Whilst we’ve been to the Address Dubai Marina countless times … oh the many ladies nights in my previous life, brunches, afternoon teas, summer camp for the little ones, massage – literally everything the hotel had to offer, we’ve never stayed there. I mean, we live down the road. Plus, we have access to the facilities with Privilee. Why would we want to spend extra money for somewhere so familiar? I suppose when you have two toddlers and a newborn, and you just can’t be bothered loading and unloading them to different spots 4 days in a row – a staycation would be perfect. Browsed everywhere and found an awesome deal on their website – you get 1 night back to be used in the future, rates were 50% off, and husband and I would get 2 drinks each as well. Oh! And extra 10% off if you’re a “U by Emaar” member – which I have been since they launched. Pretty good deal 🙂

How was the stay in the Address, post-covid times? Thoughts, from a regular, and a loyal guest from the neighbourhood –

1. Room – We had booked the standard Deluxe Room Twin from the website and their Reservations Team got in touch to advise that it would be better to switch to King so we could fit the rollaway bed. We were offered a nice room on the 11th floor overlooking their gorgeous infinity pool. Rather small at 40m2 to be honest, and if you can afford to splurge a bit more for the bigger rooms I would recommend you do so if you have kids 😉 Very clean, minibar cleared which suited us perfect for these post-covid times.
2. Pool – Always spectacular, no matter how many times we’ve swam in it. Kid’s pool is shaded, and main pool is mostly lit from 9am all the way till 6:15pm or so when the sun sets behind the JBR buildings. They’ve finally installed an outdoor shower which is fab. Shades has now been taken over by Wane’s, who are serving drinks but the main structure is under renovations. No deals as yet – hoping they’ll launch at least happy hour drinks going forward. There is a large screen now which I thought was a fab idea. Anticipate they’ll be showing sports in the future. No issues with the staff pool-side.

Breakfast – To describe the situation on Saturday morning as a disaster would be an understatement. They had definitely not anticipate the number of guests that would be attending breakfast at Kambaa, and ala carte just did not work. I won’t go into too much details as I have done my rounds of complaints during the stay. And you know what –  you give them credit for how they try to overcome situations like this – which I think they did pretty well. Our breakfast the next day went smoothly, staff was extremely apologetic for what had happened the morning before. And that, I appreciate. Moving on 🙂

Price-point – Pretty good. After you add in all those plus pluses, two nights over Eid weekend came to 1377aed, which included breakfast for the family both mornings and 2 drinks each for husband and I. And, we get one night back which we can use in the future 🙂

What else is open? 

• Kid’s Club on the 14th floor is open again woohoo! 5-year olds and above can be dropped off for an hour complimentary for in-house guests (as well as Privilee members). Guardians and parents are not allowed to stay with them as per current rules.
• Mazina is still shut, so breakfast is served in their lobby lounge Kambaa.
• Nezesaussi Grill on the 4th floor is open – kids are not allowed.
• Shades is now replaced by Wane’s. They’re not part of Emaar therefore no discounts with your U by Emaar card, nor are they current in the Entertainer.

Suggestions

1. All communications teams should be well updated of the current hotel status (what’s open, what’s not) and deals available on the website.  Central Reservations Team says one thing, Social Media reps says another, you call the main hotel and they tell you another thing. There’s a complete disconnect and it’s so confusing.
2. Let guests know that the 2 comp. drinks that you get needs to be used on the same day that you make your first order so there are no surprises. We had planned to have one drink each on the first night and save the other two for the second night, but were advised to ‘use it all’ because they need to ‘close the bill’.
3. In-room air-conditioning system is really loud – suggest to see if there is something that could be done with it.

Saturday morning’s breakfast disaster aside, we had a great family staycation. Good timing with DSS as we could pop over to Dubai Marina Mall for meals whenever we want to. If you’ve never stayed in the marina and want to be close to the mall, highly recommend the Address for a mini-break. Great price for the summer 😉 Ah, click here for a detailed review that I did last summer.

Note : We booked for the staycation on their website here. The offer is called ‘Summer offer with Breakfast’