Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 117/w4

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 30, Edition 93

Here’s your latest edition of Dubai news, deals & tips, every Friday, in 10 mins or less.

🏩 Adults-Only Hotels

🚋 Etihad Rail update - stations

🛬 Emirates Skywards partner with Jet2

💸 Entertainer Promo Code - soon

📈 Dubai hotel rates/occupancy

🚕 Different types of Dubai taxi

🫰 World of Hyatt 25% off, Hilton 20%

🏨 Six Senses The Palm, Caravan Hatta

🗼 Dubai Creek Tower - back on?

PS. You can always email me here also.

Please note: some links in this newsletter may be affiliate links, and will be denoted with an asterisk (*). This is a link to a partner site that may pay me a commission - at no further cost to you - and if so, helps to support me & this newsletter. For more info, please see Disclosure and Policies

DUBAI DEALS

Entertainer Promo Code Coming Soon

A quick heads-up if you’re considering purchasing Entertainer for 2026, and looking for a discount.

Apparently, Entertainer 2026 discount codes will be available soon. No date has been confirmed yet, but it’s likely to be early February.

If it’s anything like past years, 10% discount is the normal savings.

As soon as I know, I’ll update here - so keep your eyes peeled!

DUBAI NEWS

Dubai Hotel Rates Hit the Heights on New Years’s Eve

I’ll often post about Dubai hotel performance because it’s a) fascinating and b) a good news story. Most of all, with a bit of knowledge and data, it can then help travellers in their search for deals by knowing what rates can be had.

In December 2025, Occupancy in Dubai hotels was 84.3%, a raise of 3.4% year-on-year (y-o-y), and the highest since December 2006.

The Average Daily Rate (ADR) was 1042.11 AED, an increase of 11.1% y-o-y.

Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) was 878.19 AED, a 15.0% increase.

On New Year’s Eve, both ADR and RevPAR surpassed 2,000 AED on the same night, for the first time ever. Occupancy was 94.1%, with ADR being 2,286.60 AED and RevPAR 2,151.40 AED.

And this is why I will regularly state the value in shopping around, comparing, trying tactics like price drops*, price matches, direct negotiation etc. but most of all, focusing on “gettable prices” rather than advertised prices.

House of Habanero

This caught my eye, being a lover of all things hot sauce, and it’s always good to promote local and home-grown businesses run by genuine and authentic people.

House of Habanero is run by Faisal Al Mutairi, the ‘saucepreneur’ and self-styled ‘Chief Chilli Officer’ of Dubai, and will cater to all your hot sauce wishes.

He’s always collecting more ranges of sauce, and business is booming both locally and exporting, so do check out his site if ever you’re looking for hot sauce. Whilst Dubai has many retail options to buy one or two types, this is the first time I’ve seen so many in one place - and long may it continue!

🔗 House of Habanero

It looks like the Dubai Creek Tower project could be having some new life breathed into it, as Mohamed Ali Alabbar of Emaar recently mentioned the developer will be accepting tenders for the project over the next few months.

The project has been on hold since the pandemic, and in its original design it was planned to be taller than Burj Khalifa.

KNOW MORE ABOUT DUBAI

Etihad Rail Confirms Locations of 11 Stations

There’s a lot of interest in the plans for Etihad Rail, a cross-emirate rail network that is aiming to start passenger operations in 2026.

The core of the program is the UAE National Rail Network, which will be entirely UAE-based, and there are plans to link with Sohar inOman via the Hafeet Rail project.

Initially, four stations were confirmed - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah. This week, seven additional stations were announced, that will “become operational in phases” :-

• Al Sila’

• Al Dhannah

• Al Mirfa

• Madinat Zayed

• Mezaira’a

• Al Faya

• Al Dhaid

Abu Dhabi to Dubai will take 57 minutes, and each train will have a capacity for up to 400 passengers. The Dubai station will be in Jumeirah Golf Estates, whilst the Abu Dhabi station will be at Mohammed Bin Zayed City.

🔗 Etihad Rail

Different Taxi Types in Dubai

Ever wondered what the different coloured roofs of Dubai taxis mean?

Whilst they all operate under the auspices of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), each colour represents a different taxi company or type of taxi. Some may have slightly different fares, whereas pink for instance means they are for women and children only.

Whilst it can be a little confusing when it comes to taxis, and the different booking platforms, have a look at these two previous editions for more detail that will help clear things up.

🔗 Taxis, Uber & Careem 

🔗 All The Dubai Taxi Tips You Need

Oh, one last thing - as it’s a biggie if you get caught out by it. If you are offered a ‘limo’, usually an plain-coloured Lexus, it is not a taxi. It’s a private driver, and you will likely pay at least 30% more than a taxi, unable to complain to RTA, and it won’t be metered.

ONE BIG DUBAI TIP

Adults-Only Hotels (and Areas)

I’ll cover two separate points in this week’s tip, because they’re both related.

First up - the legal age for drinking, at least in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, is 21 years of age. Ras al Khaimah (RAK) is making moves to lower from 21 to 18.

As such, anyone under the age of 21 should not drink alcohol in public in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. However, in some establishments, under 21s are allowed to sit at tables where alcohol is served to those over age (example - family areas in restaurants). Additionally, some establishments may have areas restricted to over 21s (e.g. at the bar, rather than a table).

To avoid disappointment, if your group, family or friends are looking to visit an establishment and drink alcohol with under-21s present, it’s worth being aware of the law, but also the rules of the establishment, as they can differ in implementation. That is, some venues may be more choosy, others more relaxed.

Adults Only Hotels

So, understanding the law side of things brings us to the next point - adults-only hotels and adults-only areas in hotels.

Other than alcohol and licensing laws, there’s a consideration with Dubai hotels about what demographic it looks to serve. For instance, certain hotels tend to favour certain demographics and vibes, e.g. FIVE branded-hotels are known as ‘party hotels’.

So for a hotel to market itself to a certain sector of guests, it often will also have rules it will look to enforce.

Take the W brand from Marriott Bonvoy, which is aimed at the ‘luxury lifestyle’ sector, and a key part of their brand standards is the ‘Wet Deck’, which is aimed at beach-club vibes, often with DJs even through the door. When W Dubai - The Palm opened, they set the rule that the Wet Deck was restricted to over-16s only, even though the hotel wasn’t strictly ‘adults only’.

However, when W Dubai - Mina Seyahi opened, they marketed themselves as ‘over-16s only’ in all areas of the hotel. It’s easy to see why - it’s a city hotel, so less likely to be chosen by families over a beach resort, and families would more likely book the Westin or Le Meridien next door, as they’re both beach resorts.

But, in the last 12-18 months, W Dubai - Mina Seyahi has relaxed its rules and doesn’t feature ‘adults only’ in its marketing, and whilst they also don’t advertise themselves as a family hotel, their F&B outlets DO have strict rules about restrictions to certain age groups.

Clearly, this is not very clear 😄 Especially when many people will book via third parties, it becomes more complicated for potential guests and even the agents to know what the latest rules are.

The Big Question Does Not Have an Answer, Sorry

A question that crops up more and more these days is, which hotels in Dubai are adults-only?

There’s a quick, short answer and a more nuanced one.

1. Quick - hardly any, and if they did, it may change.

2. Nuanced - some may be more aligned to couples or adults only, but may not be explicitly described as such.

Which doesn’t really help potential guests, and I’m afraid the only reason is the old, well you have to research, maybe even call them, rather than assuming or being ‘sold to’ by agents.

Even hotels such as BVLGARI Resort Dubai, which very clearly set out to market as a couples or adults hotel, is now featuring in some ‘best family hotels in Dubai’ articles. Whereas if you look at the website of Nikki Beach Dubai, it doesn’t specifically say no kids, or age group restrictions.

There is also the gap between marketing and operations, in that a hotel may be marketed a certain way - e.g. the newly-opened Voco Dubai Monaco Heart of Europe on the World Islands is marketed in the press as ‘adults only’, but look on the website, and it’s not immediately clear that it is. Also, things change, especially if the hotel occupancy or revenue is not at the target levels, it could be that hotels change their marketing and operations to appeal to other types of guests.

Conclusion

This tip may sound quite general or vague, maybe even not all that informative, but in all honesty, the takeaway is - you will struggle to find many Dubai hotels that market themselves consistently as ‘Adults Only’, and even if you did, the rules may be changeable or not always applied.

What I would recommend is, even if you’re a couple or a family, look at the website, check their facilities, their outlets and best of all, call them to get a feel. Many Dubai hotels rely on marketing on social media to appeal to a certain demographic - e.g. FIVE Luxe JBR with its Pacha outlet, DJ events and beach club setup won’t offer much in the way of ‘kids clubs’. But if you were to look on a third party website or agent, it may not be that obvious that it’s aimed at couples and adult groups with a beach club, DJ vibe.

You can often get a feel for hotels by how they’re marketed, especially with advertisements, offers and social media. Take Lapita at Dubai Parks and Resorts; they’re very clearly aligned with Parks and Resorts and their core customer is families looking to stay on site and visit the Parks, rather than the Ibiza party crowd.

Where the issue can come is when hotels ‘overlap’, and try to appeal to different sectors, such as W Dubai - Mina Seyahi, seemingly easing the over-16s-only restriction. What happens if you book as a family 9 months in advance, and then they change the rules back, for instance?

And this is why I’m always an advocate of if you have any queries about a Dubai hotel, call them to discuss and get the information ‘first hand’ rather than trusting an agent, a forum, other people’s past experiences etc.

Whilst it may seem a cost to call Dubai, in the scheme of things, why risk a few thousand pounds of a holiday in the wrong hotel? You could always try Microsoft Teams or similar apps, eg VOIP, to ‘call’ hotels, and speaking one-to-one is always better than direct messaging or email.

Last but not least, a bit of a left field tip is whilst you may not get explicit ‘adults only’ hotels in Dubai, you could always consider hotels in quieter or still-developing areas that won’t be as busy with families, in areas such as Business Bay, Creek, Al Jaddaf for example.

FOOD AND DRINK

Nammos at Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach recently re-opened with a revamp, and here’s what What’s On has to say about it.

 🔗 Nammos

Nick Alvis, Chef and Partner of The Beam, talks about five dishes that shaped his life.

Tip - if you’re considering trying The Beam (and you should!) - there is a 20% discount on Food and Beverages for up to 9 people with My Emirates Pass until 31 March.

🔗 The Beam 

🔗 My Emirates Pass

Brunches in Dubai: The Best Info Sources

As it’s a new year, expect a lot of the local news sites to be updating their ‘listicles’ as new brunches are launched along with PRs sending new updates, such as :-

• 10 fun Dubai party brunches

• 29 outdoor brunches

• 95 best brunches

Note - these are all from Time Out Dubai, for one good reason - it’s the ‘single source of truth’ when it comes to brunch in Dubai, and has the best overall listing of them. So always start your research there.

Also, do check out Mr and Mrs Brunch, especially on the socials and their Let’s DXB app (Apple or Android). Tell them Shaun from Eat Drink Stay Dubai sent you and put a good word in for them.

As for brunches, Time Out is always a good source of listings for things like Ladies Nights, such as this ‘ultimate ladies’ night guide’.

For the uninitiated, Ladies Nights are when venues focus on deals and packages aimed at Ladies, which may be drinks-only deals, or courses of food, or even a combined package, similar to an evening brunch.

Tuesday is the main night, but as is often with the case with Dubai, there’s too much choice so it’s not unknown for some to be on other nights because it can be very competitive.

There are also ‘Gents Nights’ although these are not as common, and of course, these are aimed more for groups of guys rather than girls.

If you research well, you can find some amazing deals - I’ve seen 16 free drinks on offer at certain venues, for example. Also, if you’re really smart - and thirsty - sometimes you can go to a multi-venue, such as Pier 7 or Madinat Jumeirah, and move between venues for the different deals.

HOTEL NEWS

Six Senses The Palm to Open in 2026

Six Senses The Palm is planned to open in ‘Q3 2026’, and will be located on the West Crescent of Palm Jumeirah.

It will be a beachfront resort featuring 61 suite, 172 branded residences, with W Dubai - The Palm and Jumeirah Zabeel Saray as its immediate neighbours.

 IHG One Rewards includes Six Senses hotels, allowing earning, benefits and award redemptions.

🔗 Six Senses

Fundamental Hospitality is moving into hotels as well as its established restaurant brands such as Gaia, with a $200 million programme to expand across the GCC, Europe and USA.

It’s not clear at this stage where the ‘luxury hotels’ are planned, but the restaurant brands are developing nicely.

🔗 Gaia

Caravan Hatta

Ennismore is planning to open Caravan Hatta this year, along with three other new hotels in the Gulf.

What’s interesting with Caravan Hatta is it will be the first Our Habitas property, and will be ‘luxury glamping’ rather than an out-an-out hotel. Situated in the Hajar Mountains, it will have 50 bespoke Airstream trailers overlooking Hatta Dam.

Not only is Hatta a magical area to visit to ‘get away’ from Dubai, but Ennismore are doing great things in Dubai with their cool hotel brands, and most of all, they have a very innovative membership program called Dis-Loyalty that can offer some enticing benefits (including discounts on newly-opened hotels).

🔗 Caravan Hatta 

🔗 Dis-Loyalty

Park Hyatt Dubai appoints Ersev Demiroz as its new General Manager.

Gulf Court Hotel Business Bay rebrands to Grand Mercure Business Bay.

Movenpick gain another property in Dubai, as Golden Sands Hotel Creek rebrands to Movenpick Dubai Creek.

EMIRATES

Jet2 Is Now an Emirates Skywards Partner

If ‘nothing beats a Jet2 holiday’, and you have some Emirates Skywards miles stashed, you can now use them for redemptions on Jet2.

Jet2, the UK’s third largest airline, operates from 14 airports and serves 75 destinations. The cheapest redemption appears to be 8,000 Skywards Miles.

For more detail, check out this article from Head For Points.

🔗 Emirates Skywards announces Jet2 partnership

Emirates Skywards Day-of-Departure Upgrades

Whilst there are many strategies to try to bag an upgrade, Emirates offers one advantage that many airlines don’t: day-of-departure upgrades.

Airlines will generally have a ‘window’ to allow upgrades via loyalty programmes, but they will often be limited to capacity controls (i.e. only a certain number of seats per flight) and deadlines (i.e. a certain amount of time in advance of departure).

Emirates are rather unique in that they allow Skywards Miles to be upgraded on the day of the departure.

This is helpful because it could be :-

• the flight has a low ‘load factor’ so more seats will be available at the last minute,

• you could request an upgrade for cash and see what the best value may be.

Emirates has issued an advisory that passengers to the UK will need approved Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETAs) from 25 February.

This is because the UK is moving towards ‘digital immigration systems’ and the ETA is a digital permission for visitors who do not need a visa for short stays up to six months.

To be clear, ‘visitors’ does not mean UK citizens or residents, but rather Emiratis. This system is part of a phased rollout which started with Qatari visitors to the UK and is now phasing in other GCC countries.

🔗 Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) 

🔗 Travel requirements for the UK (Emirates)

Emirates is moving away from ‘fake meat’ and ultra-processed alternatives to offer a “back to basics” approach for its vegan menus.

HOTEL OFFERS

Save 25% World of Hyatt (Europe, Africa & the Middle East)

World of Hyatt members can save up to 25% and enjoy a complimentary breakfast.

• Stays between 10 January to 03 May

• Book in-app or on the Hyatt website*

🔗 World of Hyatt 25% EMEA*

Last Chance for 20% Off Hilton

Hilton are still offering 20% discount off weekend stays in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), but you’ll need to book by 27 January.

• book by 27 January

• stay until 12 April

🔗 Hilton 20% off weekend stays in EMEA*

ABU DHABI

Marriott Bonvoy Moments at Etihad Arena

Marriott Bonvoy Moments is part of Marriott Bonvoy, where members can book special events using Points.

What’s of interest for UAE members is Etihad Arena now features quite regularly, and they have a special area in the arena called “Marriott Bonvoy Loge” (think, posh seats at the cinema).

There are a few pics of the Loge here.

Some packages available are for a concert only whilst some combine a hotel stay, such as Marriott Al Fursan or Abu Dhabi EDITION.

Current packages include Hauser, Christina Aguilera, Linkin Park, AR Rahman. Muse were on there but have had to cancel their gigs.

🔗 Etihad Arena Events (Marriott Bonvoy Moments)