Dubai Airport Hotel for Stop Over

We will need to fly to the East from the UK for a cruise and are looking at Emirates flights which have a night time stop over in Dubai Airport of about 12 hours, so we can book into the airport hotel to have some quality sleep en route.

Has anyone done this and, if so, did it work well?

It looks like hold luggage will go straight through to the second flight, so we would not need to pick that up and the hotel we are looking at is airside, so we would not need to go through security or worry about visas.

We flew business class on Emirates from Orlando to Singapore via Dubai. Two night flights interrupted by a day in Dubai. Emirates provided a day room at an airport hotel for us and provided a brunch voucher good for several hotel restaurants. Our luggage was checked through to Singapore.

Emirates has an office in the airport where you tell them you need transportation to the hotel (taxi and hotel included in ticket price). The taxi takes you to a side entrance and wing set aside for passengers like us. You tell their desk when you want to be taken back to the airport. The desk also called us a taxi for the Dubai visit we had planned on our own.

The day room was a regular hotel room with the usual amenities. Although the hotel was close to the airport, it was separated by a multilane highway from the terminal. You cannot walk just over.

If you are talking about the Dubai International Hotel which is airside we stayed there this July. We could have had Emirates put us up in one of their hotels at no charge but for us the ability to get to a bed easily was worth the extra cost. Also not having to deal with checking in again in the morning.

The room was a good size and the bed comfortable. The buffet selection was minimal but if you travel Business Class you can use the excellent Business Lounge in Terminal 3 for a meal and drinks.

For a long layover during the night we would do this again. We have done the late at night get taken to hotel near the airport and we found it noisier and more inconvenient then the airside hotel. If we had longer and it included a lot more time during the day where we could do something in Dubai then we would take the normal Emirates hotel. Just my opinion.

If you do decide to take the airside hotel ask them about a meet and greet. We did and a lovely young woman was there as soon as we got of the plane to escort us to the hotel.

Julie

... and the hotel we are looking at is airside, so we would not need to go through security or worry about visas.

Thank you for those very useful replies.

We will be travelling economy, so will be paying for (and presumably also arranging) our own hotel. It is the airside Dubai International Hotel we are thinking about. We also think it easier to reduce any problems, even if we do need to go through security and the cost would be far less than an upgraded flight ticket.

Thanks for the tip about the meet and greet frantic36. We have read something about that somewhere as being useful to ensure you do not accidentally leave the airport, which is partly what we are concerned about. Do we ask the hotel to arrange the meet and greet?

Our flights are not available yet as the cruise is winter 2017/8, but the flight times we are looking at means being in Dubai roughly beyween midnight and midday, (using British time we would arrive about 9pm). So we hope to have about 8 hours in the hotel which will be great. We will be fed on the planes so should not need a big meal at that time but the comfortable bed will be very welcome.

Thanks again for the replies,

Barbara

I strongly suspect that you will need to clear security before reaching the hotel, not that that is a problem.

There was a security but it was very quick and easy. We only had our carryon bags as our other bags had been checked through to our final destination. My husband commentated it might have been easier because we had someone from the hotel with us.

Thank you for those very useful replies.

 

We will be travelling economy, so will be paying for (and presumably also arranging) our own hotel. It is the airside Dubai International Hotel we are thinking about. We also think it easier to reduce any problems, even if we do need to go through security and the cost would be far less than an upgraded flight ticket.

We have done an Emirates flight in economy twice and they included a hotel if your connecting flight has no other choice but a long layover. The first time we took one of their hotels and we found it noisy. The second time we opted to take the later flight in the day so we could have a quick look around Dubai, so we paid for our own hotel. You can get quite a decent hotel near the airport for a good price. Use the beige taxis for transport at a good price, just make sure the meter is running.

 

Thanks for the tip about the meet and greet frantic36. We have read something about that somewhere as being useful to ensure you do not accidentally leave the airport, which is partly what we are concerned about. Do we ask the hotel to arrange the meet and greet?

 

We did email the hotel direct after making our booking and they organised it for us.

 

Our flights are not available yet as the cruise is winter 2017/8, but the flight times we are looking at means being in Dubai roughly beyween midnight and midday, (using British time we would arrive about 9pm). So we hope to have about 8 hours in the hotel which will be great. We will be fed on the planes so should not need a big meal at that time but the comfortable bed will be very welcome.

 

There are lots of well priced places to eat in the Airport so you can definitely get breakfast if you don't want to eat in the hotel.

 

Thanks again for the replies,

 

Barbara

My replies in red.

If you do decide to take the Emirates transit hotel I would definitely recommend you don't wait and take the bus supplied. We decided to take a taxi rather then wait and we were so glad we did. We got there before the bus and checked into our room. I went down about 40 minutes later and the bus had just arrived and everyone was queued up waiting to check in. As this was around midnight everyone was exhausted and not happy.

Also even if you take the outside Emirates transit hotel have your checked bags tagged for your final destination and only take carry-on to the hotel. We made the mistake on our first time of opting to collect our bags. It just added to a long, late night and longer check in the next morning.

You probably already know this but sometimes I need to learn from my mistakes.:o

Julie

Thank you again for the extra info Julie.

The long layover is not the only option for us as we could book a later flight out of Manchester with a much shorter time in Dubai, (leaving in the evening rather than 1.30 pm), but we prefer the earlier flight and time for some quality sleep. If the airport hotel is quieter and quicker it has full marks from us.

Cheers,

Barbara