Montreal Naif Hotel — Hotel in Dubai

THE MOST RACIST TREATMENT I EVER GOT FROM A HOTEL!!!!!! DO NOT GO HERE UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE GARBAGE!!!!!!! Our story starts at the end of December 2016 when my boyfriend was supposed to travel to Dubai. He booked a single bed at Montreal Naif Hotel. A couple of days prior to departure, I was able to take off from work and join him as well, so we changed the reservation to a double bed. Once we reach Dubai, after a 24 hour trip, we get to the hotel and discover that we are not allowed to go into the room. THE REASON??!! The receptionist told us that inter-racial couples are NOT ALLOWED TO SLEEP IN THE SAME ROOM AND THEREFORE WE CANNOT GO UPSTAIRS. I want to mention that my boyfriend and I both live in Canada. The receptionist said that it doesn't matter where we live because they could get fined by the police for allowing inter-racial couples sleep in the same room. They said that it's against the law in Dubai for inter-racial couples to sleep together. We calmly explained that we are able to pay extra to get the room and we were still denied. At which I asked the receptionist what should we do? Should we go sleep on the streets? To which he simply gave us a shoulder shrug. I need to mention that this was close to New Years in Dubai and that all hotels were completely booked. Eventually, they started blaming agoda.com, the website through which we booked the room. After being on the phone with Agoda for hours, the customer service representative said that such law forbidding inter-racial couples to share a room seems absurd and that they are willing to speak to the hotel manager to clarify the situation on our behalf. Of course, the hotel manager was nowhere to be found for hours. We spent a total of 6 hours in the hotel lobby trying to persuade the receptionist to allow us to enter the room. I'm going to mention again that our trip to Dubai was 24 hours on planes, so we were exhausted. We tried to go up in the room to at least freshen up and leave our luggage in a safe spot and we got called on the phone IMMEDIATELY to come downstairs. At this point, it felt like harassment and racial discrimination. Eventually, after many long hours and back and forth conversations they allowed us to access our room for an extra cost. They eventually denied all racial discrimination and said that they only wanted us to pay extra and let them know ahead of time. This experience made my boyfriend and I want to NEVER GO BACK TO DUBAI BECAUSE OF THE RACISM AND HORRENDOUS WAY TO TREAT TOURISTS!!! DO NOT GO TO...

I know it's one of the cheapest reasonably located hotels in Dubai, so we did not expect much. We knew we would arrive around 1:30 am and leave around 8:00 am, so it would have been pointless to go for anything better, but...||The address of the hotel is more anecdotal than precise so the taxi driver had to call the hotel 3 times then finally ask some bypassers in the street to find it. Upon arrival our passports were detained until the morning, which I know is a common practice in some hotels, but still that's the last thing you would like in the beginning of a country-hopping vacation. We then were shown to our room to which (much to our surprise), we did not get any key. The security guy (also functioning as bell boy) put a piece of massage leaflet into the wall mounted card holder (instead of the key card) to ensure we have electricity in the room at least and explained that the hotel was full (not as if this should have anything to do with card keys).||In the bathroom there was 1 single towel for the 2 of us, which was complemented by the horrible state of the tiling (see the photo attached).||At last we got to bed which was probably designed for children as the width and the length was anything but comfortable for two not very tall adults. After swiping off the disgusting body hairs of someone else from the bed sheet, we finally drifted into sleep when the fire alarm went off at 2:15am. After the sharp noise of about 2 minutes, all the other noises constantly coming from the corridors and other rooms throughout the night seemed fade...||We hardly could wait to leave the premises in the morning, skipping after shower hair drying as the installed hair dryer had a huge black hair on its handle which we did not fancy touching at all.||I have been to over 100 hotels around the world, but I am certain that this one would be one of my worst...

Room and furniture were comfortable, though some small signs of neglect (cracked tile in bathroom, chipped wardrobe, missing a shelf). There was a bath as well as shower. There was free wifi, but the advertised tea/coffee making facilities were conspicuous from their absense in the room. Not enough of a problem for us to complain about as it was only a 2 day stopover and we were out most of the day, but I am sure that the staff who were extremely helpful would have put it right if we informed them. They also have a sauna facility though again with our busy schedule did not get a chance to try it out. The breakfast was more than adequate and they also have a larger restaurant for those who want the convenience. 10 minutes walk to the metro, or if using the bus it is barely any walking time, very near the Naif police station which is easy for bus drivers to know where to let you off. Recommended if you are...