W Dubai - The Palm

Probably the best hotel in the world? Here it goes! Firstly in context . We travel a lot. 25 different countries , many of those counties up to 4 times each . And so many luxury hotels. Dubai for the 2nd time. This beat the absolutely lot. We stayed 14 nights in room 3059. Ocean facing view. The hotel is classed as half board , but I would say it’s more like a mini-all inclusive, as bottle water is free, breakfast is on until 11.45 so you can brunch it . You get free fruit around the hotel and more often then not there’s free drinks in the lobby. The other reason is until 11.45 you can have any drink at breakfast free , the drinks are amazing . we only have oat milk or coconut milk and this was served at breakfast and you could take it away. The room was absolutely gorgeous! The attention to detail was superb, no expense spared. The tiling was the best tiling I’ve ever seen. The bath was in the room was ocean facing. Stunning. The entrance to the hotel as you’ve probably seen is stunning , we used taxis many nights and newer taxi drivers even comment on how incredible the entrance was (tunnel) felt like a celebrity, the doors opened and closed for you every time. A shorter description of the rest of the hotel , the photos in uploading should help match some of these statements . The rooftop bar Sobe, stunning. Indoor seating and air conditioning outside. The lobby area absolutely stunning with the chandelier changing colours , sometimes syncing to music. The hallways to the bedrooms were beautiful enough as it was! Lit up dark, with super soft carpet and really nice music playing. The spa was absolutely stunning . The prices very reasonable if you check out the happy hour spa . Only thing is men and women can’t mix . You can’t have a couples massage , so we decided not to have a treatment . We used the whirlpool complimentary as guest that was mixed gender. Hints and tips section - Taxis each way cost. to Atlantis about £2.50 Nakheel mall about £4 Waitrose you can buy crisps / drinks / gifts etc! Dubai mall of emirates about £7 Smaller mall but very good. Indoor ski slope Big mall / burj about £12 Airport about £20 - £25 (more expensive from the airport to the hotel) To burj al arab souk madina about £5 Blue waters big wheel about £7 Internet city is the closest metro in which makes it easier to get to deira due to traffic . £6 and then about £4 all day ticket metro. Here it gets better and better from now on , the buffet food for breakfast was delicious, live cooking stations and an abundance of really great tasting food. Piping hot and the quality of pans to store and cook the food enhanced the experience even more. The chefs are awesome. They can cook you more or less anything to order. Even better, the pool area, stunning. The staff and lifeguards. We had a heatwave in Dubai . It’s hot enough, I heard that it hit 62 degrees and 84% when we was there. You can survive easily as the water in the pool is almost ice cold , it’s lush . The staff work so so so hard , and they’re so kind and friendly. Il talk more about staff a bit later on. One of the life guards . Treated my wife like a queen. Because she didn’t like the sun directly on her , every day at certain points he came over and move the parasol for her. (Easier said than done) very young guy with maybe sri lanka heritage. We gave him a small gift toward the end. His gleaming smile. All of the lifeguards were just so lovely. I asked his name , but I’ve forgot it. If someone could find him and thank him lol! The other life guards will know who he is. I want to talk a bit more now about some of the best people on earth. Working at this beautiful hotel. The wet deck staff , carmi, seyda and astha. Absolutely lovely every morning, they sorted out our wet pod , booked our favourite ones in advance. Made sure that every morning there was plenty of the complimentary factor 50 sun cream , as the sun cream id purchased from the UK , didn’t react too well with my skin. Just really nice to talk to , they came round to the pod probably twice or three tims a day to check we was okay , that we didn’t want anything and confirm our plans and reservations for the following days. A shout out to sonny in the area as well. Another awesome human . Happy to help as and when we needed and sometime just nice to have a little chat. Makes you feel welcome and at home. The wet deck food was delicious, we eat wet deck food maybe 4 times . Truffle pasta. Poke bowls and truffle cheese sandwich. Superb . Th speak easy bar was super super cool . It’s get better and better, the staff at breakfast/ dinner. Maz Nishant (probably not spelt anything like this - see picture) Sofia (from akira back - more details later) These 3 people, overwhelmingly kind towards us. As was so many over people . But unfortunately I can’t name everyone. The new barista lady , absolutely ace also. The kindness and authenticity toward us nearly put us both in tears towards the end of our stay . Every morning. And evening when working come to chat to us , asking us how we was , making recommendations, catching up. it’s you’d have to be there moment . We was given a special gift at the end of our stay by a member of staff , maybe the time we was there and what we gave back , for the time there we felt like we was part of their working family . Just awesome. We were absolutely spoilt . Made us feel wanted. My wife kept saying I wish we’d come here for our honeymoon. I saw a number of times guest give staff big hugs and say thank you for the lovely experience. I noticed the happiness in the staff shone. And I picked up on this , and they very happily said , that the managers were great . Told just to be themselves. I don’t know who’s in charge of recruiting and managing the breakfast dinner? I said in a hand written note before , don’t change anything. Our style room keeper, I think his name is pinty but I seriously could be wrong , as was given so many random business cards with names on over the space of two weeks . I hope that his name, was really really nice . He came in the evenings . 3059 for the time we stayed. We left some bits for him at the end and I hope he got them. The cherry on top of this really beautiful cake was akira back. And sofia. She’s up with the best humans on earth , and her awesome awesome team. She’s a person who loves her job so much , you can see spills into the real world . She’s so intelligent and kind . The chefs and cooks made us some foods off the menu based on our taste and preferences. We over 3 occasions essentially tried everything to offer. And the service and taste in mine and my wife opinion was the best food we’ve eat out in our lives. See pictures but we essentially had around 10/15 different dishes! We’re in the midst of booking London. We knew the restaurant was good , but that places is seriously very special. Somehow the food just got better and with each bite. I’m a better than average amateur cook , and never in a life time be able to achieve a tenth of the flavour and taste they got out of some of those dishes. The edamame rissoto , truffle pizza (more like crisp bread) and the avacado and pear dish. The asparagus sushi and spider roll. We decided go to akira back for our wedding anniversary due to the great experience we’d had in the two previously visits and a combination of other factors? We were bought a really beautiful bunch of flowers! Dubai is another wonder in itself if you’re considering going. The palm especially at this location was peaceful quiet and almost traffic free. But still within a short taxi ride of what Dubai best has to offer. Staff 10/10 Location 10/10 Hotel 10/10 Breakfast 10/10 Dinner 10/10* Lunch 10/10 Overall 10/10 Usually with all my reviews I can make a suggestion, part of work is find flaws to make improvements. This hotel we couldn’t, I would certainly return to this hotel, and akira back. I would not return to the Italian restaurant*, we decided to make no comments out of respect of the rest of the hotel. Il be talking about this hotel for years to come. We have a no return to the same place policy. But we’ll be back , not if but when. Read less