Al Bustan Rotana Hotel - Dubai, United Arab Emirates     

After reading the stories re the renovation I have to admit I was worried about staying at the hotel. First the moans! I actually stayed twice in the same week. The first was for one night in transit to Oman. I requested on my return three days later a non-smoking room, which they promised and was not available. My booking was on the excutive floor and the only non-smoking room left was on the second which I took. I was offered a non-smoking room on floors 3 and 4 later but decided to stay. To be fair the room appeared to be the same. One other small point was that my toileteries were not replenished unless I asked. The room staff on my floor left a lot be desired as I also found that with the exception of the bathroom the room had not been cleaned on at least two days and no forms had been left for the laundry. Finally we reserved a non-smoking table in the Blue Elephant only to be given a table which they claimed to be non-smoking but surrounded on three sides by smoking tables, the fourth side was the bridge across the water feature. We requested to move and they did this once a table was available However this was the exception. The staff in general are outstanding. The renovated rooms are well furnished and in the case of mine, very, very quite, hence the refusal to move. The food in the Blue Elephant is excellent overall and you must try the Thai buffet. Superb.