what can i say about this hotel, everying was amazing from the moment i arrived. we stayed in a lovely villa with a gorgeous view of the waterways. the bulter we had was vey helpful and made reservations for at the restaurants in the resort evey night. i enjoyed the boat ride to the pool everyday but also loved the mini pool that we had aound the villa which was empty nearly everyday.
overall we had a fab time and cant wait to go back in june

This is the most amazng, magical and luxurious hotel we have ever stayed in. If you want to be treated like a King or a Princess then stay here!! The staff are so so helpful and your own butler will do anything for you within seconds. We are well travelled but no other accomodation can beat this - it really is jaw dropping. In fact we are going back again in September for a family holday for 10 days!! The childrens faciltes are simply the best in the world - own nannies, covered swimmimg pools, kids clubs and way way more. European resorts have a lot to learn. Dubai rocks my world!! I nearly fell of my seat to see any negative revews - humbug!! just go go go to the Dar Al Masyaf!!

I was so excited about staying here after reading the reviews and looking at the pictures on-line. Despite what would amount to almost 1,000 a night I thought it would be a wonderful treat. Boy was I wrong...My husband, son and I arrived early at 6am and I did have hopes that we might get our room ahead of time, but understood when that was not possible. Having flown all night from Europe we decided to have breakfast and then rest (sleep) out by the beach.

Several times we called reception to check on our room (they never offered us a phone despite having them in the business center we learned later) and they could never quite tell us when the room would be ready. They kept saying "soon" so instead of hitting the mall we waited really wanting to shower and change first. Finally at 3pm exhausted and rather hot we went back to the reception. The guy there would not tell us anything and finally after another 20 minutes someone came and told us that our reservation would not be honored... Turns out they overbooked the Dar Villas!!!! They had my reservation and they agreed that I'd made it months in advance. They even agreed that I had confirmed my reservation by email three times and by phone to check on something. They knew there was a problem since we arrived in the am, but no one wanted to tell us so they let us wait all day!

So.....instead of giving us the special Dar villa I booked for four nights they offered us the villa for two nights and then "an upgrade" (executive room with ocean view) at the Mina for the last two nights. I was so upset -- if I had wanted to stay at the Mina I would have booked the Mina. The only excuse they had for the problem was that some big group (who they admitted booked after us!) needed all of the villas thus we had to be bumped. So much for the little guy....

After much complaining both about wasting the day waiting for word on our room and about being bumped, we finally had no other choice but to agree and off we went to our room. (They did give us a free dinner as compensation but if it was just about the money I could have saved money by booking a cheaper hotel in the first place...) Anyway we made it to the room and at first they gave us a ground floor room even though I had asked when I made the reservation for an upper room. Not a big deal but I thought maybe they would make an effort given the reservation problem. After mentioning it, they finally gave us an upper room and we rested while waiting another 45 minutes for our bags to follow....

About the room --- I admit it was awesome! We just loved it! The villas are wonderful - quiet, private and spacious! It is close to the spa and the private pools are just perfect. Just as I was about to relax the doorbell rang and in came the butler with the check-in forms to sign. He walked right over and handed it to my husband. The check-
in form of course had the price of the hotel on it..Now this might not be a big issue EXCEPT that I had called the hotel twice to try and prepay the room as a surprise to my husband. (He enjoys these things so much less when he knows the cost!) During my two lengthy phone calls the hotel told me I could not prepay the room (despite doing so at the Kempinsky in Zurich and the Baur au Lac in Genvea during the same vacation!). Anyway at the end of my call the hotel assured me that they would make a note in their system so that I could pay the bill quietly upon arrival without my husband's input. Needless to say that did not work out since the butler handed the bill to my husband...It is a small thing of no real significance, but you'd think for the price of the hotel and after the problem with the room that they would get that right.... It is a five star hotel that prides itself on service afterall...

That evening we went to the mall and had a nice time. I have to admit that since we'd been so upset about everything I kinda expected the hotel to have something nice in our room upon our return as an apology -a bottle of wine or maybe a nice letter, but of course there was nothing. The next day I found my mood souring as I thought of packing up and leaving our wonderful villa (we had so many bags...) so I finally asked for a higher level manager and explained my unhappiness. She was nice, but we still had to move.

When we moved to the Mina I was so disappointed. The room was much smaller than the Dar villa and despite their promise we did not have an ocean view. Whereas in the Dar villa we ordered breakfast in the room each day and sat overlooking the canal with the birds singing, in the Mina our room overlooked someone's small house and their garage! The only sound we heard was the road noise! Basically after that we tried to spend as little time as possible in the room (or at the pool as the Mina pool was crowded unlike the private Dar villa pool...)

To make a long story short....the hotel seems to care very little about customer satisfaction. They did not try very hard to give us the experience we thought we were paying for. If you have to bump someone - then move them into a nicer room not a smaller one with no view. And don't try to make it sound like an upgrade just because it includes the free breakfast as part of the excutive wing (which was looking a little run down and was noisy since it is right off the main lobby...)

Would I go back? If I could be assured of getting the room I booked at the Dar villa then yes. However, frankly I am not sure I have any confidence that this would happen. I want to go back to Dubai with my mom in a few months and am just not sure I should give them my business again....

This is a beautiful hotel marred by shambolic service. I stayed here twice in one week - with a night in between at a hotel in the desert. First check-in we arrived off a flight from UK at around 9 pm to be told room would not be ready until 2 pm. Fair enough. We asked our bags to be sent to the room of some friends who had arrived the day before. Despite several phone calls and cajoling it took nearly two hours for the bags to be sent.. The next check-in was worse. Reckoning that we would not be able to get our room until 2 pm we delayed our departuere from the desert hotel and got to the Dar El M at 4 pm...to be told our rooms were not ready. Big argument. Six hopeless staff poring over a computer screen trying to work out what rooms were where. Eventually a more senior manager upgraded us and found us rooms immediately. I reckon there were dozens of rooms spare but the junior staff had no authority to upgrade. They simply couldn't think for themselves. The Jumeirah group make a big thing of staff smiling at the punters but perhaps they could do more to train them to think for themselves. Once in the room - rathe rheavy decor, distressed fake antique heavy brown furniture knocked up in India and made to look quite grand but really quite comfortable - all was fine. The butler service worked well and some nice complimentary Moet in the evening. We were Impressed that they did not produce some cheaper champagne nobody has heard of. Great Uzbekistani butler called Anton who should be made manager of the whole hotel. One of the few staff members who you felt was in control. Lovely pool, virtually to ourselves. Extremely clean and tidy. But beware the spa. Very expensive - £80+ massages - and not awfully good. Restaurants also hideously expensive. Expect London prices and the rest. Avoid the Italian restaurant. The Thai isn't too bad but don't expect a culinary wow.