Grand Central Hotel

There was hair in the bathtub. The carpet smelled of urine. The tea kettle did not work. There was no alarm clock, no clock period. The ceiling over the bathtub had water running from it. Like the tub over it was leaking. The staff was nice enough, but delayed my checking in by demanding a print out of my confirmation. I gave them the confirmation number I had wrote down but they insisted they wanted to see it on official email or a print out of some sort. WHO has a printer on an airplane? In a taxi? While en route to the hotel you booked? I told them if they wanted one they needed to give me access to a computer, they did so but made me feel as if they were doing me a favor and as if I was annoying them.

Off the current business track (it is in the old part of town, near the Creek) this hotel looks a bit disappointing at first glance; but actually the service is of a high level and the rooms are clean and well presented. It takes a while to get to downtown Dubai; which is a bit of a faff for a business traveller and honestly, I would try to stay more central to the current business district next time. But if I wanted somewhere cheap and cheerful to stay this would be it. The food leaves something to be desired: lots of burgers and chips. But this aside not a bad place to stay.