Chapter 8: Hotels
Stars in the Sky: Hotel choices aplenty
08.09.2022 - 08.09.2022 104 °F
Chapter 8: Hotels
September 8, 2022
There are—according to www.worldatlas.com—61 five-star hotels in Dubai. London has more at 75 and New York has slightly fewer with 59. Why so many amazing properties here? Vacationers and business people coming to the Middle East have one first choice of destination: Dubai. Yes, there is always Cairo but that is for Egyptian antiquities, not the city. You’re likely not going to make a first choice of Doha, Qatar, or Abu Dhabi or Beirut or Kuwait or Bahrain or Saudi Arabia (unless you are a Muslim making the ‘required’ pilgrimage to Mecca) or Oman. You’re definitely not going to Iran or Iraq or Afghanistan or Yemen. You’re going to join the (depending upon whom you ask) the 16-19 million tourists who choose Dubai as their Middle East destination.
Our Taj Jumeirah Lakes Towers doesn’t even make the five-star list. But this place—and our "One Bedroom Luxury Suite"—is spectacular meaning the hotels that made the list must be, well, awe inspiring. They deliver canapés each evening. The WiFi is good. Employees are solicitous but in many cases lack English language skills necessary to accurately understand requests beyond the typical or ordinary. We enjoy lounge access where a hot breakfast of Eggs Benedict and hot coffee and warm pastries hit the spot. The lounge also serves high tea from 3pm to 5pm and then Happy Hour from 6:30pm to 8pm. One could literally eat 3 meals a day in the lounge. We seem to be the only guests who have lounge access so the lounge has become our private dining room. The attendant, Joy, awaits us each morning and can't do enough to make sure we are happy.
What you cannot see from this breakfast pic is the construction site just beneath our balcony. But the true measure of that site is the 6:30am commencement of a clanging and banging cacophony wafting up to our bedroom window. I don't hear a thing unless I step out onto the balcony. Paul, on the other hand, has ears as sharp as any dog. If you think you have ever whispered something or made an under your breath comment out of Paul's ear shot, i assure you you are wrong. He hears everything. The poor man has to hear a very loud (at least to him) TV so that we can both hear whatever it is we are watching. And I assure you my hearing is perfectly fine. His is at a whole other level. They are assembling scaffolding and all those pipes are being tossed and thrown about delivering a wake-up call to guests of the TAJ. My guess is that the construction of that building--it has an enormous footprint--will last a couple of years. Then, however, the noise will have ceased but the view from Room 1314 at the TAJ will be completely different. Dubai is a city of sky scrapers that are pretty much on top of each other. We are told by a friend here that no one is bothered by the fact that views are blocked by skyscrapers, that's just Dubai.It has four restaurants so we can get some variety.
We get the impression that we are well known by every staff member. There are three reasons for that. The first is that we are staying here for 22 nights. They are amazed at the length of our visit. This isn't the sort of long-term stay accommodation where such a thing is not unusual. Second, we tip. I leave a gratuity on the bed every morning for housekeeping, we tip whoever brings whatever we requested to our room, we leave money for the concierge lounge attendant. Third, we make eye contact with and greet every staff member, even the lowest ranking. They're not used to that.
The TAJ, however, is an Indian managed hotel catering to Indian guests. They aren't adept at adopting to American tastes. For example, a wonderful feature is that every room has a scale and for us, watching our weight is important. This scale will only weigh in kilograms meaning we have to google every morning when we are half asleep to figure out how much 86.9 kg is. It's not so bad to see that low double digit number; that is until you multiply it by 2.205 and realize that last nights dessert was completely unnecessary. No, there is no button to change the readout to pounds and, No, the hotel doesn't have even one scale that will read in pounds.
The in-room coffee machine is a Nespresso which is best suited to producing thimble-sized portions of thick coffee--not what we Americans prefer. I guess a Nespresso machine is viewed as a luxury machine, you find them is most US hotels as well. Why people like them is beyond us. We'd be thrilled with a basic Keurig machine. Back home, Paul makes the coffee in the morning - or I should say pushes the button that makes the coffee. Here, I am the coffee chef. We all know that Paul does not and cannot cook. That includes the complication of this Nespresso machine. There is also the option of instant Nescafe. If you want "drinkable" and "refillable" American style coffee, you have to "cut" what the Nespresso delivers with hot water. It's complicated when you're groggy and just want your morning cup.
Lucky for Paul - and me as his 'groggy' can be a bit rougher than that pre-coffee - that I am up first and make the coffee. They offer a complimentary shoe shine but that consists of a sponge pad which they wipe over the toe of your wingtips--there is no polish to be found. None of these things would matter to an Indian guest but they are tiny aggravations for us. For the small things that one could let bother, big things are no problem. The woman who heads housekeeping came to our room on day one to introduce herself and be sure we have everything we want. Big on my concern list was laundry. If my clothes went to the laundry and were washed in hot water and a hot dryer they would likely turn into doll clothes size. She assured me that if i tell her what has to be washed in cold water and hung to dry that is exactly what they will do. I am very happy about that. We're in an amazing city where people want to please, in wonderful accommodations for almost a month, a once in a lifetime experience - we aren't complaining, we're very fortunate. Yes, we are working here everyday to earn that but that is aside the point.
You can get YouTube on their in-room Samsung TV flatscreens but not Netflix which could be pre-loaded but isn't. Fortunately for us, the television sets here, coupled with their WiFi and our Roku sticks, get us that feeling of being back at home by making Netflix available. If only DirectTV worked outside the U.S.--but it doesn't. Neither does CNN. Other than online, we're relatively out of touch as to what is going on back home. Maybe that is really a good thing; a break from all the crazy. I have traveled the world and when you get back to your room in the evening and the only thing to watch on TV is soccer or cricket or a local news/talk program in a language you don't speak, or only International CNN or the BBC which simply aren't what we are used to or prefer, it can really detract from your stay--particularly if it is for an extended period.
You can, in the distance and when the haze is blown away, see the most luxurious hotel in the world (allegedly): the Burj Al Arab—the Arabian Ship Shaped all-suite 59-story icon. From the roof-top helipad to the man-made island upon which it sits, this 23-year-old property boasts 202 suites and Rolls Royce and Lamborghini shuttle vehicles. It seemed pretty spectacular to us with its $23 offering of 24-carat coffee (that comes with complementary pastries alongside the coating of gold).
It is often described, (erroneously) as “the world’s only seven-star hotel” but a couple of local residents told us it was now “tired and old.” We had coffee there on our last trip beneath the 18 story atrium.
Our host chose the Taj Jumeirah Lakes Towers for us because it is near to their offices where will spend quite a bit of our time. We are quite happy in our 1,184 square foot suite with nightly complimentary cocktails and hors d'oeuvres along with free shoe-shine service (such as it is) and a round-the-clock butler. Our suite, from the internet with the hotel, can be had for $400 per night; or, there is an entry-level room for a hundred bucks. Electric outlets are the three-pronged British variety. (Being experienced at these things, we knew to bring several adaptors so that is not a problem)
All the top brands compete for honors here. Jumeirah, Four Seasons, One&Only, Raffles, Bulgari, Mandarin Oriental, Armani, Ritz-Carlton, Le Royal Meridien, Fairmont, St. Regis, Kempinski, Conrad, Atlantis, W, Waldorf Astoria, JW Marriott, Savoy, Westin, Chedi, and our favorite Oberoi, all compete with Taj to be chosen by the monied elite. We are neither monied nor elite but we’re trying to fit in nonetheless.
Rates aren’t as expensive as I thought they might be. An entry level room at the Four Seasons is about $400 per night. But at the Burj Al Arab, it is $1,125 per night while the Ritz-Carlton is $1,126. The St. Regis is $800 while the JW Marriott is $500. But you can stay in a Courtyard for $216 or the Howard Johnson by Wyndham for $200. Do you get what you pay for? I haven’t a clue except to say that our TAJ accommodations are--except for the noise and a few "Indian" quirks--quite fine.
