Hotel Review St. Regis Dubai Hotel: Amazing Luxury in the Desert!

St. Regis Dubai Hotel Review – Empire Suite

Wherever I travel, I love to experience unique and luxurious hotels. In my opinion St. Regis Hotels fit that description and I enjoy them every time I stay there.

During my trip to Dubai in 2016, flying Emirates First Class on B777-300, I chose The St. Regis Dubai as my first home away from home. I’ve been an SPG Platinum member for the last 6 years consecutively so my decision to stay at this amazing property was easy.

Here is my review of my stay at the St. Regis Dubai in an Empire Suite.

How to Book

City	Hotel	Loyalty Program	Room	Points Redeemed	My Status
Dubai	The St. Regis	Starwood	Executive Suite*	SPG 30,000 Points (Category 7**)	Platinum(P50)

• * I booked a “Deluxe Room” and upgraded to Empire Suites using one of 10 Suite Night Awards that were given the year before from my 50th night stay at an SPG Property. This hotel has a total of 234 Rooms with 51 of them being suites.

• ** The St. Regis Dubai is one of two Category 7 properties in Dubai out of 20 Starwood Hotels in the Emirate. (Soon to be 22 Hotels)

Location

The St. Regis Dubai is located on the South end of Downtown Dubai. It is a couple of miles from the Dubai Mall and the Burj Khalifa. Located just off of the main highway through town, it is also not far from the Dubai Metro station Business Bay.

Hotel Entrance 

There was always something happening outside of the hotel both day and night. Upon arrival into Dubai, I took a cab to the hotel from DXB airport. It took about 25 minutes to get from the airport to the hotel.

Lobby

The lobby is grand and quite beautiful. The grand staircase of this hotel is one of a kind. In this photo of the lobby you can see the check-in desk directly ahead in the middle with the Concierge Desk off to the right.

I arrived at the hotel around 2pm local time. Since regular check-in is at 4pm, my room wasn’t quite ready so I spent some time relaxing in the lobby. While I was waiting, the front desk supervisor brought a glass of wine and water for me.

This wait gave me ample time to explore the lobby a bit and to take a lot of photos!

Escorted to the Room

At around 3pm, the Front Desk Supervisor and Concierge informed me that the room was ready. I was then escorted by the Front Desk Supervisor to the second floor where my suite was located.

Upon arrival on the 2nd floor my butler was waiting for us. He escorted me to the suite from there. It was done very politely and professionally. I felt good about my choice in staying at this hotel.

Empire Suite

I was in room 238, an Empire Suite.

Despite flying for 14 hours in First Class, I definitely needed some rest before heading out to the Water Fountain Show at the Dubai Mall. I guess 4 bottles of Dom took its toll! 🙂 I’m sure you can imagine. Thankfully the bed was comfortable and I woke up 90 minutes later refreshed.

Amenity

My room also had a very nice amenity as well. (Actually two, but more on the other later.) I knew I wouldn’t want anymore champagne after such a long flight, so a couple of pieces of fruit were perfect to touch my sweet spot.

Bathroom

The Empire Suite has a very nice main bathroom as well. Decorated with white marble, it has a large shower and a soaking tub. Remede toiletries are provide by the hotel. I particularly liked the body soap. The bathroom is everything you would expect from a hotel of this caliber.

The suite also had a second smaller bathroom as well for guests. It was decorated in much the same way as the main bathroom. The bathrooms even had a volume control for the television so you can hear your favorite program even when you are in another room!

Butler Service

Upon my arrival to my suite, I found this amazing gift from my butler. (In addition to the fruit shown above.) It is hand-made soap from Dubai. Back in Atlanta, my wife and I were using one each and she took mine since she loved it so much.

Turn-Down Service

After returning from the Dubai Mall, I discovered that turn-down service had been performed without request. (As it should be.) In addition to making the bed, the butler left a couple of chocolates and arranged slippers bedside as well.

Breakfast

If there is one complaint that I have as a Platinum SPG member, it is breakfast. Some hotels are very strict about the Platinum Breakfast even if they do not have a Club Lounge. Some hotels force you to choose between a Welcome Gift and Continental Breakfast. When I checked in, I actually asked if my breakfast was included. It was not, according to them. Ok, I’m fine with that. I was going to have it as my Dubai experience anyways. So, here we go.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, I was escorted by my server to a table where the manager came over and introduced himself. He informed me that I could order anything from the menu if I chose to take the buffet.

Here is what I like about premium hotels and my experience with the status. When I entered the restaurant, my server knew who I was already. He said clearly, “Good morning, Mr. Lee. How was your sleep last night? Was everything great?” WOW!!! I know some people don’t like to be noticed but I’m ok with it, and I actually love it when I stay at the St. Regis.

This is the juice station. You choose what you like for your morning juice here. They blend it together and bring it to your table. This buffet quickly proved that it was worth the $45 charge.

There was a huge variety of bread. I just wished my stomach was big enough to take at least a couple of them. I had to ask my server to choose the best one for me.

I also decided to order Eggs Benedict from the a-la-carte menu. It was absolutely delicious! The fruit was great as well.

At the end my bill came as I expected. The total was AED $165 (~$45 USD), so I tipped them some on top and left my room number to charge it to. The food and service were way more than I expected and it was worth every penny. I was very satisfied.

The best part though came at checkout. My breakfast bill was comped!! It was a great meal, with fantastic service. Until today, I’m not so sure why my bill was covered, to be honest. I can just assume that the hotel can waive certain things for their loyal customers, and that just happened to me.

Bottom Line

My stay at The St. Regis Dubai was a truly amazing experience. When you think of the value of SPG points, 30,000 points might be pricey but the way they treat you at this property justifies the steep price in my opinion.

I highly recommend giving the St. Regis experience a try when and wherever you can. There are some St. Regis properties in the U.S. costing just 12,000 points per night if you book in the off-peak season.

I was very shocked when Marriott bought Starwood in November 2015 and was wondering if I would have to switch my loyalty in the long term. As long as Marriott keeps these St. Regis properties as good as this one in Dubai, I will be happy with the transition that will finally happen sometime in 2018.

Have you stayed in St. Regis Hotel properties anywhere in the world? Where was your best St. Regis experience? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.