Address Boulevard Dubai opened its door earlier this year. Yes, I know – another Address 🙂 So everyone knows the infamous Address Downtown Dubai which made headlines news NYE 2016. It’s not that one – this is the brand new beautiful property, which is located opposite Fashion parking, and you got it – along the Emaar Boulevard, now known Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard.
I was more than delighted when the invitation came through to review the property over a weekend stay. What better way to spend a 40 degrees summer than to check into a new hotel, right by Dubai Mall with the family 🙂
So – how was it?
Did Address Boulevard live up to our expectations? Is it as impressive as Emaar’s other properties in the region? Would it be somewhere I recommend you, to come and stay with the family, over the weekend?
Here’s what we loved :
a) Large, suites suitable for families.
We were booked into a Boulevard Suite, which at 95m2 provided lots of space for the family. That’s G and I, our little girl in her cot, and if you had another family member who was here – in our case my mum, the sofa in the living room (yes, there is a separate living room area!) will transform into a very comfortable sofa bed as well. Upon ringing housekeeping, they are more than happy to prepare the sofa bed for you before bedtime 🙂
b) Child-friendly (i.e like, super-accomodating child-friendly)
Ok, I don’t know if it’s because this was a review but these guys were over the top in ensuring that we had everything we needed for our little girl 🙂
Start of with – if you chose to stay in rooms with Club Room access – you get complimentary transfers to the airport. I asked if mum and the little girl could get picked up from the marina as I was coming from work. They were happy to do so. They checked with us how old she is, and ensured that they got a
(i) ……car seat suitable for her.
Though I did not get the chance to inspect it myself, mum reported that it looked brand spanking new. Kudos to Address Boulevard for having baby seats – which by the way is compulsory in the UAE now for all little people!
(ii) They also had the cot prepped (okay, this is standard, I know), her own toiletries bag, rattle, Address Boulevard kid-size slippers (yay!) and….. hung in the closet, a kid-size plush robe. Wait, that’s not all. A baby bathtub was prepped, a bottle steriliser, as well as a….. nappy bin! O m g.
Address Boulevard – you’ve set the standards now. You better make sure when another family stays in your hotel, you prep the same thing. Otherwise, I’m going to get in trouble 🙂
c) Top of the range amenities
That’s TWG tea sachets for you (damn, just realised I should have taken them home!), nespresso machine (standard nowadays, isn’t it), Lorenzo Villoresi toiletries (I’m not going to pretend I know who he is, I had to do a bit of Wikipedia – so click here if you’re interested 😉 ) and super shiny Grohe fixings in the bathrooms.
d) The pools. 3 of them.
I came down for a swim around 7:30 am on Friday morning and it was empty (surprise, surprise). Peaceful, the pool – all mine. We came back again with the family that evening, and spent sometime in the kids pool. There were a few kids around with parents on the side watching – the photo taken below was when it was empty as I don’t want to get sued for having another kid’s face on my blog 😉 They also have a large water fountain area which we loved! And! A little slide!! Wish there were more slides though but hey, I’m happy enough that a city hotel has a slide! Did I forget to mention the complimentary watermelon slushies they were handing out in the evenings 🙂
e) Club lounge
We’re officially club lounge people. As with the rest of the hotel concept, the club lounge felt like you were in your own apartment – except of course you don’t have to prepare the food, or… clean up afterwards 🙂 The staff were very accommodating with our little girl, and yes they do have baby chairs if you asked for it. The food was proper gourmet – I would absolutely love to return to have their egg and ham pie again! Oh one more thing – just like the Ritz in Almaty, they have a wine dispenser too!
f) Art gallery, throughout.
This is what sets Address Boulevard different from the rest. There are art pieces all over the hotel – from the lobby, to the all the eateries, to your room. On Thursday evening we wandered all around the hotel to look at them, and spent a long time in conversation with C from frontdesk. What a charming man – he knew everything about the hotel. We were very impressed with the piece on the wall – this is called Transcend by an artist called Petr Weigl. I tried to tweet Petr – I didn’t get any respond. Aww 🙂
g) The Restaurant
What a unique restaurant concept. I highly recommend you try breakfast here, even if you’re not staying in hotel. C’mon, free valet – all you can eat, minus the stress of finding parking in Dubai mall afterwards!
Click here for my review on breakfast.
And if you are planning on a special date, take that other half back here to their Secret Room for a romantic night in.
Click here for my review on dinner here.
h) Afternoon Tea at The Lounge
a post that deserves a write up on its own – here’s another must-do experience here in Address Boulevard. I’ll update this soon to include a link.
Afternoon Tea at The Loungei) The Spa – I had a 150min treatment at the spa – and it was quite adequately called ‘The Way to Heavan’. Get the other half to babysit and book yourself here for a relaxing afternoon. Large, and spotless, with an amazing jacuzzi with waterjets – I recommend you come half an hour earlier at least to use the facilities prior to your treatment. My therapist was professional and very good. Though to be mentioned, I much preferred the relaxing area in the Address Downtown Dubai’s spa!
j) Accessibility to The Dubai Mall
You don’t have to get back out onto the sun. There’s an interconnecting bridge which takes you there – 10-15 minutes I think? We went to Dubai mall on both Friday and Saturday to indulge in some DSS shopping. It was perfect, no need to stress out finding parking, no need to walk through the oven in the carpark to your car – you literally scoot over, and then back again to the hotel if you’re hungry for some food in the club lounge. Perfect 🙂
Now, onto things that could be better… gentle suggestions for the hotel :
a) Ensure that the lift at the interconnecting bridge to Dubai Mall works – This was broken from Thursday through to the Saturday that we were there. Probably not part of the hotel’s management, but it would be a good idea to ensure that this lift always works as it is the hotel guests that would be using this lift to get to Dubai Mall if i) they have a baby in a pram and ii) they are in a wheelchair
b) Signage at the front of the hotel – I thought it was just me being a little bit blur (or tired after work), but after speaking to the staff upon checking-in, a lot of other people have mistakenly driven passed the entrance as well. If you know the area, or Dubai in general – what happens when you miss a turn in Downtown? You’ll drive for another 10-15 minutes 🙂 The arrow on that sign needs to be changed!
c) Insufficient details on website, and in Launchport Ipads – I absolutely love the launchport ipads provided in the rooms. The problem is it doesn’t provide enough information on things like – what time is the club lounge open? what time is food served? what time is breakfast? I tried the hotel website but it was the same. We had to go through the old-fashion way (which is fine, really!) and ring front desk to ask. Suggest to get all the details uploaded asap 🙂
That’s all really. Nothing major 😉
Now, onto the damage. How much would it cost you to stay in the Boulevard Suite, for a family of 2 and a baby with access to the Club Lounge, and breakfast at The Restaurant? Booking.com gives me AED2299 for a weekend at the beginning of August. Splurge, if you don’t want to fly away for the weekend. That’s breakfast lunch and dinner covered, with access to 3 no. pools and access to Dubai Mall sorted 🙂 It’s odd but with the no. of pools and greenery around, it felt like we were in a resort – but we were really just in Downtown, a walk away from Dubai Mall 🙂
Thanks to the Address Boulevard for hosting us. There were a lot of staff at front desk, club lounge, the restaurants as well as poolside that stood out during our stay. We have passed on our gratitude directly to the hotel 🙂 If you do end up staying here, please let me know how it was!
- Address Boulevard
- Website : http://addresshotels.com
- 04 561 8888
- Deals : Check out their website for on going offers. Make sure you join U by Emaar as well for additional perks!
Disclaimer : We were guests of Address Boulevard Dubai for the weekend.
One thought on “Family Staycation in Downtown Dubai – Address Boulevard Dubai”