Residences and stays

The addresses we would choose, and the rooms within them.

A short list rather than a directory: the quiet island, the sail, the palace, the fort in the desert. A hotel is chosen for what the stay asks of it, a private villa for what a hotel cannot give, and everything about the arrival is settled before you land.

How a place is chosen

The questions asked before a name is proposed.

What the stay is for: Rest after a long flight, a base for meetings, somewhere a family can spread out for a fortnight: each asks for something different, and the answer governs everything that follows.
Where it sits: Dubai is wide, and at the wrong hour a drive across it is long. The hotel is chosen with the days in mind: near the water, near the meetings, or out in the desert.
How the rooms fall: Connecting rooms for children, a room near the family for a nanny or an assistant, a suite that can receive guests, a ground floor for someone who would rather avoid stairs.
How private it is: Whether there is a separate entrance, how visible an arrival is, and how many other guests share the beach, the pool and the dining room.

Hotels

A short list, and why each is on it.

Each of these is booked directly or through licensed suppliers, in the category of room you have approved. Preferences go ahead and are confirmed back before you arrive, and an early arrival or a late departure is requested when the room is booked, not at the desk.

Jumeirah Bay at dusk, with Downtown across the water

Jumeirah Bay Island

Bulgari Resort Dubai

A small resort on a private island, reached by a single bridge.

On Jumeirah Bay, close enough to Downtown to see it across the water and far enough not to hear it. Villas with their own gardens and pools; the choice for a stay that should be quiet.

Enquire about Bulgari Resort Dubai

A plunge pool under palms; not the resort itself

Palm West Beach from the air, where the resort stands

Palm Jumeirah, west crescent

One&Only The Palm

Low-rise and beach-facing, on the west crescent of the Palm.

Fewer than a hundred rooms, a private beach, and gardens laid around courtyards. The choice for a stay spent mostly at the hotel.

Enquire about One&Only The Palm

The Burj Al Arab across the Madinat Jumeirah waterways

Umm Suqeim, on its own island

Burj Al Arab Jumeirah

An all-suite hotel on its own island off Umm Suqeim.

Every suite is on two floors, and butler service is part of the stay. Guests are driven across the private bridge and met at the door.

Enquire about Burj Al Arab Jumeirah

The Burj Khalifa, whose lower floors the hotel occupies

Burj Khalifa, Downtown

Armani Hotel Dubai

The hotel inside the Burj Khalifa.

Designed by Giorgio Armani, on the tower’s lower floors, with Downtown and the fountain at its door. The choice when the days are spent in the city.

Enquire about Armani Hotel Dubai

The Abu Dhabi waterfront at dusk, with Emirates Palace and Etihad Towers

Etihad Towers at sunset, from the plaza opposite

Abu Dhabi Corniche, west end

Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental

A palace on the Abu Dhabi Corniche, with a private beach.

Run by Mandarin Oriental; the Grand Mosque is about twenty minutes away and the Louvre about fifteen. The natural base for a stay in Abu Dhabi.

Enquire about Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental

Abu Dhabi’s islands from the air at sunset

A garden pool with loungers; not the resort itself

Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort

A beach resort on Saadiyat, about ten minutes from the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

On a protected stretch of sand where hawksbill turtles nest, within reach of the museum quarter.

Enquire about The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort

Desert dunes at dusk; not the resort itself

Ghaf trees on the dunes under a starry sky

Dubai desert, Al Marmoom

Bab Al Shams Desert Resort

A low desert fort in the Al Marmoom reserve, about forty-five minutes from the city.

No skyline, and little light after dark. One or two nights here change the shape of a longer stay.

Enquire about Bab Al Shams Desert Resort

Private villas and residences

A house, and everything that makes it work.

A private villa suits a family that wants its own table and its own hours, or a party too large for one floor of a hotel. Villas are arranged through holiday-home operators licensed in Dubai, or through the owner’s managers, and the proposal says which.

Before a villa is proposed, we establish what a photograph cannot show: who manages it and how they are reached, what staff it has and what they do, whether a cook can be engaged, how the arrival and the keys are handled, and what is and is not included. All of it is set out in writing, so that nothing is discovered on the first evening.

Longer stays

A winter rather than a week.

For a stay measured in weeks, the arrangements extend accordingly: a residence with room to live in rather than merely to visit, housekeeping on the pattern you prefer, a car and chauffeur on a retainer for the period, and the domestic details that make a borrowed house work as your own.

What helps us propose

What to tell us.

The party: Adults and children, with ages, and anyone travelling with you in a working capacity.
The dates: Or the window within which they fall, and how firm it is.
The rooms: How you would like them arranged, and anything that must be avoided.
The character: A hotel or a villa; the beach, the city or the desert; places you have liked, and places you have not.

Tell us the dates, and who is coming.

The concierge secures the rooms and everything around them, and confirms each part in writing.

Write to the concierge