Smana Hotel Al Raffa — Hotel in Dubai

Before I start, I am British born and bred, so my review may be biased to the standard we have in the UK.

The hotel is terrible. Some staff were rude, unhelpful, and the music is unbearable.

Firstly - This is a dedicated club hotel with 3 function rooms and a rooftop function room and swimming pool. They have music til 3am some nights, and I could hear it clearly on the 4th floor! I couldn't sleep all night. I had to phone multiple times and ask for something to be done but I was told sorry but we can't do anything. I went downstairs in my pajamas at 2am to shout at the staff to turn the music off or I'll do it myself, as I had a busy day from 8am... I think they saw how furious I was and willing to go rip the speakers out that they turned it down. Still loud but managed to fall asleep. So be warned, this is a club hotel! If you wanna party you'll probably enjoy it. If you want sleep, don't book!!!!

The room - Beds are comfortable, and A/C was working well in my room. Plugs are all UK standard 3 pin plugs. One thing that struck me was that there was no iron and ironing board? I asked the staff and she just looked at me blankly as if why would I want one?! To iron my clothes as I was staying for 7 nights?! She said I would have to pay for the laundry to do it. Also, I couldn't believe there were no tea or coffee facility in the room! Every hotel I've ever stayed in, and even the really bad ones, all have tea and coffee facilities in the room, even simple kettle, tea/coffee, sugar and creamer. So don't expect an iron or tea in your room. Lastly and probably the worst thing. I found small flies in the bathroom. At first I thought this is a minor issue as it is a hot country and this is to be expected. But I turned my towel over and there were about 10 flies sitting on the towels. I checked the bath tub and found around 15 more. I called the staff only to be told they would clean it. I said there is clearly an issue if there are this many flies in the bathroom. They didn't take any advice and said they can't move me or anything, and said I'd have to deal with it... Ridiculous. I left the bathroom light on at night and closed the door to keep the flies in the bathroom. Also please bare in mind, there is a restriction on how many water bottles and towels/toiletries you can have a day. Only 2 sets a day. So you will have to buy water bottles from a shop or pay extortion in the hotel restaurant. And bring spare towels...

The good points - a few members of staff were very pleasant and helpful. Irfad was great with us when we arrived and was very friendly and welcoming. The travel guide Asif also helped us book some tours and trips at great prices, so definitely see him! The WiFi was actually pretty good. It did drop signal once or twice a day, but when it was on I was able to upload YouTube videos with ease and video call home with no issues. So I am giving an extra star for this.

Overall, take my advice into consideration and only book if it is a short stay and you don't mind anything I've highlighted above, especially...

That's all about "cheat", "threaten", and even "blackmail". Hope everyone would stay away from this gangster inn, and have a safe journey in Dubai! This is a definitely horrible experience. I have never been in that kind of tourist trap in my whole life.

As a legal and media practitioner, I can't stay on the sidelines. I have collected all relevant evidence and contacted my lawyer to make a case and report their behaviour to the Dubai governmental authority for the hospitality and commercial regulation.

The night shift staff named "Michael" (seems a Filipino man) and the manager named "Gopal" (Indian man with a set of brown suit) tried to charge me 100 AED extra (my room just cost 100 AED) for the extra one guest on 25th May, but actually my room has a king size bed and able to accommodate 2 persons. I asked them present the formal document to mention the rule about extra guest charge, but they refused. Then I checked their web page on Booking.com, their policy only mentioned about the 50AED charge for one extra bed, but actually I didn't request any extra bed.

Both of these two staffs are so rude to me, keeping shout me. The staff Michael threaten me that "if you don't pay, we will kick your girl out from the room immediately". That was a late night, I couldn't imagine a staff of hospitality treat his customer like this. At 26th May night, I tried to talk with the manager Gopal again about this "illegal" 100 AED charge. two aggressive looking men（Gopal's subordinates ）stood close to me and almost start to threaten and push me.

BTW, the hotel room is extremely dirty and lack of maintenance. Cockroach everywhere. And they only provide two bottles of water per day, just want to make money from the guest from everywhere. There is a nightclub open everyday from the evening to the early morning. Obviously their hotel room is not soundproof, the guest is disturbed by the loud noise all the time. Not worth for the money at all! You can easily find many hotels with good facility and...

I am here now, first night, horrendous.||I am disgusted with the 'hotel' and the staff don't seem to care. ||I rarely complain about anything, however, I am currently sleep deprived and very frustrated.||I had to wait for a room, I arrived at 4 PM, when I got the room I had to request a key, I was given 1st floor, I am normally a light sleeper and would have preferred a higher floor, but OK, I booked 4 weeks ago and expressed my preferences.||I have a view of a brick wall. my window doesn't lock.||The swimming pool, well it is very small, gym OK one or two machines with signs saying broken.||At 10 PM their night club blasting out Indian night club music, and I mean blasting started and is open until 3 AM, every night of the week, it is on my floor and has no sound insulation, at all.|| I was not informed of this, I can not sleep and I am feeling very angry and frustrated, I have twice requested another room, they will try and give me one tomorrow, on the 4th floor, the noise of this night club.. we will see, I initially booked in for 15 nights, I paid for 2 nights sensing things were not going to go well||There is also NO hot water, just a little warm||They will have to do something amazing to get me to stay any longer than...