We stayed for 4 nights in Feb 2015 in Movenpick Hotel Ibn-e-Battuta gate, a 5-star hotel located next to the theme shopping mall, Ibn e Battuta Mall and Ibn-e-Battuta Gate. Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZA) is just 5 mins drive away from this Hotel. Movenpick is connected to the city through Metro and Bus network and its easy to find a taxi also as its near to the mall. But since the hotel is on the other side of the city, it will take sometime to reach to the destinations of interest.
We found the staff polite, kind and helpful throughout our stay and during check-in and check-out.
This Post Contains
Check-in Process:
When we reached the hotel (around 1 pm), we were told that our hotel room is not ready 🙁 The guy at the reception first took us to Majlis (their coffee shop) to have some coffee till the room is prepared.
After spending sometime at Majlis and enjoying the cappuccino, we returned to the reception and asked about our room and the guy there told us its still not ready and asked us to wait. We waited for another half an hour and approached reception again. This time he said the same and ask us to have a complementary Hi-tea at the Executive Lounge, situated on the 9th floor. This lounge is a private venue for the guys staying in the Executive rooms or suites.
There was good selection to choose from.
Executive Lounge has a very nice sitting area, which will make you relax in a superb environment. The sofas were very comfortable and everything made you feel like Executive.
We thank the hotel to be kind enough to take us to Majlis and Executive Lounge but at the cost of 4 hours that we have missed in Dubai. We missed the kite festival due to delay, which was on our agenda for that evening 🙁
The Hotel Room:
After spending some time in the Executive Lounge, we checked for our room and finally it was ready 🙂
Lets have a look at our hotel room:
The room was clean and beautiful but a bit small. The room didn’t have any place to hide our luggage bags and we had a clear view of these bags during our visit, which made the room look untidy and disorganized.
There was no sofa and table to sit and relax and have a cup of tea or coffee.
We asked the hotel to remove all Alcoholic drinks from the mini bar.
The Bathroom:
Bathroom was clean but small.
The rain forest shower was good.
The bath tube can be seen from the room via a window.
City View or the Power station View?
One of the reasons we were given for the delay in room availability was that we have opted for the city / mall view room. The hotel has two views, one with Ibn-e-Battuta Mall or city view and the other one with Power generating station and High Voltage Transmission line views. Which one would you prefer? We would recommend room with city / mall view.
Here’s the mall view from our room window.
Wedding Anniversary Arrangement:
The second reason we were given for delay in room handover was that I had asked the hotel to make some arrangements to surprise my wife on the wedding anniversary. However, when we entered the room after 4 hours of waiting, there was no special arrangement made and the surprise was ruined.
I called the Guest Relations staff that despite wait and prior commitment, the special arrangement is not made. She asked me to let her know before leaving the room and when we will comeback, the special arrangements would be ready. I informed her before leaving and when we come back to the hotel, the arrangements were made, FINALLY !
The yummy cake was provided and on the plate “Happy Anniversary” was mentioned.
The bed was decorated with rose petals spread all across the bed. On the center of the bed, the rose petals were arranged in heart-shaped, making it look very romantic.
On the right side of the bed, a rose was placed.
Rose Petals were also decorated in the bathroom, making it look pretty nice and romantic.
Also they put a greeting card for us, which was not typed. It was hand written and wishing us wedding anniversary. This was really nice to see as someone has written it for us, not just print it.
This arrangement finally made us happy. The rest of the stay at the hotel was pleasant. We thank Movenpick hotel for making this arrangement (and it was all complementary).
Book Movenpick Hotel Ibn-e-Battuta Gate for romantic wedding anniversary by clicking here
The Lobby of the Hotel:
The Lobby was beautifully decorated in Moroccan theme. The roof had pretty chandeliers giving a very good look.
Breakfast:
Breakfast was served in the ground floor restaurant. There were many items to choose from. This tasty and highly diversified buffet breakfast was included in our room rates.
If you just want to have a look of all the items on the buffet breakfast, you have to spend some minutes and a small walk in the restaurant 🙂
Here’s a look of most of the items:
Chocolate Hour:
There was a hour every day for free chocolates in evening. The Swiss chocolates were arranged in pretty jars and plates for the hotel guests to choose from. Wow, that was really nice.
The Pool:
The roof top pool was large and clean. I like the pool personally as this is not a usual pool with 100 percent exposure to the sun. The pool is located in such a way that it gets shade through the remaining floors of the hotel, thus provide some shaded space on the pool for those who don’t want to swim under direct sun. Like me 🙂
Oceana Beach on the Palm:
This hotel is not located on the beach front. This deficiency is addressed by providing the in-house guest access to the Oceana Beach, which is located on the man-made Palm Island. The hotel offers complementary shuttle service to and from Oceana Beach several times a day. We didn’t use this facility and could not give our feedback. So check before you go.
Check-out:
The hotel allowed us to stay 2 hours more after the usual checkout time of 12pm. They are offering many people late check out. This made us realize that due to late check out, the hotel needs some time to prepare the room. So will result in 3 to 4 hours delay when you come for check-in and the person staying in your room is availing a late check out 🙂
Book Movenpick Hotel Ibn-e-Battuta Gate by clicking here