BASIL FAWLTY has competition! (Metropolitan Deira Hotel)

Member Name: jayjolynn

Product:	Metropolitan Deira Hotel
Date:	12/12/06 (219 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: NICE ROOMS AND FOOD

Disadvantages: BAD MANNERED SENIOR STAFF

We arrived in Dubai from Thailand, and took a taxi to our Hotel. The journey only took about 10 minutes from the airport to the front doors. On arrival, the doorman was pleasant enough and offered to take our cases from us.
As we were exhausted by this time you can imagine how disappointed we were when arriving at the Hotel at 6 am, to be told that they would not let us into the room until 12 noon! With some discussion, we were finally told that if we paid £50 we could have a room until ours was available. On principal we chose not to, and as we looked around the Lobby, there was a lounge area where there were couches littered everywhere with bodies of other guests that had also refused to pay this extra charge for the privilege of having a bed for an extra 6 hours. There were some guests on the floor of this lounge area, and it really did look like an airport lounge when a flight is delayed for 24 hours!

We decided that 4 of us should just squeeze onto one of their couches and try to Sleep for a couple of hours as it was too early to go anywhere! We realised that this was something we had overlooked on our booking, so decided it was a thing we had to put up with!

As I looked about this lounge, it reminded me more of a British style Hotel lounge rather than a Middle East one. There were dark leather couches everywhere with dark wooden coffee tables splitting them up. This lounge was situated to the right of the reception area, and there was a small bar in the corner which looked inviting as we were gasping for a coffee! We were to be disappointed again though as we were informed the bar didn't open until 8 am, so I asked if there was anywhere at all in this hotel we could possible get coffee, but the reply was 'No, as you were not booked in till 12 noon, you are not entitled to even be here'.This was the actual reply I got from the receptionist!! I 'thanked' him for his rudeness, and walked over to the doorman who politely told me that there are plenty of coffee shops just outside the hotel, but most don't open till 8am!

We settled down again on our couch and tried to get some 'shut eye' but this was not to be either! There was a middle aged lady, ranting for almost an hour to the receptionist! She was shouting in Arabic and her arms were fleeing all over the place! The receptionist just kept shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders as though he had only been trained in treating guests with contempt rather than trying to defuse the situation!

I knew she was very angry about the room situation (even though I couldn't understand a word she was saying) but we were too weary to argue, so I tried to nod off, but no, she came up to the lounge area and insisted on ranting to an audience of about 40 people who had taken up residence on these couches!
Yes, she managed to stir up quite a fracas! Before we knew it, there were about 10 guests, all up at reception, all shouting (in probably several different languages) to this receptionist who just kept shrugging his shoulders in a 'couldn't care less' way! He had a smirk on his face that you would have great joy in wiping off for him!

Eventually, the Manager appeared (after his good nights sleep, no doubt), and faced his guests with I assume another answer of 'I don't give a damn' attitude.
After the 'Oscar winning' lady ranted some more, he shrugged and walked away. Well, this gave us a good insight into the management of this establishment!
Not once, was anyone offered coffee, or made to feel welcome! It was incredible that this place had the attitude of a 'doss house' and you had a feeling the staff were non too pleased about having to deal with holiday makers who in their minds were just common travellers who turned up with their tacky cases and expected a room with a bed in it!

I did notice however, that a couple of businessmen in their full Arab attire and brief cases were addressed in a different way! They appeared to be treated like VIP's! So I have to guess that we didn't look rich enough in our crumpled T shirts and baggy shorts, to get the same respect these Arab gentlemen got!

HOTEL

This Hotel is part of the Habtoor Group, and they have 4 Hotels in Dubai, Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa, situated on Dubai 's Jumeirah Beach, Metropolitan Palace Hotel, near to our one, on Al Maktoum Street, and Metropolitan Hotel, at Sheikh Zayed Road.

The Metropolitan Deira has a facade of steel and glass, and from the outside, looks quite modern, although not compared to the many high rise luxury Hotels that Dubai offers. In complete contrast is the lobby area, which looks somewhat dull in comparison.
It is located in a side street off Al Maktoum Street, close to the Clock Tower, a very busy street in the heart of Deira - Dubai's downtown area, where the main businesses and shopping centres are. It is a bustling place with lots of eating places and lots of super shops.
Separated from Bur Dubai by the Dubai Creek, Deira is also close to the historic part of Dubai, Bastikia, where you can visit the many amazing souks, and the Creek, so lots to see on your doorstep!

ROOMS

After having something to eat and the coffee we had been gasping for , we returned to the Hotel for about 11.40 am and enquired as to whether our room was ready yet, and our dear happy receptionist, replied 'I have already told you , it will not be ready till 12 noon'! Now, after this, I guess I had had enough of his rudeness, and enquired if his Mother had tried to smother him at birth, and that's why his rude and obnoxious attitude had become a permanent feature of him! His reply was to smirk! Was this an attempt to show he had some humour, or was it a sign telling me that he would have me thrown into the main square and stoned for my impertinence? Well I would never find out !

We got our key at 12.10 and the sweet little bell boy brought our cases up to our room with us. This boy must have only been about 16 years old, but had more management skills in his little pinkie than the whole group of senior staff I had seen downstairs! They should take a leaf out of his book on how to be polite to guests!

We unlock the room door, and what a pleasant surprise after our first miserable impression of this Hotel! The room was very spacious with a large King size bed which had a beautiful quilt over it and matching curtains in a pale yellow.This Superior room also had two easy chairs and a large table. Also a large dressing table with large mirror stood facing the bed with a television sitting on top of it.
The air conditioning had already been switched on, and was very refreshing after being out in the Dubai heat! The room had cable channels (which I dislike, as my partner just has to try this out, and flick through channels wherever we go!) There was also Internet access, fax, safe and a minibar. A hairdryer was also inside the dressing table, which I later discovered would take an eternity to dry my hair with!

There was a little star on the cornice indicating in which direction Mecca is ( common in most Hotels in UAE) as the main religion here is Islam.

The bathroom was wonderful! There was a large bath, separate shower, which you could quite easily get two people into (should you want to that is!). The towels were so thick and fluffy and the toiletries exceeded the usual ones you get in these Hotels, having hand cream, shampoo, conditioner, face creams, bubble bath, and shaving cream ! Face wipes were also there!
The bidet and toilet sat side by side in this ornate bathroom, the walls covered in marble effect tiles. I would find myself spendIng longer than usual in this bathroom!

The Hotel has 135 rooms in total, 80 Superior, 48 Deluxe, 6 Junior suites, and one Deira Suite. If you are not a smoker I would ask specifically for a non smoking room as I don't think they put much importance on smoking/non smoking rooms, and you may end up in a 'smoking' corridor.
There is a 24 hour room service available to all rooms.

The cost of this room per night is about £166 but as we had come package, there is no way we paid that as our 3 day stay in this Hotel and 11 nights in Thailand, with flights and rooms only came to £699 for the whole deal (last minute booking) so no idea how much the actual cost of this side of our holiday added up to?

Perhaps this is why our charming receptionist looked down his nose at us???! He knew we were common cheap tourists after all??!!!

POOL & LEISURE FACILITIES

After showering, we decided to spend a couple of hours by the pool to relax. The pool is situated on the roof of the Hotel, and is adequate, but small. There is also a Jacuzzi which I spent most of my time in, and was very relaxing! The views from this rooftop pool were terrific! Though, being not too far from the airport it proved to be very noisy when the planes were flying overhead!
There is a bar on this rooftop, and although not manned all the time, there is a bell you ring, should you want refreshments, and the waiter did appear quite quickly. There were also a few light snacks you could purchase from the bar, and if you should want something more substantial, the waiter could get it from the main Hotel for you. Bear in mind, I paid approx. £3 for a small bottle of water!

There are sun beds and tables and chairs, but nothing to make you want to spend every day at this poolside, and as they have a far superior sister hotel on the beach front with an amazing pool area, you will find that this pool is nothing compared to its sister hotel,
The Habtoor Grand Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Beach.
(The Hotel offers a free shuttle bus that takes approximately 30 minutes to get to its sister hotel).

On the same level as the pool area there is a gymnasium, which looked fairly well equipped, but we never ventured in here, so can't really comment, but we did see a sauna also on this floor.

RESTAURANTS & BARS

The Hotel has 2 main restaurants, but the one we ate in was the Al Riqa Restaurant. As our package included breakfast, this is where we ate every morning.

This light and airy restaurant was in the style of Art Deco. The tables were laid out nicely, and the waiters were very smart, and courteous.
The breakfast buffet is opened 6.30am - 10.30am, and it had various choices of breakfasts.
Cereal, porridge, sausage, bacon and egg, mushrooms, Toast, jam, and a selection of breads and fruits are on display. The food was good considering it is in fact buffet style (as I'm not a great lover of buffet food), and your coffee was always being topped up by the very pleasant waiters! Again, I do believe most of the lower stationed staff have moved to Dubai from neighbouring countries, and are just grateful that they can send some money home to their loved ones, so they try so hard to please guests, unlike the higher stationed staff!

This restaurant also does lunch buffets between 12.30 -3.30pm, and dinner buffets 6.30pm-10.30pm, but we never ate in the Hotel (apart from breakfast) as there are plenty of eating places in Dubai, and the least time spent here the better as far as I was concerned!

The Wunder restaurant is the hotels other restaurant and is German, open 7.00am to 11.30 pm, and as you might guess, it serves German delicacies! Again cannot comment on this, but the actual restaurant itself looked rather inviting!

DUBLIN ARMS

I wanted to leave this bar till last, as we did have a couple of drinks in here after being out and about in Dubai. Its opening hours are 12 noon - 4pm, then re-opens 6pm till 3am.

We went in there about 11.30pm and it has a good selection of beers and spirits and even has Guinness on tap! So we were looking forward to our long awaited alcoholic drink and ordered 2 beers and 2 vodkas & coke and the cost for that ? The equivalent of £28!!Oh well, we will not be getting drunk in here then!

So, we sat and sipped at our over priced drinks, and took in the Irish feel to this pub. This bar had all the features of an Irish bar except with the obvious missing feature. There were no Irish in it!

Serving the tables was a German waitress/waiter, sorry we found it difficult to work out if she/he was a 'she' or a 'he'! She/he had a very deep voice, and had a face like a man, with some growth on her/his face, but with long hair, but she/he had one obvious sign she could in fact be a 'she' as she/he must have been a 44FF, but there again she/he was wearing men's clothing???! Yes, well we were as confused as you probably are now!

This gave us something to debate over rather than the price of drinks in this establishment, but it wasn't long before we would have something else to gossip about!

There was quite a few oriental looking girls sitting at the bar itself, and it took some 45 minutes to realise this was no ordinary bar!

After awhile, we saw one of the guests come in (remember the business man who we had seen in his full Arab attire when we arrived?). He was no longer in his traditional Shumagh & thobe, but in casual jeans and T shirt. He approached one of these young girls at the bar, and she promptly got up and followed him out!

We were getting the idea of what sort of bar this was, as within perhaps a couple of hours, there were men coming in and literally picking one of the girls from the bar area and leaving with them, I suppose to have a nightcap somewhere else?!

So, think the gentlemen who frequent this place are looking for a little bit of Irish luck!

SUMMARY

Overall, I was not impressed with the Hotel, and if it hadn't been booked along with a last minute cheap package holiday, it certainly would never have been one I would go to through choice! It's sister hotels in Dubai were first class, and this was no way on the same level as them, but then we didn't expect much for this cheap holiday, but what we did expect (no matter how much you pay for a holiday) is respect and the management of this Hotel need to seriously look at the attitude of their senior members of staff!

Even Basil Fawlty was better mannered than this Hotel's receptionist!

Summary: Ok Hotel ! Shame about the staff attitude!