DoubleTree by Hilton Resort & Spa Marjan Island

We love this place so much that it was our third time here! We were there for 8 nights with our 7 year old. On arrival, Rohit was brilliant, (sorry if I got name wrong) he instantly recognised us, so it felt like we were at home. Rooms are clean and bright. Bathroom is spacious with enough hooks to hang bath towels and spread out our toiletries (for the 3 of us anyway!) The managers at the main buffet restaurants are brilliant. We were super excited to see Ganesh (for the third time!), who was attentive and engaged in conversation with us (thank you for our cake on the last day, Ganesh, it was a lovely touch) Samet was also lovely and thoughtfully brought some chips over for my daughter (as chips are not served on the buffet every day, which I think is a good thing, otherwise, kids will just eat chips!) Sorry for the managers who I have not recognised here personally, but from what we observed, they all worked so hard to ensure guests were happy and looked after. Great chefs - the Indian food in the main buffet (breakfast/lunch/dinner) is brilliant. They change it every day and serve curries, lentils, paneer, a variety of rice dishes, chicken/lamb curries. All different flavours and a lot of variety. The naan was sometimes chewy (because it was left in the heat thing) but that can easily be rectified by asking them to make you a fresh naan, which they did. The staff at this resort work very had and have such a great attitude to ensuring that guests needs are met. Particularly on the days of the freak storm that Dubai had, the staff worked hard at adapting and keeping guests safe. Overall the resort is compact and cute, lovely beach and pools. Read less

Great hotel . Great facilities. Well worth a stay if you want all inclusive resort in Dubai. Make shore you go ultra all inclusive tho! Worth the extra money just for the restaurants! Big shout out Martin at the pool bar and meetnay as well . The staff goes the extra mile to make your stay extra special ! And the heat they have to work is incredible ! The only problem is. To many Rude vile arrogant Russians ! If you can look past that and try to avoid them it’s great hotel . But when there 70-80% off them population in hotel. It’s hard !. It’s hard to avoid them ! Shout out to Jackson and the staff in sports bar . Treat u well . And always have smile on there faces. . Read less

What an amazing holiday we had here Happy did everything to make this visit so special we were updraded she organised special balloons and a cake for my husband’s birthday she had sweets delivered to our room for our grandson! I could go on and on about our stay but suffice to say it was incredible snd all down to Happy the hotel needs to keep hold of her as she is a gem and we cannot thank her enough for all she did for us thank you again Happy Read less

First of all the staff at the hotel are really lovely, they listen, always are polite, the housekeeping team are fantastic. Our room was cleaned everyday and the lady was really lovely. The pool area for families was really big and lots of beds around the side to be able to jump in or watch the children playing. There are extra pools areas but we didn’t try them out. There is also an adults only pool which some of our group tried and they said it was lovely! There is a little park for the children to play in, plus a giant chess set, various activities dotted around on the beach so plenty to keep them entertained if they don’t want to be in the pool all day. There is a nice area with water slides for the children to have fun in with various sizes of slides for little ones up to older ones, even the adults can jump on if they want. Out at the sea there is sea slides and a rope swing, our children loved it, and there is always a life guard at any of the pools, slides etc. The entertainment team did try throughout the day to get people involved but probably because it wasn’t very busy they weren’t very successful, however it would have been good to have some more beach activities for adults and children to take part in. Certainly lots to keep the children entertained during the day. There is a children’s club but this is pretty scarce and is definitely for younger children, our child is 7 and was too old for it, thee is PlayStation 4s but only limited games, if you want to play Fifa then you have to pay extra. There are a couple of arcade type games but they went all working and again you need to buy tokens, the arcade area isn’t a supervised area though so not part of the kids club. We didn’t find any entertainment for children in the evening, there was DJs etc for the adults and t when walking back to our room one evening we saw a movie playing on the projector at the park area for children but this is away from the main area and not advertised. The food- we went AI not Ultra and this was at the beginning a big issue for our group. The food in the buffet is disappointing, and certainly not up to previous standards received from family members at previous stays. However it is possible to ask for children nuggets and chips for children (although this is not advertised by the hotel) and they came out quickly and hot. There really isn’t much choice for the children. There is a nice live pasta station and a pizza station too. Lots of salad options but not a great option for having a nice meal. The breakfast buffet is good and caters for everyone, and we couldn’t say a bad thing about it. In the end we found out about the contribution for the restaurants around the hotel and we did that. For a small price you can top up the bill and have lovely evening meals. The meze was lovely, we also went to the Asian and the Brasserie restaurant. All of that would have been include in UAI but for a much bigger price and it would not have been the best option for us. The UAI is expensive and wasn’t really necessary for us, we didn’t need to drink before 12, the children could have juice or water at any point. It would have been nice to have snacks throughout the day and ice creams but in the end you get a little routine going for breakfast lunch and dinner. If you want snacks then the hotel shops sell crisps etc. Would we go back? No not because of the staff because they are fantastic but because of the difference between the UAI and inclusive, the buffet is so busy that everyone just pushes and shoves, and it doesn’t make for a nice eating environment. There isn’t anything to do in the surrounding area and Dubai is at least an hour away. If we came to Dubai again we would stay somewhere closer with just one AI option. The children had a fantastic time, they loved the pool, the sea slides, the water park and the sunshine. The hotel is definitely family friendly but could just do with making some adjustments to make it better. Read less