Waldorf Astoria Dubai Palm Jumeirah

This was our seventh stay at the Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah. We have thoroughly enjoyed all of stay and this time was no exception. The staff is absolutely fantastic and we highly recommend the car service for airport transfers. We always book a Pearl Club room as for us this enhances the stay. Evelyn always makes the club experience so wonderful and we were so happy to visit with Mercy, both at Peacock Alley and at the club lounge. The staff at Pearl Club is amazing and we especially want to thank not only Evelyn, but also Eshan, Shiena, Mukul, May, Goverdan, and Faith. Such nice people who have become our friends. The house keeping is equally splendid and we want to share our appreciation for Buddhi for doing such a superb job each day. We so much enjoy the Sapphire Jasmine tea at Peacock that we wanted to order some from Avantcha tea company. We had mentioned this to Sophie and she shared with us how to do so. Well being in our 60’s we did not succeed placing the online order. When we saw Sophie the next day she inquired whether we ordered the tea. We confessed we struggled with the technology and didn’t complete the order. So she immediately assisted us in making the order. So kind and thoughtful. The tea was delivered to our room the next day. We also want to thank the excellent valets. I regret that I don’t have their names. We had several deliveries and the valets assisted so wonderfully. There were several other things that helped us with, likewise so professional and always complete what we needed. We want to thank the excellent team (staff) who works so hard and joyfully to provide outstanding service. We are most grateful. Thank you for making our stay a great one. We will be back in July. Read less

Our first stay at the Waldorf. We holiday in Dubai and Abu Dhabi several times a year and we were disappointed with several aspects of the hotel given the great reviews ! Negatives 1) First room we were given faced a literal brick wall, we were shown three other rooms and ended up with a partial sea view room city facing over the electricity station which was noisy and one night they burnt a bonfire so we had to close the balcony doors 2) Children are not allowed in the Serafina bar at all. Instead it’s a stinky smoking room for the odd male visitor 3) Families are made to sit in the reception Peacock bar which is more like a cafe. No evening entertainment although they have a pianist during the day. No views due to palm trees. 4) The sunset 55 beach bar does not open until 4pm. They have happy hour 4-6 pm very limited and do not allow you to come off beach in beachwear and sit down. No board walk in between tables so if you want to sit in the only bar outside that has a view you have to be on the beach. 5) No air conditioning units outside at dinner or breakfast ( unusual for a hotel in UAE) 6) Half board does not include soft drinks or even water and water is £7 Buffet restaurant is repetitive and limited The other restaurants offer a 175 AED credit which doesn’t even cover a main meal. Daughter was only offered 85 credits despite paying full price as an adult in the hotel. 7) Decor in the hotel is dated, tables chipped, carpets ripped, paving broken. 8) Building work right next to hotel. No guidance of this on website when booking. Noise 9) Outside breakfast patio and seat cushions could do with a wash from bird poo. Positives 1) Beach is clean, fresh towels and complimentary water in ice bucket. 2) complimentary sunglasses cleaning, wet towel and feet spray 3) Bedrooms are large with sofa, large twin sink bathroom and walk in wardrobe 4) Housekeeping is very good- clean 5) Staff were attentive and polite Room service was good (45min) 6) Main pool and adult pool both ok. Could always find a bed but problem with people allocating (saving beds) 7) Free shuttle to Dubai Mall and Emirates We were a family of seven with three generations. Unfortunately we would not return to this hotel. Read less

This was our first family trip (2 adults and 2 children) to Dubai and first stay at a Waldorf Astoria hotel. It did not disappoint. Very classy hotel with modern and chic style and Middle Eastern touches / inspiration. We stayed in a Waldorf Suite which was on 3rd floor and overlooked the palm. Huge room with everything you need. Massive comfortable king size bed. Two roll in beds for the children in the lounge space. Easy to use and effective AC and TVs, lighting, storage etc. large balcony. Stunning white marble bathroom. The service throughout the hotel is fantastic from warm welcomes, service with a smile. You can tell the staff are well looked after and enjoy working at the hotel. Food in the main Mezzerie buffet restaurant is excellent for breakfast and dinner. The choices are vast, quality, tasty and fresh and the evening menu changes daily which is really nice. We dined there all but one night when we tried the Social Italian restaurant which was decent. The restaurant staff are both attentive and friendly. My only criticism of the main restaurant is there’s no ‘proper’ ice cream (just the whippy type) which is a real shame and was a missing favourite for our group as this is usually available at 5 star hotels. Also £14 for a beer is eye watering and drinks could not be brought into restaurant from the lounge (more below on this). We had access to the Pearl Club which I had read many positive things about but it didn’t really work for us which is a shame. Our first experience was them telling us they couldn’t seat our (extended) party of 6 for breakfast. So that was breakfast at the Pearl club off the menu. The afternoon tea session had a nice selection of snacks and complimentary soft drinks which was decent but served 3-5pm which is too late for a family lunch and also clashes with any afternoon plans, so we didn’t really use it. Complimentary drinks and snacks 5-8pm but no children allowed, again not good for us. They gave us a voucher for the Peacock Alley instead but this covered drinks only (no food which seemed unfair) and needed to be renewed daily which was inconvenient. My wife ended up paying for 2 rounds of expensive drinks which should have been complimentary due to a mix up with the vouchers. Overall, unless you drink a lot, and don’t mind late lunches, I’d say Pearl Club doesn’t suite families with young children. The club does not allow you to take any food or drink out or to your room which again is a strict and inconvenient policy in 2025. Our pre dinner drinks at Peacock alley were enjoyable with access to a range of cocktails, beers and wines. Service was attentive and friendly with a special mention to Sophie who was great and even remembered our orders from previous evenings. I tried the watersports centre on the beach and took a kayak out on the palm lagoon which was great fun. I did however cut my hand quite badly on a sharp clasp near the seat of the canoe, and also ripped my shorts on the same jagged bit of metal. I reported it to the watersports team but there was no apology or accident log book, which would be a good idea to stop this kind of thing happening in future. I felt a refund or offer of another commentary activity was in order under the circumstances but this did not materialise. My father in law lost his wallet in a taxi which is a story for another day. The hotel concierge helped him follow this up but he did feel that the hotel management should really have checked in with him on this. The swimming pool is great. Shallow hits for children, super clean, friendly attentive staff. Special mention to Borzo who is a great character and went the extra mile to make our stay extra special. Final notes are that there is currently a noisy construction site right next to the hotel. This didn’t bother us too much but was slightly annoying when trying to chill out around the pool or on the beach. Also there is a lack of any thing to do at the hotel after dinner. Some evening entertainment would be great. Overall I would stay at the hotel again as we really had a great time. I might however be tempted to explore other options closer to the city with a bit more going on. PROS: -Luxury vibes for good value -Friendly attended staff and excellent service -Pool and gym -Food CONS: -Strict policy /lack of flexibility with Pearl Club -Expensive Drinks -Accident/incident log/follow up -No evening entertainment -Distant location from city / attractions Read less