Eat Drink Stay Dubai Newsletter 96/w33

Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 33, Edition 96

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

💡 Why you should always Price Match

🛳️ QE2 Heritage Tour

🏖️ La Mer, or J1 Beach?

🆒 Dubai hotels for cool people

🍴Brunches for teenagers

🔐 Teatro to close

🏨 JA Resorts & Hotels go Scottish 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

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

EMIRATES

Why Gulf Carriers Are Increasing Their Focus on Premium Travel

In 2024, 14.7% of Middle Eastern airline passengers travelled in premium classes, and there was a rise of 11% in regional international premium travel in 2023.

Emirates have committed $5 billion to retrofit Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s, Etihad are adding first and business to their A321 narrowbodies, whilst Qatar will launch ‘Qsuite Next Gen’ on their Boeing 777-9.

Even the fledgling Riyadh Air are leaning heavily towards premium classes and experience for their service.

It appears Emirates may be scaling back A380 to one daily from London Gatwick (LGW) from three to once daily in February and March next year.

They will still be increasing to four daily flights, but changing to A350s.

Last week, Emirates announced restrictions on power banks from 01 October.

In case you’re in any doubt about the risk of in-flight power banks, check out this recent incident aboard a KLM flight.

DUBAI NEWS

QE2 Launches New Heritage Tour

If you didn’t know, the historic QE2 (Queen Elizabeth II) liner has been moored at Port Rashid in Dubai since 2008. After a few years docked, it reopened as a hotel and has since added events, including Afternoon Tea, and has recently launched a new Heritage Tour.

🔗 QE2 Experience: Heritage Tour

Drawing your attention to this list of “8 Stays to Book When Your Cool Friends Visit Dubai”, as there are some decent hotels here that won’t break the bank and are still ‘cool’.

25hours Hotel Dubai One Central - close to DIFC at the new One Central mixed-use development, this boutique hotel is a real find, with some unique room categories, quirky features and good F&B outlets (inc Ernst Bier Garten). Well worth considering as it’s part of Accor but also Ennismore, so think about joining Dis-Loyalty to reap the benefits).

The Dubai EDITION - this “Distinctive Luxury” brand from Marriott is a swish, design-nerd’s dream (think lots of light, cream palates, fancy throws on the bed, sleek minimalism) and is both lovely and understated. What’s interesting about the Dubai property is it is often very competitively priced compared to the price points EDITION hotels usually go for, and it’s not a million miles from Downtown.

Al Seef Heritage Hotel - covered last week here - is a decent price point, near Al Seef in ‘Old Dubai’ (Bur Dubai), and has an authentic feel.

Zabeel House The Greens - who says Jumeirah hotels are expensive? This hotel was one of the first ‘casual’ (i.e. midscale) brands launched by Jumeirah around 2018. The afore-mentioned Al Seef Heritage Hotel was another Zabeel House, which ultimately reflagged to Curio Collection, a sub-brand of Hilton.

There’s not a lot around this hotel, but when Dubai started chasing ‘digital nomads’ and the long stay market, this hotel was effectively ground zero as the ‘de facto’ choice.

It’s a bit of a hybrid hotel, balancing between work and leisure guests, and is a decent alternative due to attractive rates whilst still being close enough to ‘New Dubai’ (between Al Barsha, The Greens and Emirates Golf Club). No Metro close though, so it’s taxi or Uber/Careem.

KNOW MORE ABOUT DUBAI

Where Did La Mer Go, and What Is J1 Beach?

It doesn’t take long in Dubai for new developments to become nostalgia, as this reflective article about La Mer shows.

What can be confusing, in a city that already has some confusion about names of hotel and areas, is when one looks at Google Maps. Often, places such as La Mer may still be featured on Google Maps, even if in reality, new developments (with different names) have replaced them.

So, to keep it simple, what was La Mer Beach (and still is, according to Google Maps and the Rove La Mer Beach) is now generally known as J1 Beach. New outlets have sprung up, all under the auspices of J1 Beach, including Sirene Beach by Gaia, Gitano and African Queen - all worth a visit.

As always, day passes are available and do shop around, as some are quite competive.

In true Dubai style though, whilst most taxi drivers should know this, if you were looking to go to J1 Beach, if they give you the blank stare - just say, La Mer!

🔗 J1 Beach (official site)

🔗 Visit Dubai: J1 Beach

ONE BIG DUBAI TIP

The Magic of the Price Match - and Why You May Be Missing Out

These days, everyone seems to be touting those ‘travel hacks’ they’ve seen on TikTok, that often turn out to be anything but.

I saw one of the clickbaity headlines the other day professing the best discount you’ll ever get to Dubai - and guess what it said? Go in the middle of Summer!

The problem with posits like that is they say, save 25% but, and it’s a big but, the truth is it’s not really a saving as things are similarly reduced (Half Board dining restaurants are reduced in number, hotels are being refurbished, pools are closed, attractions not operational etc.).

Sometimes though, the best options are so obvious, we miss them. I get asked regularly for my top tips, best advice, travel tricks and so on, and my answer always comes down to - it depends what you’re looking to achieve.

So today, I’m going to expand on little on price matching - because it’s so easily overlooked.

What is Price Matching?

To put it simply, it’s a promise a brand will make - and sometimes is a gamble for them - that they are so sure they have the best pricing (or are hoping you won’t check anywhere else) if you book with them, that if you find it cheaper (subject to certain terms and conditions) they will match the cheaper price you find.

Travel agents for instance, know many travellers will not shop around, so offer a discount. Hotel such as Marriott, will offer what they call a “Best Rate Guarantee (BRG)”, where if you find a cheaper rate for the exact same booking within 24 hours of booking via Marriott, they will match the rate and discount a further 25%. The full details inc terms and conditions are here for Marriott’s BRG.

Hilton will offer a discount of 25% via their Price Match Guarantee

Emirates offer a “Best Price Claim Match”, which will refund fare difference or $20.

Jumeirah offer a Best Price Guarantee, which is 15% discount on the matched price.

Hyatt offer a Best Rate Guarantee, with 20% discount on matched prices.

Whilst these are just a handful of direct travel brands that will offer price matching, there are many travel agents that will price match competitors.

What Do I Need to Know to Price Match?

There are two main reasons brands will price match :-

1. In the case of hotel chains like Marriott, it helps them monitor hotel sales channels that may not be ‘playing ball’ with rate parity agreements, i.e. not sticking to regulated rates. Marriott offers the discounted price match to members as they will then contracharge the sales channel for non-compliance.

2. It’s a terrific marketing strategy, as it conveys confidence they are offering the cheapest price, when in reality, it’s a bit of a gimmick because there will be a percentage who trust blindly in the agent and don’t ‘validate’ or ‘slice and dice’ the deal they’ve been offered to prove it’s a deal or not.

If you take one thing away from this article, let it be this - there almost always is a better deal out there. The trick though is knowing why, where, how to go about getting it and what it may cost (time, money, hassle etc.).

I say this because there’s also an argument I use regularly - treat chasing for deals like getting married; once you’ve found something you’re happy with, stop looking!

See, price matches aren’t always easy or simple. They can take a lot of research, learning all the catches, ensuring it’s a ‘like for like’ comparison and so on. This is the key to success with Marriott’s BRG; often people may say it’s a ‘scam’ but I’d counter that by saying, they’ve probably not researched well enough.

This is an example of how Marriott’s BRG worked for me on a recent trip to USA, with one booking being discounted a further 35% and a second 32%.

Conclusion

Okay, there’s one other takeaway I want you to ponder before trying for this.

Yes, it does seem onerous to do the research, but it can also be really easy too. You can use something like Pruvo to track the ‘gettable prices’ for hotels, especially if you have a long lead time before booking and time of travel.

For flights, y

ou can check Google Flights ‘Price History’ to get a guide if the price is higher or lower at the time you’re searching.

Once you know a price has dropped to your ‘target’ pricing - i.e. the price you’re happy to pay - you can book the hotel/flight directly, and then request their BRG, Price Match or whatever.

Or failing that, there’s a much, much simpler way - and this is such an obvious fact, it’s often overlooked. OTAs will almost always pay a commission to a hotel to sell their rooms, so if an OTA is offering a price, then if you can get the rate without commission you will be saving. Genius, hey?

In reality, it’s usually a function of speaking to the right person, the right way, with the right information to hand. It can take a bit of practice, but it’s generally something along the lines of just asking …..

This is one of those things that’s so simple, it’s genius. You can try it in different ways too, for example :-

• if you’re dealing with a package travel company, it’s often a call centre. Usually, the frontline staff are there to just take bookings and don’t have authority for discounts, so ask to speak to a manager (and ‘escalation’) and ask them what the best price they can do for you is. They may discount, they may add-on benefits or they may just say same-same, no discount - but you’re no worse off.

• When you’re speaking with a hotel, ask if that’s the best discount they can offer you, or if they have any promotions, or even upsells, that can sweeten the deal.

As a parting thought, think about it this way - how much time will it take you to ask compared to the chance of a decent saving? Is it worth it then?

FOOD AND DRINK

Teatro Restaurant to Close After 25 Years

Some sad news: Teatro Restaurant at Towers Rotana is to permanently close on 31 August. Apparently it’s due to ‘evolving preferences’ in F&B, which is a bit of a shame as it’s been a terrific restaurant for over 25 years.

Likewise, Towers Rotana has always been a great value option of a hotel on SZR, and the good news is the other popular outlets there like Flavours on Two and Longs Bar will remain (and both are still in Entertainer on Buy One Get One Free!)

It will be replaced by a “all-year Oktoberfest concept’ called The Bavarian Beerhouse, due to open on 18 September.

🔗 The Bavarian Beerhouse

Whilst brunches are sometimes (wrongly) perceived as being a bit lairy, there are many that are child- and teenager-friendly.

Sometimes, when alcohol is served at Dubai restaurants and bars, there may be some restrictions or preferences for seating areas, but don’t necessarily be but off going to a brunch if you have under-21s (the legal age for drinking in Dubai) in your family.

As that list indicates, there are some great brunches including Reform Dubai, Pai Thai, Roka and McCaffertys that everyone will enjoy.

Following on from last week’s One Big Dubai Tip about food delivery, how about ordering delivery from Michelin-starred restaurants?

HOTEL NEWS

JA Resorts & Hotels Acquire 2 Scottish Hotels

JA Resorts & Hotels have expanded their portfolio into Scotland with the acquisition of two ‘heritage’ hotels, Mar Hall Golf Spa Resort outside of Glasgow and The Bruntsfield in Edinburgh.

Whilst they don’t appear to be on their website as ‘Destinations’ yet, there are offers on the Offers Page for both properties.