I was so excited about staying here after reading the reviews and looking at the pictures on-line. Despite what would amount to almost 1,000 a night I thought it would be a wonderful treat. Boy was I wrong...My husband, son and I arrived early at 6am and I did have hopes that we might get our room ahead of time, but understood when that was not possible. Having flown all night from Europe we decided to have breakfast and then rest (sleep) out by the beach.

Several times we called reception to check on our room (they never offered us a phone despite having them in the business center we learned later) and they could never quite tell us when the room would be ready. They kept saying "soon" so instead of hitting the mall we waited really wanting to shower and change first. Finally at 3pm exhausted and rather hot we went back to the reception. The guy there would not tell us anything and finally after another 20 minutes someone came and told us that our reservation would not be honored... Turns out they overbooked the Dar Villas!!!! They had my reservation and they agreed that I'd made it months in advance. They even agreed that I had confirmed my reservation by email three times and by phone to check on something. They knew there was a problem since we arrived in the am, but no one wanted to tell us so they let us wait all day!

So.....instead of giving us the special Dar villa I booked for four nights they offered us the villa for two nights and then "an upgrade" (executive room with ocean view) at the Mina for the last two nights. I was so upset -- if I had wanted to stay at the Mina I would have booked the Mina. The only excuse they had for the problem was that some big group (who they admitted booked after us!) needed all of the villas thus we had to be bumped. So much for the little guy....

After much complaining both about wasting the day waiting for word on our room and about being bumped, we finally had no other choice but to agree and off we went to our room. (They did give us a free dinner as compensation but if it was just about the money I could have saved money by booking a cheaper hotel in the first place...) Anyway we made it to the room and at first they gave us a ground floor room even though I had asked when I made the reservation for an upper room. Not a big deal but I thought maybe they would make an effort given the reservation problem. After mentioning it, they finally gave us an upper room and we rested while waiting another 45 minutes for our bags to follow....

About the room --- I admit it was awesome! We just loved it! The villas are wonderful - quiet, private and spacious! It is close to the spa and the private pools are just perfect. Just as I was about to relax the doorbell rang and in came the butler with the check-in forms to sign. He walked right over and handed it to my husband. The check-
in form of course had the price of the hotel on it..Now this might not be a big issue EXCEPT that I had called the hotel twice to try and prepay the room as a surprise to my husband. (He enjoys these things so much less when he knows the cost!) During my two lengthy phone calls the hotel told me I could not prepay the room (despite doing so at the Kempinsky in Zurich and the Baur au Lac in Genvea during the same vacation!). Anyway at the end of my call the hotel assured me that they would make a note in their system so that I could pay the bill quietly upon arrival without my husband's input. Needless to say that did not work out since the butler handed the bill to my husband...It is a small thing of no real significance, but you'd think for the price of the hotel and after the problem with the room that they would get that right.... It is a five star hotel that prides itself on service afterall...

That evening we went to the mall and had a nice time. I have to admit that since we'd been so upset about everything I kinda expected the hotel to have something nice in our room upon our return as an apology -a bottle of wine or maybe a nice letter, but of course there was nothing. The next day I found my mood souring as I thought of packing up and leaving our wonderful villa (we had so many bags...) so I finally asked for a higher level manager and explained my unhappiness. She was nice, but we still had to move.

When we moved to the Mina I was so disappointed. The room was much smaller than the Dar villa and despite their promise we did not have an ocean view. Whereas in the Dar villa we ordered breakfast in the room each day and sat overlooking the canal with the birds singing, in the Mina our room overlooked someone's small house and their garage! The only sound we heard was the road noise! Basically after that we tried to spend as little time as possible in the room (or at the pool as the Mina pool was crowded unlike the private Dar villa pool...)

To make a long story short....the hotel seems to care very little about customer satisfaction. They did not try very hard to give us the experience we thought we were paying for. If you have to bump someone - then move them into a nicer room not a smaller one with no view. And don't try to make it sound like an upgrade just because it includes the free breakfast as part of the excutive wing (which was looking a little run down and was noisy since it is right off the main lobby...)

Would I go back? If I could be assured of getting the room I booked at the Dar villa then yes. However, frankly I am not sure I have any confidence that this would happen. I want to go back to Dubai with my mom in a few months and am just not sure I should give them my business again....

This is a beautiful hotel marred by shambolic service. I stayed here twice in one week - with a night in between at a hotel in the desert. First check-in we arrived off a flight from UK at around 9 pm to be told room would not be ready until 2 pm. Fair enough. We asked our bags to be sent to the room of some friends who had arrived the day before. Despite several phone calls and cajoling it took nearly two hours for the bags to be sent.. The next check-in was worse. Reckoning that we would not be able to get our room until 2 pm we delayed our departuere from the desert hotel and got to the Dar El M at 4 pm...to be told our rooms were not ready. Big argument. Six hopeless staff poring over a computer screen trying to work out what rooms were where. Eventually a more senior manager upgraded us and found us rooms immediately. I reckon there were dozens of rooms spare but the junior staff had no authority to upgrade. They simply couldn't think for themselves. The Jumeirah group make a big thing of staff smiling at the punters but perhaps they could do more to train them to think for themselves. Once in the room - rathe rheavy decor, distressed fake antique heavy brown furniture knocked up in India and made to look quite grand but really quite comfortable - all was fine. The butler service worked well and some nice complimentary Moet in the evening. We were Impressed that they did not produce some cheaper champagne nobody has heard of. Great Uzbekistani butler called Anton who should be made manager of the whole hotel. One of the few staff members who you felt was in control. Lovely pool, virtually to ourselves. Extremely clean and tidy. But beware the spa. Very expensive - £80+ massages - and not awfully good. Restaurants also hideously expensive. Expect London prices and the rest. Avoid the Italian restaurant. The Thai isn't too bad but don't expect a culinary wow.

I stayed at this hotel on a work trip for 6 nights. Our group took up several villas at Dar Al Masyaf and everyone was most impressed with everything! All the rooms are large with huge bathrooms. The butlers at our villa were extremely helpful and pleasant. We loved the 'happy hour' every afternoon at our villa.
The decor, facilities, and service at Dar Al Masyaf were outstanding!
The Madinat Jumeirah is a complex of 3 hotels (including the Dar Al Masyaf villas) on the same property as the Burj. I thought it was all a sort of an Arabian Disneyworld. All the staff wore traditional Arabian outfits. We took gondola rides from our villa to the restaurants and shopping area every day. Everyone we encountered was extremely friendly and helpful. The beach on the property is very pleasant with lovely cabanas. The whole property is definitely an experience! It has a large variety of restaurants ( I dined at fast food type places and 5 star restaurants there) and shops. It also has one of the best nightclubs in Dubai-Trilogy.

After 2 nights at the Burj (WOW!!), I wasn't sure what to expect. A short car ride from the Burj meant we were checking in at midday, a little too early for our room to be ready.

We were greeted with a wet towel and some juice. My mobile number was taken so that we could feel free to wonder around the hotel and they would call me when my room was ready - fair enough, we were 3 hours early. However just then a man came over to say our room was in fact ready now. I enquired was this to be on the 1st floor with balcony overlooking waterway as I had requested by e-mail 2 weeks before arrival. He advised it wasn't and would check if any were available. There was but not until tomorrow, so for one night we were in villa 18, ground floor.

I was a bit dissapointed after the Burj I guess, but the short buggy ride to our villa with a smiley welcome soon put my mind at rest. As alreay said these villas are dotted around this mighty morroccan archtiectural style hotel consisting of 2 gargantuan sister hotels, surrounded by a network of canals and waterways, complimented by our villas, either overlooking gardens/pools or water ways/canals (hence Little Venice as I heard one of the Abra [canal boat] drivers remark on one of his tours). For extra money you could have a villa overlooking the ocean. There are pro's for this - slightly larger I believe and often a garden area before the sand to lounge on with recliners and of course your part private pool). Normally this would be my preferred option, but having just come from an ocean view room, and always usually takeing them, I thought the canal water view room to be a more relaxing and superior option, and I was not wrong. Each of the 3 or 4 villa blocks had a shared swimming pool for private use. I never saw more than 4 people at any one time, and we used it a couple of times to/from a Mall trip or after a Souk afternoon (this is the huge market, Dubai style, that takes up about 1/3 of the complex,compromising of many stalls, shops and restaurants and a theatre. Public can visit this as well as hotel guest, and to get back on the complex you are required to show your key [ as sometimes to get on the Abra's as these are only free for resort guests]). The pool was always manned by a life guard and usually a towel/drink man, between 9.30 and 6pm, often a lonely existence!

Our room was large, with a seating area, desk, mini-bar an King bed and triple wardrobe and safe/ Bathroom was equally large with double sink, deep plunge bath and shower, with plenty of space, dressing gowns and slippers.

The courtyard was the gathering place between 6-8pm for our villa since this was Happy Hour, where we were encouraged to pour drinks from fine wine and champagne, to beer and spirits and soft drinks. There were also a small selection of nibbles/nuts. I rarely saw other guests there apart from 2 out of our 6 nights here. One night we took our drinks to the room, sitting on our balcony, watching the world, and Abra's go by - very civilised! The villa holds around 8 rooms, and we rarely saw others. The 2 man concierge/butler service was good although we had inimal nneds except booking restaurants which was fine, and if you wanted they would arrange for an Abra or buggy from hte very local pick up points dotted around the grounds - within 60 seconds someone would be there to pick you up.

The next day, after a hard days toil at the beautiful sandy beach and (cool) blue sea we went back to our villa to find we had moved to 12, upstairs. Indeed I was delighted!! A larger corner room with a more spacious bedroom and lovely balcony with a table and 4 chairs, right on a canal way, opposite the Spa. Very happy, Happy hour was indeed that!!

We had a choice of 3 retaurants for breakfast, our favourite being the furthest one away (5 minutes by Abra), with a better atmopshere and a larger selection of foods, although all very similar (porridge, cereals, baked beans UK style! A pork station [good for a muslim country, for bacon, sausages etc], fruit, Japanese, Indian and Dubai selections and much more) - our least favourite (but still very good) was the beach restaurant - too crowded and a bird did its mess on our table, so that helped! MJ's the steak restaurant was our favourite dinner restaurant, going there twice, with a good choice of food, steaks and wine and pre dinner bread and nibbles. The fine dining Italian was good and we tried a couple of buffets and ate out once down town as part of a tour in a revolving restaurant in a hotel.

The beach was lovely as said and very large, fully equiped with the ubiquitous life guards. We could eat on the beach if we liked and had offered fruit on a stick and lollies. The pool was very warm and crowded/noisy, the largest in the middle east, with 10 life guards, again an overkill, but I guess never can be too safe!

Life was lazy here, boats and buggies taking us to wherever we fancied, sometimes a beautiful scenic route with points of interest pointed out. Service was second to none, always with smile. Views were marvellous of the sea and of course the Burj. The complex was a picture of beauty, from gardens to fountains to pools and canals - to be seen to be believed, and our room was fantastic, with a nightly turn down service and a few surprises there in! Happy Hour was great which helped as I said to watch the world go by at a very respectable and enjoyable pace - we will be back!!