The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina

What a fantastic holiday at the Westin mina , the hotel is spotless, food excellent , rooms were fantastic . But the staff here makes this a perfect place to have a relaxing stress free holiday. By the pool of a day we had the Fab Four of Ralph, Safiq, Ajay and Rakesh who looked after our every need, never have we felt so spoilt from the service here. We rarely come back to the same hotel however we will make an exception here because it’s rare to find the perfect blend of high quality service and amenities in and around the hotel. Whether we are at the Italian. Minas or just had a drink in the pool bar, this was quite possibly one of the best holidays ever . Highly recommended

A very disappointing experience for a supposed 5-star resort

I am extremely disappointed with my stay at this resort. Unfortunately, the experience fell far short of what I would expect from a 5-star property.

During my stay, I injured myself while shaving my head with a razor provided in the hotel room. The razor was defective and of very poor quality, which I find completely unacceptable for a hotel of this standard.

The injury had a real impact on my holiday. As a Type 1 diabetic, I have a higher risk of infection and complications from wounds, and I therefore had to avoid all water-based activities for four days. This significantly affected my ability to enjoy the resort.

What was even more disappointing was the compensation offered by the hotel: four fruit juices, two small boxes of chocolates and one complimentary meal at the pool. For an injury caused by defective equipment that prevented me from enjoying the resort’s facilities for four days, this felt completely inadequate and frankly insulting.

Unfortunately, this was not the only issue.

The swimming pools were not always clean. The water was sometimes cloudy and, depending on the day, excessively warm. Again, this is not what I would expect from a 5-star resort.

Even more unpleasant, during a meal at Mina’s Kitchen, a cockroach was walking across our table. Needless to say, this was extremely disturbing and completely ruined our appetite. It also raises serious questions about hygiene and pest control in the restaurant.

Overall, I am very disappointed. A property presenting itself as a luxury 5-star resort should provide a much higher standard of equipment, cleanliness, hygiene and customer care.

The way my injury was handled was particularly disappointing. The compensation offered did not reflect the seriousness of the incident or the impact it had on my holiday.

I expected a genuine 5-star experience. Unfortunately, this was far from it.

We stayed at this hotel as a family of five, with two adults and two children in one room on an all-inclusive basis. Our 20 year old daughter joined us for four nights and was happily accommodated in a room a few doors away.

We arrived at around 9:30pm and were advised that the buffet would remain open until 10pm. After finding our rooms, we headed straight down for something to eat. The selection wasn’t great, but we put this down to the restaurant preparing to close for the evening.

We were expecting two queen size beds, but they felt more like two small doubles. The bathroom, however, was lovely, with a separate bath, shower and toilet. We also had a balcony, although unfortunately it felt a little claustrophobic as we couldn’t see over the balcony wall. If we stayed again, we would definitely pay the extra for a sea view room.

The breakfasts were really good, with lots of choice and variety. If you get down before 8:30am, it’s a lovely, peaceful experience.

During the day, we split our time between the pool, the grassed area and the lovely beach. All of the sun loungers had padded cushions and parasols. My favourite spot was definitely on the beach, where the sun-beds were fantastic and the extra large parasols were a real bonus.

A huge thank you has to go to Jhaymar, who made us feel incredibly special. He honestly couldn’t do enough for us and went above and beyond to make sure we were always fed and watered. He would ask what time we were planning to have lunch and then, around 10 minutes beforehand, would appear with the menus. His attention to detail was spot on. Our ice buckets were constantly kept cold and topped up with ice and water. Thank you so much, Jhaymar!

We’d also like to thank Alwin (apologies if I’ve got the name wrong) and George, who were both fantastic.

Another thank you to Charles. We first met him when he was selling ice creams, and he was such a friendly, helpful chap when he looked after us on the beach one day.

A very big thank you to Damaciano Fernandes, one of the friendliest staff members we have ever come across. He mainly worked looking after the sun beds, parasols and towels, he remembered all of our names. He was incredibly kind and even picked us flowers to put in our hair, telling us all about the flower and sharing some really interesting facts. Before we could even attempt to move a sun bed, he was already there doing it for us! What a lovely man.

We tried Fish for lunch. The décor was lovely, but there was far too much food for lunchtime in our opinion — we should have visited for dinner instead.

We visited the Pizzeria a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed our meals. The Italian restaurant was also very nice, and it was great having so many dining options available.

We walked up to the Asian restaurant on a buffet evening, but unfortunately it wasn’t really for us. We also visited the main buffet on our last night, which was very disappointing. I believe it was a Turkish/Arabian-themed evening, but the food selection and quality were poor compared with what we had experienced elsewhere.

We were also disappointed that the BABA steakhouse was closed and that we hadn’t been informed beforehand, especially as we had planned to visit.

One downside for us was the lack of places to go for an evening drink. Other than the Spanish restaurant, which was open until midnight, there weren’t really many options. The Conservatory Bar was lovely and the staff were fantastic, but it was a shame that it closed at 10pm — we felt this was far too early for an all-inclusive resort.

We would definitely recommend seeing Michael at the Watersports Centre. We booked a one-hour speedboat ride which took us past JBR Beach and The Palm, with stops near the Burj Al Arab and Atlantis for photos. It was a fantastic experience.

We also really liked the fact that we weren’t given wristbands to wear — a small thing, but something we appreciated.

On check out we mentioned we found the pillows uncomfortable, they had an inflatable feel to them. Front of house advised they had a pillow menu and could’ve changed them. Perhaps there should be a card informing guests of this.

Overall, we had a lovely, relaxing holiday and would definitely consider visiting again. Would score 4.5 out of 5.

For us, this hotel is only as good as it is because of its staff. So many of them went above and beyond and genuinely made our stay special. They deserve a huge amount of credit for the experience we had. ❤️