InterContinental is due to open its second hotel in Dubai in late July. This new property will be at Dubai Marina which is about as far away as you can get in Dubai from the original and impressive InterContinental at the Festival City complex.
The group appears to be making a serious effort with this property. The room specs look high, including in-room Nespresso machines and marina views, whilst Jason Atherton will be overseeing the restaurant. Importantly for the tourist market, the hotel will be a short walk to Jumeirah Beach.
Whilst you shouldn’t read too much into pre-opening pricing, it seems that it will be pitched substantially higher than the existing top-end IHG hotels in Dubai.
For a random Monday in September, the new InterContinental Dubai Marina is £255 including tax for a non-refundable ‘opening special’. The InterContinental Festival City is just £148 for the same night whilst the central but ageing Crowne Plaza on Sheikh Zayed Road is £139.
Where the new InterContinental really scores is for redemptions. At present it is asking just 35,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night. This is 10,000 points less than the InterContinental at Festival City and 5,000 points cheaper than the Crowne Plaza despite the hotel being considerably more expensive.
At roughly £7 per 1,000 IHG Rewards Club points redeemed it is an excellent redemption option. There are obviously no photographs available yet but you can see the full list of hotel facilities on its website.
(Want to earn more hotel points? To see our complete list of promotions from the major chains, click here to visit our ‘Hotel Promos’ page or use the link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
About Head for Points
Thats an old pic, JLT is still being built and you can see the foundations of the marina mall on the bottom left.
Just for the sake of being pedantic JLT is on the other side of Sheikh Zayed Road and if this were a real picture, it wouldn’t come up. But all of the sandy space you can see to the right and left of the proposed hotels now have buildings on – in varying states of construction. Following seems to be a recent(ish) panning photo that shows the hotel and one of its pools across from the Marina Mall: https://www.google.com/maps/views/view/106642761680605709217/gphoto/6089731050704791170?gl=gb&heading=30&pitch=75&fovy=75
As Rob states(last paragraph):
‘ There are obviously no photographs available yet….’ .
What a great opportunity. It’s such a shame that getting to Dubai during school hols is so expensive. 🙁
You should see the hotel pricing for the beach hotels at Easter or half term. You can’t get through the door of Madinat Jumeirah for under £500 per night at Easter or October half term – luckily I can use Sirius points via my Amex IDC card (they are not a partner with the UK Membership Rewards scheme). The new Waldorf on the Palm is probably a good use of Hilton points.
Biggest shame is that most of the Starwood resorts in Dubai refuse to participate in Starwood Preferred Guest.
Has anyone stayed at the Festival City IC? I have some free nights from the various ihg promos and didn’t consider it as I am not enthusiastic about the location. This new hotel looks like a much better option, thanks for the update!
I just came back from festival city as an plat ambassador. Paid for deluxe room and got an exec on arrival. I didn’t like the hotel at all, room was very nice but it was a bit up its own backside, lots of very ignorant Arab guests staying their who didn’t say thank you to holding lifts/opening doors, and the location is good for only the airport. Pool area is again nice but very crowded for the size of the hotel. Miles from the beach.
Came from the IC Abu Dhabi which although older was a million miles nicer, better staff, better location.
I didn’t like dubai though, one of the most soulless confused places I have ever been. The icing on the cake was finding myself accidentally in the women’s only train carriage as I boarded when the train was empty, thankfully with my gf so I wasn’t stoned on the spot (I joke, a bit).
It says it all that the no.1 restaurant on tripadvisor is in a Marriott hotel – and having eaten there can assure you that it’s an average quality overpriced restaurant, pretty much like most hotel restaurants the world over.
I like Festival City, have stayed in the Crowne Plaza 3-4 times. It isn’t meant to be an urban resort (see, for eg, the Grand Hyatt with its multitude of pools) but for a couple of nights it does the job. We stay there sometimes on the last night if we have an early flight home.
Fundamentally, I can’t imagine going to Dubai for a holiday without being at a beach hotel because the options for public beach access are not great and, unless you are a crazy shopper, the beaches are the main point on the place.
We also like the Crowne Plaza Festival City having stayed there a couple of times. We are pool people more than beach people though.
I may have to check this out. Planning a few days in Nov with what will be our 7 month old. Is this area a good area for families wanting to just chill out and enjoy the warmth? (Dubai first timer)
To be honest it is not an area I know well but, in terms of public beach access, it is a good place to stay.
I’ve stayed at the Hilton resort right on J beach. If you can get points+cash rates, its works out very very good value vs their cash rates.
The new Doubletree Jumeirah Beach also looks like an excellent redemption.
So-as a newbie to Dubai-who is not into shopping – is the new Marina IC a better option than Festival city.
Have got 3 free nights to spend somewhere…
Just want to relax in the poolbeach for 3 days.
Mrs can go to the shops…
Festival City is a long way from the beach so from that point of view, yes! The new one is probably nearer to Mall of the Emirates, possibly a tie getting to Dubai Mall (Burj Khalifa). Only one pool at Festival City and it is shared with the Crowne Plaza, albeit it is a pool complex with several levels. Not really a swimming pool per se. Hard to explain unless you see a picture!