Claridge Hotel - Dubai, United Arab Emirates     

The hotel looks good from the outside, the foyer also carries a good immage. The staff are pleasant and helpfull. The building shows signs of age but the room is nice. Breakfasr was the worst part of the experience. The choice is average but the quality of food is very poor. The location for breakfast is the night club which shows its age and associated stains. Fortunately the lovely large windows and the view of the well manicured Fish Roundabout lifts the atmosphere.

We recently spent 7 nights at this hotel having booked it through a travel agent. We wanted to be in the City rather than at the beach and can't fault its location - next to the Fish Roundabout and a large shopping Mall and only 10 minutes walk to the creek and boats that go to the other side. We arrived in the evening and first impressions were not great - the receptionist ignored us and sat there staring into space. Room was on the third floor and was ok but in need of a refurbishment - carpet old and tired, walls had a few stains on them and sheets and towels old and thin - although clean. Bathroom had lost of black mould around the bath. Opened the curtains the next morning - huge crack in the window and looked out over another wall. Also 7.30 each morning there was a very strange noise that went on for 10 minutes which sounded like a huge industrial plunger going a couple of floors above us! Having said all that it was ok for the purpose of staying there for city exploring. When we walked down the stairs there seemed to be a small community living in the corridor on the first floor - a few dead mattresses in one corner, burnt carpet and tables with used crockery and two or three people sitting outside one of the rooms at a table and chairs eating or smoking the sheesha pipe. On one occasion there were a couple of people sitting in the corridor filing each others nails - maybe it was the beauty salon!! We went down to breakfast - the view across the street and roundabout was nice - better than the view inside. Chairs either had cigarette burns in them or jam over them. Breakfast was pretty poor - Meat and cheese and salad. An old toaster for bread and a few tureens with something in that we had no idea what it was. No cereal or youghurt. Orange juice more like orange squash. We decided to go to the shopping mall opposite on a few mornings as the breakfasts there were cheap and tasty. All in all the hotel served a purpose and didnt ruin our holiday. I think a lot of the city hotels are quite similar to this but it wasnt the sort of place where you could go and relax. It is in a good central area for city exploring, but its probably better to spend a bit more and have something nicer with a pool.