooms and options.
Last but not least, there’s a medium-sized gym.
It has all the necessary and very modern equipment, but I still though that it was a bit tiny and cramped for a hotel that big.
Anyways, I’d say that the recreation facilities offered by the Raffles Dubai are quite nice even though they might not be on the same level as what is offered by properties like The Chedi Muscat.
Overall impresisons of the Raffles Dubai
I very much enjoyed my stay at the Raffles Dubai and would definitely recommend the property. The rooms are very spacious and nicely appointed, plus they even come with a balcony. Breakfast is amazing and the lunch I had was very good, plus the pool area is pretty nice for a city hotel. I wouldn’t say that the lounge is something you need to book additionally, but it’s still nice to have. If you are not looking for a beach hotel, but rather a nice luxury hotel in the city, you definitely won’t go wrong with the Raffles Dubai.
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