Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 78/w15

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 15, Edition 78

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

Continued thanks for those providing feedback on the polls - they’re super-helpful for me to get a feel for what people like, want to see (or don’t!). It takes a lot of the guesswork out of the equation when I’m considering what to include!

For example, last week 57% were in favour of adding-in non-Dubai travel tips, gear etc. As it was marginal, what I’ll do is drop something small in now and again, and see how it goes.

Good to see the ‘1 Big Dubai Tip’ was well-received, so I’ll keep that going. And yes, I note you want to see more offers/deals on travel in general.

This week, I’ve tried to make it a tad longer so please feel free to let me know your thoughts, either by email or poll. I started off thinking 10 mins was all I could reasonably ask for you to read, but if more of you want it longer, just holler.

Thanks for reading 👏 

Shaun

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

My Picks from My Emirates Pass Summer 2025

As promised last week, I’ve uploaded a new walkthrough/explainer video about My Emirates Pass Summer 2025 to YouTube.

I’m looking to add more to YouTube over time so please let me know if there’s any topics or particular types of content you’d like covering about Dubai, or ideas for the YouTube channel in general.

Included in that video are my picks from My Emirates Pass for the Summer 2025 season, either decent merchants or good offers. They’re also listed in the Description on YouTube (below the video), and it saves me taking up space here relisting them all here, but here are a few:-

• At The Top (Burj Khalifa)

• Desert Safari - Platinum Heritage, Arabian Adventures

• City Sightseeing

• Aquaventure

• IMG Worlds of Adventure

• Inside Burj al Arab Tour

• Legoland & Water Park

• Motiongate Dubai

• Ski Dubai

• View at The Palm

• Wild Wadi

• Yellow Boats

On Dining, there are discounts from 20% up to 50%, and Buy One Get One Free - including brunches.

• Baba Steakhouse

• Barasti

• Boardwalk (Park Hyatt)

• Bombay Brasserie

• Carnival by Tresind

• Demon Duck

• F'ilia

• Foguiera

• Level 43

• Prime 52, Prime 68

Comment

As always with offers in Dubai, it pays to shop around and compare and My Emirates Pass Summer 2025 is no different. Many venues are also in Entertainer on two for one, sometimes with multiple vouchers, so ‘buy one get one free’ may work out better than some discounts.

Also, I noticed on some of the merchants - especially restaurants in Marriott hotels - they will allow up to 9 other guests, and only one needs an Emirates boarding pass.

I’d also recommend keeping a paper copy of your boarding pass and it in your ‘e-wallet’ or an electronic version, as you need to show the pass to avail of the offers.

🔗 My Emirates Pass

🔗 My Emirates Pass Summer 2025: Explainer and Walkthrough (YouTube)

HOTEL TIPS

Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort & Spa - Room/Suite Allocations

Turning Left for Less seems to have had a nice stay at Le Royal Meridien Dubai. There’s a great tip in their review about how to avoid the blocked views from the Royal Club Tower, due to almost-inevitable highrise developments than can crop up.

However, I’d also suggest double and triple checking the room categories carefully because it appears not all the rooms in the Royal Club Tower are blocked - the inside ones still seem to have sea views in some categories.

On things like this, I’d always recommend - you’ve guessed it! - calling the hotel to discuss rather than dealing with a third party or website. It could be, in this instance, being on the ‘other’ side of the resort you’re a little bit nearer to Zero Gravity, Habtoor Grand and Skydive Dubai.

The other thing from that review is they don’t really expand on the benefits of their Dine Around offer. Given the amount of restaurants available, it seems to be the Marriott Bonvoy More Cravings package, which is the ‘gold standard’ of Half Board packages. Also be aware that sometimes Le Royal Meridien and Grosvenor House also have their own ‘Dine Around’ Half Board package that is only between both hotels - but it still has heaps of great restaurants.

Comment

If you’re looking for a family hotel in Dubai Marina/JBR, Le Royal Meridien is always a good pick. There are the 3 hotels (W, Le Meridien and Westin) a little further out at Mina Seyahi, and Ritz-Carlton Dubai next door, but personally I prefer the location being just ‘off’ the Walk. As it’s ‘twinned’ with Grosvenor House, there’s a lot of potential for dining out, and it has an excellent dedicated Club Wing and massive lounge. It’s always been a hotel that’s popular with footballers and celebs too, and best of all, it’s a Marriott Bonvoy property.

HOTEL OFFERS

£75 Off Hilton & IHG Bookings With American Express (AmEx) UK

UK-based American Express can get a statement credit of £75 on IHG or Hilton bookings over £300.

Valid once per card on the first 80,000 cardmembers to save the offer to their card. Ends 30/06/2025 (IHG) or 04/07/2025 (Hilton).

Participating Locations for IHG are here and Hilton here. Whilst IHG is Europe only, the Hilton offer has all the UAE hotels in, inc. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and RAK.

Until 27 May 25, AmEx are offering an increased signup of 100,000 Membership Rewards* (a 50k Bonus) on the Platinum Card.

Please note: this is an expensive credit card with a hefty fee and high interest that provides plenty of benefits, and you need to spend £10k in six months of approval to get the Membership Rewards.

🔗 American Express Platinum Card - 100,000 Membership Rewards* (referral link)

One Hilton property I mentioned in a past edition is the Tumbi West Palm Beach on Palm Jumeirah. It opened quite quietly a while back, and has had a bit more press attention recently, such as this article with its General Manager.

It’s part of Hilton’s Tapestry Collection, and West Palm Beach is quite a decent area these days as it’s not as isolated as the Crescents. There’s a small mall (Nakheel Mall), The View, Aura Skypool and plenty of restaurants and bars close by. As it’s on the ‘tip’ of the trunk, it’s also not as much of a shuttle on/off into mainland Dubai.

 🔗 Tumbi West Palm Beach Hotel Dubai, Tapestry Collection by Hilton

1 BIG DUBAI TIP

Off-Season in Dubai, and the Perils It Can Bring

Sometimes inspiration strikes in the weirdest places, and this week’s ‘1 Big Dubai Tip’ is to manage expectations if you’re booked to travel to Dubai off-season.

This came about from a discussion I was having in my local sandwich shop, as the owners had booked to go to Dubai in July for the first time, so I asked them about their expectations. The challenge sometimes is, whilst Dubai bills itself as an all-year-round destination, and prices do drop significantly over Summer, not everybody realises what that may entail.

More and more people are travelling to Dubai out of season for many reasons, not least cost and to avoid the surge pricing of travelling during term time. However, the thing/s to bear in mind are :-

Hotels Have a Challenge on Their Hands Keeping Operational Levels Up

Traditionally, hotels will send their stuff on summer block leave and workers may only get once chance a year to return to home countries, thus staffing levels may be lower. Similarly, hotels may need to do maintenance or renovation (as mentioned previously about Hilton Dubai Jumeirah) and will often close down some facilities such as pools, grounds or even some rooms. Restaurants and bars may temporarily close or reduce operations also.

Hotels May Offer Lower Rates, and Then Even Further Discount

The flipside to this is with increased numbers and higher occupancy, hotels do not want to disappoint guest expectations. So they have a delicate dance between occupancy (keeping bookings high) and operations (maintenance, staffing, outlets etc.). The seesaw here is they may wait until very late in the day to see how occupancy levels go into the summer before announcing any maintenance works or other reductions.

Generally speaking, hotels will drop their rates from mid May through to mid September, and thus offer ‘off season pricing’. For instance, those super-low prices at One and Only Palm Jumeirah last year that seemed too good to be true, or the Jumeirah Beach Hotel ‘Passport to Luxury’ pricing.

On top of this, it’s not unusual for hotels to offer even further discounts, and these are often a function of occupancy. That is, if occupancy levels are still low, they may run short-notice promotions, flash sales and other incentives, offering even better pricing and value than the off-season prices. They may also push out promotions for staycations or day passes for residents/expats.

Perceived vs Achieved Value

When I hear people say they’ve got a ‘good deal’, I often think about this line from the movie Snatch …

If a travel agent sells you a hotel and holiday six months before you travel, you may consider this ‘perceived value’. That is, it seems a good deal to you.

However, as you’ve probably read/heard me say several times, it’s essential to ‘dissect that deal’ and evaluate by shopping around, comparing etc. to see if it really does offer value. Hopefully it does.

However, the fact remains you’re buying something that can change in the future - and during Dubai off-season, things often do. So if you’ve booked a beach resort, and the beach is closed and it’s too late to change, then your ‘achieved value’ is less than the perceived value, because something you based a historical buying decision on is reduced, i.e. you’re getting less for your money.

Another example is Half Board - an agent could sell you on a particular hotel having say, 10-15 restaurants available, but what happens if five are closed? You may be able to mitigate this beforehand by calling the property and speaking to the F&B teams to see if there any planned closures.

Sometimes, Factors Are Outside of the Hotel’s Control

Areas of Dubai are generally owned by specific developers, and occasionally they will make a decision that the hotel has to just accept. A good example of this is not long ago, Nakheel decided to dredge the beaches around Palm Jumeirah, and so the resorts had to close access off for guests, often at short notice.

To add further complexity, if you’re booked on an indirect booking, that’s a whole other level of communication to update you of a situation. If you’re lucky the hotel may inform you directly, and perhaps even the agents may do so.

Attractions and activities may also be reduced

It may sound obvious, but the high temperatures (even the locals decamp to Europe during Summer as it’s scorchio!) and reduced demand does impact operations at attractions, especially the big outdoor ones like waterparks. Again, it’s a question of balance as they may not shut down altogether, but they may operate on reduced hours or with limited functionality (eg maybe the odd ride is down for maintenance work).

It does pay to follow the social media channels of any attractions or merchants, as that’s often the best place for updates and info, but also keep across sources as this newsletter (of course!) along with Time Out, Whats On and local media too.

Conclusion

I don’t want to sound alarmist on this one. Chances are, things like this may not be an issue, BUT it’s worth being aware, and thus managing expectations.

On the upside, there are always lots of deals, offers and promotions around during Summer in Dubai - such as Dubai Summer Surprises - so there’s still heaps of value to be had.

It does pay to build-in flexibility of bookings, particularly for hotels, should the worst come to the worst, but you should also check the ‘small print’ and booking conditions to see what options you may have if things are “materially different”. It could be that you can cancel for free. Alternatively, if you pay by credit card you may have options for things like Section 75 or a chargeback, but first and foremost it’s often a function of the conditions.

Don’t make the mistake of assuming every agent will be on top of changes such as these. They may not be because they don’t have to be (i.e. if their clauses cover these situations) or there may be other reasons. It always pays to keep checking directly yourself I’d suggest, ideally phoning hotels rather than emailing especially on things like restaurant or pool closures.

It’s always better to be proactive with these things, and then to find they don’t become an issue, rather than waiting for things to go wrong and then trying to deal with the fallout.

As it stands, the lady from the sandwich shop now knows all about Dubai inc. the heat, the conditions, what to watch out for about travel/bookings, the deals to be had, beach passes, discounts, My Emirates Pass, Entertainer etc. so I think I’m due a freebie next time I pop in!

DUBAI NEWS

If you’re ever around Old Dubai, particularly Al Fahidi in Bur Dubai, do check out Arabian Tea House. It’s been going strong for 27 years, and is particularly good for Emirati breakfasts and Karak Chai.

🔗 Arabian Tea House

Who are the industry experts overseeing the UAE’s gaming laws? (Hotelier Middle East)

Surprised to see Bab al Shams in this list rather than Al Maha. Whilst it’s a lovely hotel, I do feel Al Maha is far more of an ‘experience’ and also has the benefit of being in the conservation area.

Fully agree on Qasr al Sarab mind!

At.mosphere (the highest restaurant in the world) has a new Friday evening brunch. 3 courses, various drinks packages inc softies from 495 AED, a DJ and most of all, a nice view over Dubai from 122 floors up in Burj Khalifa without all the faff of At The Top!

🔗 At.mosphere

12 budget friendly pool days in Dubai for under 200 AED. Barasti is in there, fully redeemable, and only 150 AED.

Is this Dubai’s most expensive restaurant? (fact)