We wanted a Christmas to New Year break and was booking very late. The Burj Al Arab was fully booked and I wanted Luxury! I then saw The Raffles had just been completed (November 2007), so we booked for 8 nights from 23rd December. We had an overnight flight and when we arrived we had a courtesy limousine pick us up from the airport (about 10 minutes away) and immediately gave us bottles of cold water to refresh ourselves. On arrival at the hotel, as we had booked a Club suite, we were immediately taken up to the 10th floor for executive check in where we could sit at a desk and were given tea whilst we checked in! Once the formalities were done, we were shown to our room by our butler and our luggage was already there. The room was fabulous! The hotel is set back from the sea and therefore, the views are of the city which is a bit urban but during the night is beautiful with all the lights. Dubai is so VERY CLEAN and the the hotel was spotless! The whole ambience is brethtaking. There were still a few finishing touches being put to the hotel and one or two areas were unopened but this was minor. We worked out every day in the gym and the personal trainer was excellent. I enjoyed the fabulous spa a couple of times and the treatments were out of this world! ALL the staff (95% non Arab) were friendly, curteous, non intrusive, very helpful and always seemed to be there when we wanted someone! Now the restaurants were something else! The food in even the standard restaurant was out of this world. Buffet breakfast, lunch and dinners with indoor and outdoor tables. We ate a couple of times on 19th floor with breathtaking views in the Chinese restaurant and I can honestly say that we had never tasted food like it. It was not cheap but sooooo good, we went for a second night! We were so impressed with the quality and choice of the restaurants available in the hotel, we never ventured out to eat! I would recommend this hotel for sheer luxury, pure indulgence, quality and 100% being spoilt!

Who: me and my husband
When: May 2nd-4th 2008 (2nights)
Room: Raffles Suite 1005, 10th floor
Occasion: trip of Oman and Dubai
Other hotels in this trip: Six Senses Zighy Bay, The Chedi Muscat

Ok, it's Dubai, ok I knew it was linked to the Wafi mall, had a pyramid shape and an ancient egypt theme, but considering Raffles Singapore - and right after a suite at The Chedi Muscat - we had a bit of a style-shock when we arrived. First comment: it's Las Vegas in the 80's!
Nevertheless I must admit that the Raffles was able to make me forget its bad taste design thanks to a unique service and two unforgettable dining experiences.

PLUS
- Service and staff: very helpful, always (even too much, sometimes you have the feeling they're too much 'there', probably the perfect service is attentive but 'invisible'). Anyway they make you feel like..Ramses The Great.
- Position for Dubai sightseeing: the big bus tourist service (never thought I would have used it but - again - it works!) starts in front of the Wafi, both red and blue lines. And of course for shopping at the Wafi.
- The Noble House, the fine Chinese restaurant on the 17th floor, simply amazing (calculate 100 euros/person)
- Fire and Ice - cellar and grill. Excellent gourmet restaurant, nice ambience (calculate 100 euros/person)
- Room size, or better suite size, in fact it's a allsuites hotel.
- Very close to the airport, 10'.

MINUS
- Bad taste design, really kitch. Goes better in the monumental lobby where the Ancient Egypt theme finds its ideal place and at Fire and Ice restaurant, out of the theme.
- No beach (but this you know while booking..), no outside spaces except for the interesting botanical garden whose trees are too young now to appreciate.
- No superview, as it's not in a Dubai 'supertower', but a good compromise I guess compared to a 'flat' property. Nice view from the terrace next to the Noble House restaurant, 17th floor.
- Rates: minimum official rate is 2200 AED/room so in the upper price positioning of Dubai 5 stars hotels, being a allsuites hotel. Our rate was 2800 AED/room with breakfast and airport trasfer.

Unfortunately I haven't tried Amrita Spa.

SUGGESTIONS
Go if you wanna feel like Ramses II and have a dinner like a Chinese emperor, all in Dubai, Twenty-first century.

We stayed at Raffles for 4 nights from the 25/3/08. The hotel lobby is absolutley stunning, even more impressive than the Burj. We stayed in a standard room, which was stylishly decorated, with a large flat screen TV and a lovely bathroom. For a standard room it was huge. The staff at the hotel were very friendly and were always willing to help. Whatever you wanted you could have. I think they would have even put my suncream on if I had asked!!! The only thing I would say is that eating and drinking at the hotel is very expensive. Overall an excellent hotel, superb rooms and first class service.

We stayed at Raffles dubai - April 5 to 16th 2008. The Hotel itself is great - very large and spacious. As with all hotels in Dubai - everywhere is air conditioned.

The room, although a standard room was very large with plenty of space - considering my partner needs use of wheelchair most of the time - we normally have problems within rooms maneuvering .... Raffles no problem, huge room. The bathroom had twin sinks , a corner bath and a separate walk-in shower. The shower had a seat - which really held for someone with mobility problems. The balcony overlooked the pool and had two wicker chairs , table and foot stools.

The room also had butler service to bring you anything you needed. They provided us with a daily free fruit bowl - with a huge range of fruit. They would also leave evening nibbles ranging from shrimp to arabic sweets. The room was cleaned once a day , but the towels etc were changed twice ( or more ).

The pool area - accessed from the 4th Floor via the Spa was fully wheelchair accessible - there were ramps and slopes accessing into the pool. The pool has a shallow end , with three slopes down to it - all had good handles. There is seating area in the pool around the bar and it is in the shade. The pool also has a "bubbly pool" area. Outside of the main pool are two swim pools where the water is pumped quickly - so when you swim you stay in the same place. There is also a spa pool outside. The pool area has a seating/restaurant area. There were plenty of sun beds and towels were provided. On amazing feature of the pool was the pavement around it - always cool ( refrigerated ), so even exposed pavement in the sun didn't burn your feet.

The hotels main "buffet" restaurant was on floor 3 - we mainly used it for breakfast. Very good selection of food and extremely friendly staff. The evening buffet , very good food but unless you plan to eat alot is a little expensive for every night ( 225 Dhs each ). Again no problems for wheelchairs. Just along from this was the cocktail bar and access to the gardens.

The lobby had the front desk but also the Raffles saloon bar - with sofa type seating and coffee tables. Towards the back are higher tables but no slopes for wheelchair access - but the staff were friendly and always willing to help get up the two small steps. Servers coffee , a 24hr food menu and CAKES !!! Also many arabic sweets and chocolates.

There is a central area where all 4 lifts to the rooms are .... the lifts are very large and can easily take wheelchairs. They were relatively quick arriving - but then as we were on holiday we probably were not using them at peak business hours. There are another two lifts for access to the top restaurants - Chinese, Asian and Champaign bar.

Access to WAFI shopping center is directly from the Lobby onto level 1. We often used taxis to travel around Dubai - the staff managed to get us cabs really quickly from the front entrance.

Overall the hotel was excellent - all the staff greeted us as we passed and really could not do enough to help. For anyone with reduced mobility or wheelchair bound , this hotel should not give you any issues.