Reply To: Dubai questions

[Blair Waldorf Salad]

Be warned the Marriott Dubai Palm, the twin of the Hilton, classes itself as a resort and thus exempts itself from various Bonvoy elite benefits – including lounge access.

The one point I’d make about the Hilton Palm is that the sole pool is entirely linear, so it’s one wall of sunbathers facing another row of them opposite. Scant feeling of privacy.

Granted it does have a ‘private’ beach, but this is a private area of loungers on the otherwise public West Beach. Not a true private beach like say the trio complex of Westin-Le Meridien-W Mina Seyahi. The Hilton beach also necessitates one walking out a gate from the pool area and crossing the public boardwalk of West Beach to then reach the Hilton’s loungers. That’s quite a different vibe to the entirely private and self-contained Waldorf Astoria Palm (although I’m no great fan of that property either, being as it is an overly large wedding cake sited on a too-small plot of land).