We're fairly regular visitors to Dubai but had never stayed at the Shangri La before (though are familiar with the excellence of the chain through experience of their hotels in Shanghai and Singapore). This hotel more than lived up to our expectations - superb, stylish room with sea view, fantastic service from all staff, great food and an excellent location midway between the Marina/Mall of the Emirates and the Creek. What could be bettered? Well the pool gets a bit congested and gentle pressure by the door staff to use a hotel car rather than the much cheaper and perfectly civilized local taxis should be avoided. Otherwise - absolutely excellent!

Stayed here for 2 nights on a business trip to Dubai.

Hotel is on SZR and is well located for business trips. The rooms are of a good size and bathroom is also decent size. All the staff in the hotel are very friendly and give a good service level.

I didn't eat in the hotel, but there is a decent 24 hour Lebanese restaurant about 3mins walk away which is very good for snacks.

The Balcony Bar is good in the hotel (and I didn't see any hookers in there as stated in another review) and the pool bar is also good for a drink.

Overall i would stay here again.

Work commitments brought me back for another stay.

This time our team upgraded to the Horizon Club.

I got the same type of deluxe room on the 38th floor, but this time facing the Sheik Zayed Road - altogether better than being out the back.

Generally the Hozion Club experience is good. The limited choice of breakfast suited me before rushing off to work, but might not be enough choice for someone wanting a more leisurely blow-out.

At busy breakfast times the staff are under pressure and on one occasion I gave up waiting for my order and walked out.

There are a limited number of tables in the HC buffet area (one with a great view out to the sea) and the new no-smoking rules hadn't kicked quite kicked in meaning you could be sitting in the smoking part of the lounge.

In the evening it was a good place to have a pre-dinner drink. Either help yourself to drink or ask the staff. Good choice of drinks. If anything runs out just ask and the'll refresh the limited stock on display.

Some of the evening hot and cold snacks were delicious but most items on display were not popular and seemed to go to waste. Great presentation but more crisps and nuts please!

HC members have exclusive access to a gym and small pool. It's empty most of the time - the main gym is much better equipped.

Stay in in the HC for long enough and they get to know your name - the personal greeting from the staff is a nice touch.

The food in the main restuarants is good quality and service. The Marrakech and Amwaj are espeically good.

A new evening bar has been opened by the pool called Eye Candy. I really enjoyed chilling out here - outside with a shisa and cool music.

It was only on this trip that I realised the Balcony Bar fills up with hookers after midnight. Weird set up where they are tolerated by the hotel but must be on strict instructions not not initiate conversation with guests.

The hotel was pretty much full during our stay and when we had to extend our stay there were problems finding rooms. I had to upgrade to an "Executive" room at the back of the hotel. Larger in floor space but all other furniture exactly the same.
Having been woken up by the mosque at dawn I then thought I heard aeroplanes taking off every few seconds.
It turned out to be the lifts - the Exec rooms are all next to the lift shafts. This was costing another 700 AED per day.

After 16 nights it was time to check out and move the team to the newly opened Raffles which had a great opening offer.

My wife and I stayed for 5 nights at the end of August 2007, obtaining a special end-of-summer rate we found on a Dubai based website (not the hotel's). It was very hot in Dubai at that time of year and, as this was our second visit to the city, we spent most of our time at the hotel, under umbrellas around the lovely pool.

It is certainly the best hotel we have stayed at. The room was large and comfortable and all the staff were friendly, professional and very attentive. The choice of food for breakfast was amazing in its variety and quality.

We don't have a single criticism of the Shangri-La and would recommend it wholeheartedly.

Peter
Wellington, New Zealand