Ok, so not all of you were taken in by our April Fools joke (Mr & Mrs Smith’s bendy-bus boutique hotels in Dubai), but if it piqued your interest in the UAE’s shopping, dining and tourism capital, Dubai, then you might like to learn a bit more about a real hotel there: Desert Palm, a spoiling retreat in the city suburbs, based on the lavish private polo estate where the Cartier polo cup is contested each year.
The 2009 cup has just taken place, and drew a glamorous crowd, including Monica Belluci and Slumdog Millionaire star Anil Kapoor.
While we didn’t visit for these most chic of chukkas, I peeked into Desert Palm on a Middle East research trip last year, and Mr & Mrs Smith checked in to check it out in an anonymous guise a few weeks back, and, as ever, they’ve reported back on their stay in Dubai with the candour you’d expect from a bosom buddy.
Every time we publish an anonymously conducted hotel review by Mr & Mrs Smith, we’ll let you know here on the Smith Travel Blog, so you can keep pace with our global wanderings. We visit every property in our hand-picked hotel collection in person, just to check they’re still delivering on their promises and keeping us hungry for more.
So, to whet your appetite, here’s a wee eyeful of their stay at Desert Palm hotel:
Our Palm Suite is pleasingly masculine in style and free of frills: sleek dark woods contrast with creamy stone floors, which must feel particularly heavenly in summer, when the temperature regularly tops 50. The room is practical (plenty of desk space, plus free WiFi) and full of hi-tech gadgetry, but a tactile array of different fabrics, finishes and textures keeps it interesting. Plus there are plenty of goodies and extras for us to discover. The generously sized Ren products in the bathroom get the thumbs up from me, and my tea-crazy Mr Smith is bamboozled by the array of exotic designer infusions on offer – he eventually proclaims Fruit Passion and Happy Forest his favourites. We discover a pair of binoculars next to the wall of windows that makes up one side of our room – they’d presumably come in handy when there’s a polo match on the field below. We use them to peruse Dubai’s iconic skyline, which is just visible in the distance.
As evening approaches, we descend for a drink on the terrace and then for a meal at Rare, Desert Palm’s fine-dining restaurant. The name gives away the carnivorous bent of the cuisine, but the friendly and helpful staff are entirely unfazed that one of us is vegetarian, and we both enjoy our meal immensely.
We awake to Dubai’s signature bright-blue skies and sunshine and wander down to breakfast, which is taken in the more casual Epicure restaurant beside the lovely infinity pool. As Mr Smith surpasses himself at breakfast – devouring smoothies, chocolate waffles, French toast with fresh strawberries and cream, and Desert Palm’s own home-made granola with berry compote – this turns out to be quite handy: I’m on my second application of factor 15 and approaching the halfway point of my book by the time my husband has finished eating…
Read the full Desert Palm hotel review live on the Mr & Mrs Smith hotel website…
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