Coral Boutique Hotel Apartments - Dubai, United Arab Emirates     

I have just returned from a week work-and-play trip in Dubai. Stayed at Coral Boutique apartment which I found comfortable, however, it is my first visit to Dubai and a good concierge would help. It would be a miracle to get a reception-cum-concierge at Coral Boutique apartment to do anything in one call. All the staff are friendly and mostly are efficient with their jobs but not the reception. Dubai, being operated very differently from other countries-- weekends on Friday-Saturday, praying time with minimal taxi or drivers not in good mood, traffic condition makes commuting time varies, it is not the easiest place to move around without help/suggestions. Good things about the hotel are that they have free internet, nice breakfast, friendly staff and ok gym and pool. The cons are that the hotel is furnished similar to some 2 star hotels in Europe I had to stay in when can't book anything else, although roomsize is good. The internet may not work and when you call the reception, they tend to say yes with no following-up actions (once waited for 2 hours, so I called house keeper outside of my door to help contacting someone). And it's close but not the closest place to Mall of the Emirates --sort of betwen walking or cabbing distance. Every morning, I was woken up by a construction noise. I went on a sandune safari tour through the booking of a hotel. The company, I think is called Universal. It's the first time so I don't have a reference point but pre-booking conditions say maximum guests would be 6 people, it turned out to be 7. I ended up sitting in the back row which I usually seat my dog or excess luggage. It is not a space for one person in a safari drive but in that evening, 3 people had to squeeze in. The last row of the car has higher seat and my head knocked the roof all the time during the sand dune drive. Not- a- fun thing to do after y ou have paid nearly AED 200 per person for a tour. Dubai as a city can be fun. Some restaurants I found towards the end of the trip (through Timeout magazine and called to book the place myself) are really nice. Wish we get some recommendations like this early on.