Review: Crowne Plaza, Dubai Festival City

Cross Dubai's Business Bay or Garhoud bridges, look away from the city and, dominating the skyline by the city's Creek, you will see the shining new Crowne Plaza and InterContinental hotels.

The flagship hospitality developments of Dubai Festival City are prepared to cater for every taste.

A lot of planning has gone into their development, and it shows.

For the business traveller, the hotels can truthfully be described as being only a ten minute drive from Dubai's international airport. This already gives them a huge head start on their competition, the vast majority of whom are stuck on the far side of the city's traffic congestion hubs.

The added beauty of the location is that, as yet, Festival City is relatively car-free, meaning that you can find yourself checking in to your room a mere 20 minutes after passing through customs.

The second advantage for the seasoned business traveller is the tranquility of the setting. On pulling up to the sweeping front entrance the absence of construction noises so prevalent in the rest of town left us feeling a little disorientated. The hotel is also situated on the banks of the widest part of the city's Creek, a particularly soothing backdrop after a hard day's work.

Luxury feel

The Crowne Plaza has a total of 316 rooms, 16 suites and two presidential suites. The reason for this ratio is simple, the hotel brands itself as a business destination. For those seeking more of a 'holiday' feel to their stay, IHG provides the InterCon next door.

AME Info was lucky enough to stay in one of the suites, and while the business amenities were all there, it is certainly targeted at the top end of the market. The rooms are spacious and well laid out, decorated in light colours that are accentuated by the enormous windows.

The finishing throughout is of a very high quality, which is immediately noticeable, with no expense having been spared on the interior decorating and design. The bathroom is particularly interesting, as it is fronted by a full length window which faces out onto the bedroom (those of a shy disposition can lower the automatic blinds to ensure complete privacy).

All rooms have access to high speed internet connections, via plug in at the moment although wireless may soon be available throughout the building rather than just in the public areas.

There is also a business centre, complete with a small meeting room and a range of workstations complete with computers, faxes and printers.

Hotel facilities

The Crowne Plaza and InterCon are linked by an internal corridor, and between the two hotels are the complex's conference facilities.

The 'Events Centre' boasts 3,800sqm of conference space, spread across two levels. The space can be also be sub-divided into eight meeting rooms for anything from board meetings to a lavish evening receptions. The conference areas are capable of holding up to 1,360 guests.

The advantage of the mixed-use layout of the development is that all facilities are accessible to guests of either hotel, so despite staying at the Crowne Plaza we could make use of vast range of dining and entertainment outlets in the InterCon. In fact, the outdoor swimming pool areas blend into one another.

In terms of leisure pursuits the hotels are situated next door to the Dubai Festival City shopping complex and have their own entrance to the mall. The 18-hole Festival City golf course is also only a matter of minutes away.

The hotels also boast a range of bars and restaurants that are frequented by residents as well as hotel guests. In fact, despite only having been open a matter of months certain outlets, such as the Plaza's Belgian Beer Café, have become regular parts of the local social scene.

Overall the Crowne Plaza is a welcome addition to Dubai's hospitality scene. The location is excellent and the levels of service, customer care and facilities on offer are all at the top end of the spectrum. The staff are without fault very friendly and trained to a very high standard, which makes a big difference to a stay.

IHG have hit the right mix of luxury and functionality, with the provision of conference facilities in situ there is very little reason for business travellers to look elsewhere.