Novotel Dubai Al Barsha — Hotel in Dubai

Overall Rating: {4/5}

My recent stay at the Novotel Dubai offered a mix of genuinely excellent services and areas that require significant improvement. While the hotel’s location and staff service are truly commendable, several operational aspects detracted from the overall comfort of the visit.

The Best of the Stay (Pros)

The highlights of the hotel experience primarily revolve around its exceptional service and prime location:

Excellent Reception and Staff: The front desk team was superb—professional, welcoming, and highly efficient. Their excellent customer service made check-in and any inquiries smooth and pleasant.

Special Mention for Basel (Reception): A special thank you must go to Basel from the reception team for his consistently fast response and dedicated support in trying to manage the numerous maintenance issues throughout my stay.

Excellent Location: The hotel’s positioning is ideal, offering fantastic connectivity and easy access to key areas of Dubai. This was a major advantage for getting around the city.

Excellent Security: The security measures felt robust and well-managed, providing a reassuring sense of safety throughout the property.

Fast and Many Elevators: Given the height and volume of the hotel, the speed and availability of the elevators were excellent, minimizing wait times and improving efficiency.

Nice View: The room offered a very pleasant view of the surrounding city skyline, which was a nice bonus and contributed to a great atmosphere.

Areas for Improvement (Cons)

Unfortunately, several fundamental issues impacted the quality of our stay:

Maintenance Issues and Repair Failures: During my 12-night stay in Room 1510, maintenance was a persistent and frustrating issue. The shower cabin door did not close properly, leading to significant water spillage onto the bathroom floor. Despite complaining multiple times and staff visiting twice for repairs, the door would return to its faulty state within 30 minutes. Furthermore, various loose fixtures and fittings in the bathroom required attention every two to three days, indicating a severe lack of quality control in room upkeep.

Subpar Housekeeping: The standard of daily housekeeping was inconsistent and often fell short of expected hotel quality. Specifically, the team repeatedly forgot to restock essential items every day, such as water bottles, fresh towels, shampoo, or shower gel, requiring repeated calls and follow-ups to rectify simple oversights.

Disappointing Breakfast Quality: The breakfast selection was underwhelming. Specifically, the components did not seem fresh, and the overall quality of the food offered did not meet the standard typically expected from a hotel in this category.

Conclusion

The Novotel Dubai stands out thanks to its incredible team—particularly at reception, with Basel being a notable example—and its unbeatable location. However, for future stays to be truly excellent, the management needs to focus immediate attention on improving core operational departments: boosting maintenance schedules, ensuring a higher standard of daily housekeeping, and significantly enhancing the freshness and quality of the breakfast offerings.

I hope these constructive points lead to positive changes, as the foundation for a great hotel experience is already there.

I would consider staying again, but only after confirmation that maintenance and housekeeping standards have been...

We previously stayed here in August 2024. While we did have some housekeeping issues we returned in July-August 2025 as the apartment is spacious and the location is handy with nearby restaurants and places to go.||||Unfortunately, our most recent stay at Novotel was extremely disappointing and we decided to never return again.||||We encountered ongoing, serious housekeeping and hygiene issues throughout our stay, which were raised multiple times directly with the hotel. Later, I escalated through both Accor and Expedia. Despite providing a detailed explanation and even video evidence, none of them bothered to view the material or take the complaint seriously. Instead, my case was repeatedly dismissed under irrelevant “cancellation policy” excuses – even though I wasn’t cancelling anything.||||The recurring problems included:||||- Towels not replaced properly almost every day – sometimes no hand towels, no bath towels, or no floor towel.||- Toilet rolls not replaced.||- Tissue boxes left empty unless we asked several times.||- Guest toilet hand wash not refilled for four days in a row.||- Shower gel in the main bathroom not refilled for four days in a row.||- Drinking water not restocked for 4 people after cleaning.||- Kitchen dishes sometimes left unwashed.||- Apartment often didn’t look tidy even after “cleaning” – with no fragrance of cleaning products used in the bathrooms.||||Both Novotel’s Head of Cleaning and Supervisor confirmed that rooms are supposed to be inspected after guests leave, but clearly this wasn’t happening. The first room we were given was so poor we had to move for hygiene reasons. The second room was only marginally better, though carpets remained dirty (photos attached).||||Novotel, Accor, and Expedia have all failed to provide a proper resolution, or even the basic courtesy of acknowledging the evidence submitted. The mishandling of this complaint reflects very poorly on guest care and accountability.||||Be aware that while the location and food options are convenient, the guest experience is extremely poor if you encounter any problems. Worse still, support from Novotel, Accor Group, and Expedia is worryingly lacking.||||We cannot recommend a stay here.||||Attached photos show the standard that Novotel thinks is acceptable for Dubai – and the first room we were given...

Extremely Disappointed – Hotel Aided Fraudulent Card Use to Recover Dues

I had a deeply upsetting and unprofessional experience with Novotel Al Barsha on 15 March that raises serious questions about their ethics and operational practices.

That day, I lost my credit card without realizing it until I received a suspicious AED 15 transaction alert from Dubai Taxi. Upon checking my wallet and confirming my card was missing, I immediately blocked the card. But shockingly, just moments later, I received another alert — this time from Novotel Al Barsha, showing a charge made at the hotel.

I called the hotel right away and requested them not to accept the transaction, informing them the card was stolen. Despite my clear instructions, the hotel processed the payment anyway.

I rushed to the hotel and discovered that the card was used by a guest from IBIS, who had an outstanding payment and whose bags were being held by the hotel until she cleared the dues. What’s even worse — the front office manager at Novotel helped the guest swipe my card, despite the name on the card not matching hers.

When the police arrived and asked the hotel for guest details, the staff refused, claiming the guest was from an old hotel that is now closed, and they do not have access to guest data. This is absurd and highly suspicious.

Here are the critical questions Novotel must answer:

Why was a card accepted when the name on the card didn’t match the guest?

If they had no customer data (as they claimed), how could they accept a payment on behalf of someone they supposedly had no record of?

Is it legal or ethical for a hotel to keep someone’s personal belongings (bags) hostage due to non-payment?

Can a guest stay at a hotel without valid ID but be allowed to make a payment using someone else’s stolen card?

Why was I denied CCTV footage when I was the victim, and the footage could help identify the fraud?

It’s clear that Novotel Al Barsha was only concerned about recovering their dues and had no regard for how the payment was made — even if it was through a stolen credit card. This is not only unprofessional but could be seen as...