Aloft Palm Jumeirah

This is a nice hotel if you're on a budget - it is close to the beach and they offer free shuttles to the mall and other beaches. The food at the hotel is very expensive and overpriced but we soon found out that everything in that area is expensive... The staff are tentative and very friendly. However, the reason that I have only given this hotel three star is because it was frustrating at times in the evening when we couldn't sit outside by the pool and bar area - we felt restricted and it's a shame as it's a lovely place to hang out in the evenings. One time we ordered McDonald's and there was literally no one else outside by the pool and we were told we weren't allowed to eat our own food and had to take it to our rooms. I understand it is their policy but honestly there was no one there and it was dark outside so they could have made an exception. Another time we wanted to sit outside but they said it was closed off which was again made us feel like there wasn't any where else inside the hotel for us. They do have a nice lobby area but when you're on holiday, it's nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the breeze. The hotel has its own beach a few minutes walk away - again felt restricted as they started packing up all the sun beds just before sunset and we were enjoying just laying there. I guess it just depends on the time of year you go - definitely visit when there's longer days! There is a hotel being built on the beach so also bare this in mind if you're looking for a relaxing quite time at the beach - take headphones / earplugs! The rooms do look bigger in pictures so if you're booking a family room - bare this in mind as most of the family sized rooms don't come with a balcony and sea view which we didn't know until we got there. There was three of us and we weren't happy with the first room - the hotel staff were nice enough to move our room the next day - however it meant three of us had to squeeze across two single beds (but we were fine with that as it meant we had a balcony and didn't feel enclosed in a small room). Overall I would recommend the hotel, just make sure you book a room with sea view, as the other rooms don't have a great view and all you can see is construction work going on - which isn't a great vibe on vacation!

For our "one night Dubai visit" we picked up Aloft. The location of the hotel is really excellent.The room was clean and well enough amenities were placed. Special thanks to Biraj from pool bar area, very friendly with a good smiling face!