The Fairmont Dubai City
By Kristie Hal

Located minutes from the dubai international Financial Centre and the World Trade Centre, this Dubai stalwart is predictably primarily a business hotel. This is reflected in the decoration, which is rather straightforward but expensive-looking. Don't resent the lobby, which is a strange combo of Majlis seating, mismatched chairs, glass and steel.

The spaces are huge, with Miller Harris toiletries and a surround-sound system that pumps songs into the restroom. The bed rooms are decorated in dark, manly neutrals with high, cushioned headboards, and all have a seating location and desk. They do not all have terraces, though, which is most likely equally as well, as many just have a view of the Sheikh Zayed Road or the labyrinth of old, low-rise buildings behind.

For a hotel that plainly hasn't already put much store in the developer embellishments of its more recently-opened neighbours, it really does instead well on the trendy food and beverage front. The year 2009 saw the opening of the world's very first Cavalli Club - the king of bling's spacious and extremely expensive night life offering (think black marble, faux hair, Swarovski-draped ceilings and gold-leaf sushi). The group right here are predictably overdressed and underweight, and come the 2 a.m. closing time, they all head to The Fairmont's cellar club, 400, where they dance on tables and order supersize bottles of premium vodka served on velour paddings with sparklers.

Less over the top is Range on One, an International restaurant that handles the difficult by tackling each food brilliantly - the Friday breakfast is particularly lauded. There's likewise the much-garlanded Exchange Grill, and the quite truthfully weird Japanese joint called Kitsune, that wows diners with its Clockwork Orange-meets-Narnia decor and solidified carbon dioxide instead of its food preparation. Cin-Cin is a quite wine bar however a bit of a pick-up joint, and cripplingly expensive. There is also a sandwich joint and a conveyor-belt sushi coffee shop.

The pool is very little and forgets Sheikh Zayed Roadway, so truly extra for business types than sunlight worshippers, but the Willow Stream health spa, enhanced in a synthetic Roman style, is big and well designated (it is particularly hot on fifty percent- or whole-day packages).

Sheikh Zayed Road, PO Box 97555;
Phone: 04-332-5555; 04-332-4555;
Expense - AED 1,199
Location - Sheikh Zayed Roadway
Variety of spaces - 204 rooms, plus 86 suites
Area - sq m 40-550
Conference facilities - Yes
Pool/sauna - Yes
Beach gain access to - No
Exercise facilities - Yes
Spa - Yes
Parking/valet - Yes
Licensed bar - Yes
On-site dining - International, Arabic, Italian, Japanese, steak, juice bar, coffee shop

Added features C- D alarm clocks, hairdryer, iron/ironing board, global adaptor, Internet Business services - Business centre, laptop computer rental, secretarial solutions Shuttle buses - To Dubai Shopping mall, Mirdif City Centre Wheelchair facilities - Yes

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