Five Palm Jumeirah Dubai

Really good I liked everything about it and I had a great time there with my friends

Very disappointing stay – far below 5-star standards

Review:

1/5

Our stay at FIVE Palm Jumeirah was extremely disappointing and, in our experience, nowhere near the standard we expected from a luxury 5-star hotel.

From the moment we arrived, the experience was frustrating. We had just arrived after a flight and were exhausted, yet the check-in process took around two hours. During that time, we were repeatedly given different information about our room. At one point we were told that rooms were available, and then we were told there were no rooms available. Every time we asked, we seemed to receive a different answer.

The service at reception was also disappointing and did not feel professional or welcoming. Instead of making us feel like valued guests, the whole check-in experience was stressful from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, the problems continued throughout our stay.

At the pool, we had an incident involving a security guard. There was a misunderstanding regarding the hotel key and the pool rules. Instead of calmly explaining the rules, the security guard became aggressive, pushed my friend and used insulting language towards him. Even if we had misunderstood a hotel rule, we expected staff to handle the situation professionally and respectfully.

The situation escalated and the police were called. There was police involvement on more than one occasion during our stay. This was extremely frustrating because we came to Dubai for a holiday, not to spend our valuable vacation time dealing with arguments, security and police. A significant amount of our time was wasted because of these situations.

Another extremely serious issue happened at check-out regarding the smoke detector/fire alarm in our room.

We did not break or damage it. As far as we knew, it was already broken. Despite this, the hotel held us responsible and charged and collected AED 1,000.

What made the situation even more frustrating was that the money was actually taken from another friend who was staying in a different room. He was asked to pay the AED 1,000 before being allowed to complete the check-out. Because he did not know that we had not caused the damage, he believed that we were responsible and paid the amount.

We were told that he would not be released/allowed to check out unless the payment was made.

We strongly disputed this charge because we did not cause the damage. Being charged AED 1,000 for something we did not damage was extremely upsetting and left us feeling that we were being held responsible without being treated fairly.

On top of all of this, there was constant noise during our stay due to work/construction in or around the hotel, which made it difficult to properly relax and enjoy our holiday.

What is most disappointing is that these were not just one isolated problem. We experienced problems with check-in, communication, security, police involvement, noise, and finally a disputed AED 1,000 charge at check-out.

A luxury 5-star hotel should provide professional communication, respectful treatment and a feeling that guests are being taken care of. Unfortunately, that was not our experience at FIVE Palm Jumeirah.

The hotel may look beautiful and impressive in pictures, but for us, the actual guest experience was completely different.

We came to Dubai to enjoy a holiday, but instead we left feeling frustrated and disappointed, with a significant amount of our vacation wasted dealing with unnecessary problems.

Based on our experience, I cannot recommend FIVE Palm Jumeirah. I would personally choose a different hotel for my next trip to Dubai.

Very disappointing experience and, in my opinion, far below the standards of a 5-star hotel.