We didn't get off to a great start as we arrived early and were put in a waiting type room which did not have a refreshments or working tv and there were only seats. We waited for ages and were finally told that our room was ready. When we saw our room it made up for having to wait a while. The room was really big with seating area, massive bed and the bathroom was almost as big as the room, complete with walk in rain shower, bath and twin sink. In each of the summerhouses is a lobby area with a butler. Ours was so friendly and each evening there was an hour of free drinks (including free champagne!) in the lobby. It was extremely hot in the august that we stayed there and it was such a nice relief whenever we came back to a fully air- conditioned lobby with really calming music. We really felt like we were in paradise! Golf buggys were such a great help as the grounds are extensive and on the whole we preferred these to the abras (water boats) as they were faster and we found the abras to unbearable in the heat. Unfortunately having stayed there in august, it did mean that we were limited in the activities we could do as it was too hot for the sand safari and camel riding. Obviously this was not the hotels fault but i would recommend going in a slightly cooler time to allow you to do these activities. There were so many great restaurants in the hotel complex although they were not that cheap. I would definately recommend La Parilla restaurant in the jumeirah beach hotel which is only 5 minutes away by buggy as the entertainment and whole atmosphere was great! They had amazing steaks which were very expensive but worth it! This was our first time in Dubai and if we came back we would DEFINATELY come to this hotel!

Great sevice, great facilties, great food, great rooms. Everything was GREAT!!!

Dar Al Masyaf is was the most fabulous place I have ever stayed, it was amazing the staff could not do enough to help you they were all so obliging and friendly, the villas were out of this world beautiful the villa that we stayed in had free drinks from 7 so you could relax in the lounge area and our host opened up the drinks cabinet for guests for 1 hour. There are golf buggies that you can call upon at any time of day to get around the resort these are free and are a real treat so you do not have to walk in the blistering heat. You can use any of the siser hotel restaurants for breakfast I would love to go back it is worth every penny.

We spent four nights at the Dar al Masyaf, which is one of three luxury hotels within the Madinat Jumeirah complex, this being the all-villa option. Our room on the ground floor was one of eight in a gulf summer garden villa which is a two-storey building containing a tranquil atrium courtyard and complete with butler/receptionist and complimentary evening drinks/snacks. Getting around the resort is a joy - buggy carts or 'abra' boats being the two options. We never had long to wait for either, and the boats seem to run on electric motors as they're totally silent. Our room isbest descibed as oversized (as was the bathroom suite) and it came with a balcony overlooking oneof the wider parts of the canal waterways and restaurants. Aspect is quite important here: if you don't mind seeing your neighbours on the next door balcony, and if you don't mind the complimentary boats and tour boats (with 'Abra tours' sign holding paying passengers!) gliding past your balcony every two minutes or so, then you'll be happy with the live interaction (I found myself waving at passing boatloads holding mostly hotel guests which was fun), but otherwise.. don't use your balcony or get a room on the first floor (each villa has four downstairs and another four upstairs). The Abra conductors (boatmen) will cheerfully tell you the list prices of different types of room as you take the boat to the Shopping Souk (best described as a Mall of arab boutiques plus food outlets and bars), and ours grinned when stating that the royal villas are fully occupied at some ridiculous price with four zeros. The hotel has enough on offer for regular stopover visitors to Dubai not to need to leave the premises - unless you want a big shopping mall in which case you grab a taxi to the nearby Mall of the Emirates. Beach is good, clean and well 'serviced', and everywhere you go the backdrop makes for excellent photographs - the top of the Burj al Arab for example is visible from most parts of the Madinat Complex, and as it and the Jumeirah Beach hotel are owned by the same company, staff will provide towels and drinks to you wherever you are in the resort - we found ourselves on the designated Burj beach loungers one day, and staff were quite happy to hand us bottled water and evian face sprays even though we told them we were staying at the Dar al Masyaf. Nothing in the complex is more than 3 minutes buggy ride away and the choice of restaurants is wide. Amazingly the resort feels quite exclusive, almost empty at times but I was reassured the entire resort (all 3 hotels) was fully booked. Example: every 3-4 villas share a private pool supervised by an attendant who spends most of the day watching over an empty pool (no surprise as the main pool at the Al Qasr is superb and also close to the beach). Another example: the butlers seem to spend most of the day on the phone to friends (the poor chaps have only a limited range of websites they're allowed to access on their PCs such as airline and restaurant sites.. so no chance of asking them to let you quickly check out your social networking site for example!). 3rd example: the atrium courtyard in our villa was almost always empty (although one guest room in our villa seemed to serve as "base" for a group of Filipina maids who were part of the entourage of a family occupying one of the stupendously expensive royal villas the boatman had told us about. 4th example: Buffet Restaurants (both for breakfast and dinner) were never more than 30% full every time we went. Jumeirah Group clearly believes in offering guests space and availability everywhere. Good call, but it does filter through in the room prices. I'll make a final point on responsiveness: We pointed out some bits of the room that could have been cleaned better, and the head of guest services came to our room in person. Plus we requested a late afternoon checkout without charge which was granted on the day despite earlier explanations that the hotel was full and our room had been allocated to incoming guests. I consider us to be picky, even spoilt frequent travellers. But I cannot fault this hotel on any count (other than cost, which is par for the course in Dubai for 2007/08) and Dar al Masyaf therefore gets my vote as "Excellent". If you can get a room for less than 300 pounds I recommend this place, If Dar al Masyaf is full, you'll be equally satisfied in the Jumeirah Beach Hotel or the other two Madinat properties (Al Qasr and Mina al Salam), but a Dar al Masyaf villa room gives you a lot more space and a special "resort feel" because you're in the midst of landscaped gardens and waterways which are fantastic hi-res holiday photo material. I'll be staying there again next time.

We stayed at the Dar al Masyaf over New Year, deciding to come here after reading the reviews on the trip advisor. Not our first trip to Dubai - stayed previously at The One and Only, Jemeriah Beach and Dusit in the City.

I agree that this is a fantastic hotel with much thought having gone into the design of the whole place. However, I was disappointed with the beach villa in which we stayed as this was positioned directly outside the childrens play area. Each morning you could hear the tinkering of the water toys etc... the large pool was the only pool we were to use (unless we wanted to trek up to villa 9 somewhere and share their pool-I would have felt like an intruder had I done this!). The main pool was very, very busy - strangers sneezing over the top of your head, having moved so close to catch a glimpse of the sun, this is enough to send you to the beach for a little more room. The patio area with the villa was very dark and really got no sun at all - we never used it as the position was not really that nice and looked directly on to a six foot fence! I did request a top villa but on arrival they looked totally surprised and we were told they were all fully booked, however, they could move us after several days - I declined and said we would stay put - felt like too much effort to be honest. The butlers were nice people - very well mannered but not that informative. The rooms were beautiful - just one minor matter - ladies like to sit down and do hair and make up - this was not possible with the layout as it is! Male interior designer ??

The complex is extremely large and for us, we will not be returning to this hotel. I think the One and Only is a more relaxed and exclusive hotel and if you upgrade to the next level, you do get all the trimmings too - including a more relaxed and calmer pool area etc..

I do hope my review is informative - I am only trying to put my view point across to say this complex will not suit all - the extra money we paid for a beach villa - not sure whether it is worth it.

Oh by the way - the compulsory Gala Dinner on New Years Eve - this is NOT compulsory with the hotel - it is only the travel agents that say it is and also the 7 day night stay is not compulsory too !! However what a night the Gala Dinner turned out to be - now that was truly fantastic..............