Jumeirah Beach Hotel — Attraction in Dubai

A Nightmare Stay at Jumeirah Beach Hotel – Safety Issues, Poor Service, and Outrageous Compensation

What was supposed to be a luxurious and memorable stay at Jumeirah Beach Hotel turned into a complete disaster. From safety hazards to flooding, late-night room changes, missed meals, excessive noise, and an insulting compensation offer, this hotel failed on every level. We paid 60 000 AED for this trip, only to be treated with dismissiveness and a complete lack of accountability.

Fire Next to Wild Wadi – No Communication, No Reassurance

One of the most alarming aspects of our stay was the fire that broke out next to Wild Wadi, with thick black smoke filling the area. Naturally, we expected the hotel to inform guests about the situation and offer guidance for our safety. Instead, there was complete silence from management—no announcements, no explanations, and no reassurance. We had no idea whether we were in danger or not. This is a massive failure in guest safety—in an emergency, communication is critical, and Jumeirah Beach Hotel failed entirely.

Flooded Suite Upon Return – Late-Night Chaos with a Child

After spending the evening on a safari, we returned to our suite at 9 PM, only to find that the ceiling was leaking, and water had flooded the entire room. Our belongings were getting wet, the floor was drenched, and the room was completely unusable. When we reported the issue, instead of handling it quickly and efficiently, the hotel took hours to respond, and by the time we were finally given a new suite, it was 11 PM—an absolute nightmare considering we had our 6-year-old child with us.

We expected an upgrade or at least an equivalent-quality room, but instead, the new suite was worse than the one we had originally booked.

Worse Replacement Suite – Noise from Technical Closet and Construction Site

The room we were moved to had constant loud noise coming from a technical closet due to the air conditioning system. It was impossible to sleep peacefully because of the constant mechanical sounds. On top of that, a construction site was located right across from the hotel, creating additional noise early in the morning.

It felt like we were punished for their maintenance failures—instead of being given a better room for the inconvenience, we were given a far worse one with no regard for our comfort.

We Missed Our Prepaid Dinner – And They Charged Us for Room Service!

Because of the chaos of moving rooms, we missed the dinner we had already paid for. Since it was already past 11 PM, we had no choice but to order room service. Shockingly, rather than offering this as a gesture of goodwill, the hotel had the audacity to charge us for it! Imagine missing your meal due to the hotel’s failures, then being forced to pay extra for food because of their incompetence.

Ridiculous Compensation – And an Outrageous Offer to “Upgrade” for More Money

Given the serious issues we faced, we expected a fair and substantial compensation. Instead, the hotel insulted us with a mere 4,500 AED refund—less than 7% of our total stay cost (65,000 AED). That alone was outrageous, but what happened next was even worse.

Instead of genuinely making up for their failures, they had the nerve to offer us an upgrade to the Al Bahar Villas—if we paid an additional 5,000 EUR! Yes, you read that correctly—they expected us to pay more for an upgrade after they had already ruined our experience.

This response was beyond unacceptable. It felt like they were trying to profit off their own negligence rather than taking responsibility for their clear failures. Their hotel is old, their technical inspections were clearly not done properly, and instead of admitting fault, they tried to make us pay even more money.

If you are considering staying at Jumeirah Beach Hotel, think twice. The poor safety measures, aging facilities, dismissive service, and outrageous handling of guest issues make it not worth the price. Our stay turned into a nightmare, and the hotel did nothing to make it right!...

I have been staying at Jumeirah hotels for more than twenty years both in Dubai and in Europe. My favourite has always been Jumeirah Beach Hotel where I have been on numerous occasions and the Burj al Arab which I have visited on several occasions. The Jumeirah experience was all about service and exclusivity and for this, I was prepared to pay a premium.

I have recently visited the Jumeirah Beach Hotel once again and have to say that the hotel has gone badly backwards. Something has changed, either in terms of the Group Values or the local management. I will summarise my experience.

Arrival – George was brilliant and showed us in to reception where we were kept waiting for ten minutes. There are several check in desks but only two people manning. We arrived in the morning and on every single occasion that we have been before we were able to check in early as regular customers – not this time and the room was eventually ready at 14.45.

Service – Wherever we went around the resort the service was poor. On every morning we were forced to queue for breakfast, the longest delay being 15 minutes. Once into breakfast, drinks were rarely served in time, plates were never collected off tables, there were big queues for eggs etc etc. Service in the evening in restaurants was poor and when we complained, we were told that the staff were busy!

Friendliness – The staff used to remember the guests and were always quick to assist, aside from Kabir in breakfast, no one made any attempt to speak to us. The manager in the Dhow and Anchor welcomed me on the first night, like me he is from the UK and we spoke about his home town and yet on the two subsequent occasions he ignored me. The welcome man with the glasses at the Premium Leisure pool asked me on seven consecutive occasions my name and room number and when I made a comment about this, he was rude to me.

Premium Leisure – This part of the Jumeirah Beach Hotel was always worth while paying extra for, Earl and then Santos used to remember the guests and walk round during the day offering assistance, this year nothing but a group of men, disinterested in offering personalised service. It is a pity that they weren’t as attentive as the third party water sports man who was relentless in a very irritating fashion to sell us things. We have children and previously for afternoon tea or early evening canapes there was something for children – this year chicken nuggets and chips on every single day .. this isn’t acceptable.

Room Service – whilst there we had to ask for extra shower gel and shampoo, water and towels .. these should be in plentiful supply surely given the prices that we are paying.

Facilities - The exterior of the hotel to the rear is tired and in need of attention. The two large pools need refurbishment as do the surrounding sun lounger areas, so tatty – they haven’t changed in over 20 years and this is very apparent. Venture to the Wild Wadi and it is even worse – this needs to be closed as was planned I understand – it has reached the end of its serviceable life. The majority of the shops internally are closed and shuttered off – this sums up the hotel. Then there is the massive building project for the new hotels which dominates the skyline.

Guests – One of the huge differences between this visit and previous ones is the number of Russian guests who evidently are flocking to Dubai as one of the few countries that they are still able to visit. Maybe the hotel should rebrand itself the Russian Beach Hotel. This may explain why the customer service has slipped so badly, evidently the Russians are not so bothered.

So in summary, this is the end of an era, after 20 years plus I am going to end my allegiance to the Jumeriah Group – there are so many better alternatives, particularly in Dubai and in the majority of these the prices are significantly lower, with a better customer experience. I would recommend anyone looking at the Jumeirah hotels to find somewhere else – the fabulous...

A family holiday which we will never forget. It was amazing from start to finish, however there a few things which do need addressing to make it a full 5 star holiday.||We stayed at the Atlantis hotel last year so as you would imagine we were constantly comparing the two.||1. Upon arrival to the hotel at 2am, we found our room (for 2 adults and 2 children) only had the queen bed made up. The two children's fold down beds were not made up so had to go down to reception (as they didn't answer the phone) to get housekeeping to make them up). It took a short while for them to come and do the beds which meant the kids didn't get to bed until gone 3am. Not ideal and defiantly not what we expected.||2. On our first night as the restaurant was closed, on check in we were advised we had a 400 Dirham room service allowance for the night to spend on anything except alcohol. I thought this was a very good idea & offer to people getting in late.||3. The pools within the hotel. This for me is one of the main issues with the hotel. There are numerous tiles missing within the pools. The fence around the kids splash area is rotten. The soft flooring within the kids splash area is coming up in lots of places. It needs a refurb very very soon before someone gets hurt. Other than that the pools are lovely and cool, even in August! The life guards are a bit OTT, not letting kids jump in pools, go down sides other than sat straight upright etc. ||4. Staff. They are amazing! every single one is polite, helpful and just wants to make your stay as good as they can. The cleaning staff for the rooms are amazing.||5. Food. If you are a foodie, do JBH. The restaurants you get to try on half board are amazing. Bastion is amazing however so is the British pub within JBH. I wasn't a huge fan of Kitchen (the Buffet). They have a different theme night each night but really it is the same each night other than about 3 dishes. The 'BBQ Extravagance' was the same as the previous night other than BBQ ribs, BBQ chicken and another dish. ||6. Wild Waddy. My biggest gripe with the whole holiday was Wild Waddy. Why hotel guests have to 'check in' each visit is beyond me. Why when you check into JBH or Al Qasr or which ever Jumeirah hotel you stay in, you can't get given bands to scan as you come and go is crazy. Each morning or afternoon or whenever you go you have to stand in a que to stay you are stopping in JBH room 1124 or whatever is crazy. Then once you do get your bands, and you decide to get a drink or food within Wild Waddy, scanning the bands is way to simple, they have to check with the database that the room they have scanned the wrist band on is in fact allocated to you. We went to buy some pool shoes for our child and no word of a lie it took over 20mins for the lady to confirm i was stopping in JBH as the internet was slow!! My wrist band when i checked in is allocated to my room, but this isnt good enough they have to check every transaction again with the hotel. Crazy and defiantly not 5 star!||7. Kids Club. Amazing and a big surprise as it wasnt really advertised. Our kids loved going in. Feed back off my eldest kid who is 11yrs old was that the Fifa game was outdated as it was Fifa 20. ||8. Other Guests. The vast majority of them were lovely and considerate. I find certain people are very inconsiderate to the staff and are not very polite to them. Also wer had a few occasions where people decided to sit on the end of our beds whilst dripping wet, which i found extremely rude. Also a number of times throughout the day they come around with ice lollies to help cool you down. Some people are so rude and surround the poor man getting the ice lolly prior to him making his way to there sun beds, like they have never had a ice lolly in there lives. ||9. Hotel. Beautiful, amazing views etc. In need of a bit of TLC / upgrade, particularly...