Review: I try the Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga hotel

This is my review of the Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga hotel.

Arriving off a flight into Dubai late at night, I didn’t see any value in paying for an expensive hotel that evening.  I had booked the Waldorf Astoria on the Palm for my second night, with a noon check-in and 4pm check-out via American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts, as I explained here.  All I needed was somewhere to answer a few emails and grab some sleep because heading over to the Waldorf in the morning.

Dubai hotels are not cheap on a midweek night in January.  I booked the Hyatt Place via ‘cash and points’, using 4000 World of Hyatt points and Dhs 202 (£50) cash including tax.  The cash price was over £100 so I was getting better than my floor value of 1p per World of Hyatt point.

Regular readers will know that I think Park Hyatt is the best luxury brand run by a major hotel chain.  Looking across the entire chain, I think it outclasses St Regis, InterContinental and The Ritz-Carlton.  The best Grand Hyatt properties, such as Tokyo and Berlin, are almost at the same level.

Hyatt Place was a different matter.  I had never stayed at one before.  It is a relatively new brand, launched in 2006, and it didn’t reach the UK until 2016 when the first of the two Heathrow hotels opened.

What is Hyatt Place?

This is the official guff from Hyatt:

Launched in 2006, Hyatt Place brings to the upscale select service hotel category the authentic hospitality for which Hyatt is known. Inspired by multitasking travelers’ 24/7 lifestyle, Hyatt Place combines stylish design and practical amenities with forward-thinking technology and purposeful service. Spacious guestrooms feature multiple areas to work and relax, and include the Cozy Corner; plush Hyatt Grand Bed; and ergonomic work center. Every guestroom is also equipped with a state-of-the-art media center that allows electronic devices to plug directly into the 42-inch, high-definition television, giving guests instant access to the technological amenities they’re accustomed to accessing at home or in the office. Hyatt Place hotels also feature complimentary Wi-Fi access, a StayFit@Hyatt fitness center, a coffee and wine bar serving specialty coffees and premium wine and beer, and a Grab ’n Go case stocked with freshly made sandwiches and salads. The 24/7 Gallery Menu offers made-to-order breakfast, lunch and dinner entrées around the clock, in addition to the a.m. Kitchen Skillet, a complimentary hot breakfast served daily. Specially trained Hosts are on hand to offer assistance with everything from directions to check-in to a freshly made meal.

In practice, this appears to mean:

• free breakfast
• free wi-fi
• an upmarket but ‘limited service’ approach
• high quality beds
• in-room work areas with plenty of sockets

Taking an even simpler approach, I would say that Hyatt Place offers a four-star hotel environment but at a substantially lower price point due to the limited services available.

Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga

The Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga is directly outside Al Rigga metro station, although you are far more likely to take a taxi from the airport.  Cars are cheap in Dubai – I can’t remember what I paid to get to the hotel, but the ride back (in a Lexus ES via Uber) was £5.75.

Check in was quick and efficient and I was soon in my room.  The first thing you notice is the impressively wide and well decorated corridors:

…. followed by the large and very well furnished rooms:

and

and

As you can see, money has been spent on the rooms.  It also shows in areas that are not obvious from the photographs – proper toiletries instead of on-wall dispensers, plenty of proper coat hangers in the wardrobes, lots of plug sockets in the right places and fast wi-fi able to stream video without any issues.

This is homely lobby:

…. which also contains a 24-hour coffee shop.  This is not run by the hotel which means you need to pay cash – you cannot charge items to your room.  This was slightly frustrating as it meant carrying a credit card around the hotel and it meant I wouldn’t earn World of Hyatt points on what I bought.

The Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga also has a swimming pool.  It is not outstanding by any means but for a budget city centre hotel it isn’t bad:

The hotel is surprisingly quiet.  What you don’t see from my pictures is that in front of the hotel is a car park used by the adjacent mosque.  This means that there is no main road traffic passing directly in front of the rooms.

Looking at the hotel literature, there are other features I didn’t use:

• A free shuttle bus to various tourist sites
• A 24/7 gym
• Surprisingly affordable (by Dubai standards) food in the restaurant or by room service (two beers and a pizza for £15 for example)

I can’t comment on the free breakfast, unfortunately.  On my first night I didn’t wake up until 10.30 the following morning.  On the second visit, two days later, I left for the airport at 5.30am.

(Regular readers may remember that I said I was going to spend my 3rd night at the JW Marriott Marquis.  After I enjoyed my first visit to the Hyatt Place, I decided to cancel the Marquis and rebook the Hyatt.  It was under £90 – this was a Thursday night, a weekend in the Middle East – and I would get 35,000 Marriott Rewards points refunded so in terms of value for money it was a simple choice.)

As this was my first ever visit to a Hyatt Place I can’t comment on the rest of the chain.  I can imagine that conversions, such as the two Heathrow hotels, may not be as impressive.  Based on this stay, though, I can recommend Hyatt Place if you are looking for an upmarket environment with limited services at a modest price.

The Hyatt Place Dubai Al Rigga website is here if you want to find out more.

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