On my recent trip to the United Arab Emirates in May 2015 I decided to book all my stays at Hyatt properties. Although the global footprint of Hyatt is limited there are quiet a few Hyatt properties in the UAE. The latest Hyatt property in Dubai is the Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights. This huge hotel with 464 rooms (including 76 suites), was officially open for reservations as of March 2015, here is a detailed review.

Location

Currently Hyatt has six properties in Dubai, and 1 more upcoming; the unoffically announced Hyatt Dubai Palm, which will probably open as Park Hyatt which is expected to open it’s doors in 2016. Beside in Dubai Hyatt has two more properties in Abu Dhabi plus one upcoming; the Grand Hyatt Abu Dhabi near the Etihad towers on Corniche, expected opening early 2016.

All current six Hyatt properties in Dubai are located around the Creek area. This could be a disadvantage if you seek for a hotel which is more near to the new Dubai, such as the Marina or towards Jebel Ali. But it can be a good location for you if you need a place near the old Dubai or in close proximity to the Dubai International airport (DXB). From the new Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights hotel you could see the airport and the Park Hyatt Dubai on the other side of the creek. the Gran Hyatt Dubai is also very nearby. The nearest metro station to the hotel is the Dubai Health Care City station (Green line). This was about 8-10 minutes walk from the hotel, partly caused due to a large construction site across the hotel so you currently cannot walk straight to the Metrostation. In a straight line it would be max. 5 minutes.

During my stay I had no issues with noise from this construction side, but I was on the 33th floor so that may have helped as well. Near the hotel you will find a Dominos Pizza, a Starbucks and a Subway as well as some small restaurants. The rest of the area is more a business district, so nothing to do at night. The Wafi mall is also nearby, but I have not been there. Expect about 45 minutes travel by metro to reach the new Dubai area (Dubai Marina, Dubai mall).

Check-in

We came from the old (and pretty uninteresting) Hyatt Regency Dubai hotel in the Deira area. From there it was a taxi ride of 15 minutes to the new Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek Heights hotel. We arrived at the entrance already around 11.00 AM. Our luggage was taken from the taxi by the bellboy. We entered the enormous lounge and we found the central reception to be located a few stairs up on the left side at ground level across the Market24 restaurant.

We were greeted instantly and once it became clear that we had booked as Diamond members of Hyatt we were immediatly escorted to the 30th floor where the beautiful Regency Club Lounge is located.

Just outside the lounge is a dedicated check-in desk for the suites, clubrooms and Diamond members. We were informed that our room was not ready yet, so the very friendly assistant front office manager offered us a drink. After he also brought some chocolates he took care of the usual check-in paperwork. At that time also the front office manager was notified and he entered the Club Lounge. We had a brief conversation with him and he handed over his business card. He informed us that we were not offered the Regency Suite (which is normally granted in case of applying a Diamond Suite Upgrade), no we were granted an additonal upgrade to the Emiri suite. Wow!

Room

About 20 minutes after we arrived the room was ready and we headed to the 33th floor. Although the corridor was a bit dull, behind the roomdoor was a corner suite of 113m2 with a huge living room including a comfortable couch and a separate dining area.

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Furthermore the suite was equiped with a separate guest toilet, a bedroom with two single beds and a masterbedroom with a king bed. Each bedroom had a large separate bathroom. The masterbedroom also has a separate walk-in closet. A cool features of the Emiri suite was for example the entertainment system in each room with quick responding 55″ inch Sony LCD TV’s. But also the touchscreen lightning panels and the mirror tv in one of the bathrooms with 70 tv channels was nice to have. We also liked the free non alcoholic minibar including snacks and chocolates that was replenished every day. The suite does not have a balcony, but we did not missed it. Cleaning was done twice a day and the amount of clean towels was impressive. The Emiri suite in general was simply amazing!

Facilities

It’s a big hotel with 476 rooms. Only one of the two towers is used as hotel, the higher tower with the Hyatt sign contains freehold apartments that are for sale. One day I had a tour and visited some apartments in the other tower that were still on sale. I noticed that the interior of the apartments was more or less similar to the interior of the hotel rooms. The apartments can be rented for long term stays though the hotel. Both towers are connected on the ground level, however the freehold apartments have their own (small) pool and gym. From what I could see a lot of the apartments were not sold yet.

During the time we stayed in the hotel we only used special the high speed elevators that took us directly to the floors 30 and above. We had no waiting times, not sure if there were waitinglines for the other elevators. On the 34th and 35th floor their are two separate penthouses of 1,200m2 each. They cover the entire 34th and 35th floor. I have visited the penthouses during my stay upon invitation of the management, and they are enormous. I made some pictures, I can post them upon request in a separate blog.

Outside the hotel you will find a nice pool with a separate covered jacuzzi and a bar where they serve cold drinks, snacks, sandwiches and a few hot dishes. Prices were at a Hyatt level, but the quality was good. Service at the pool was perfect and the staff from the hotel spa offered cold towels once or twice during the day. That was highly appreciated with temperatures reaching 40 degrees celcius early May. The pool and poolarea can be a bit small if the hotel is fully booked, however that was not the case when we were there. Inside the hotel near the pool is a dressing room with showers, and on the other side a kidsclub with staff available from 10.00 am to 19.00 pm to entertain the kids. There is also a large gym. I used the gym a few times, and I never saw anyone there. The Technogym machines were from the latest generation and had all the cool features. We did not used the hotel Spa. They offer various treatments, and it really looked nice. But prices are steep around EUR 125 per hour, so at that level we were not interested. Wifi in the hotel was free, good and fast enough, both in the room and outside at the pooldeck.

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One night we had diner at the Sufra restaurant, the quality of the food was very good. They serve Middle Eastern specialities and kids eat free at this restaurant. We liked the interior!

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There is also Market24, which seems a combination of a take away shop and restaurant. It is open 24/7 and they serve mainly sandwiches, pizzas, soup, salads and burgers. One day we ordered something that was not on the cart, but that was no problem and they served the food within 10 minutes. Soon also a third restaurant will open, called LaTablita which will be serving Mexican food. We only had breakfast in the club lounge so we cannot comment on the breakfast served in the main restaurant each morning.

Club Lounge

On the 30th floor is a large Regency Club Lounge, which was open from 07.00 to 22.30. It is the largest Club Lounge I have seen so far in a Hyatt hotel. Each morning there is a breakfast buffet in the Club lounge, available for guests who are staying in a suite and clubrooms and ofcourse free for diamondmembers. Most times we were the only guests there and still they opened the full buffet each morning. One day we asked why they didn’t close the club in the morning because it was so quiet. We were told that obviously a diamond member had complained when they had closed the club during low occupancy, so the management decided to re-open the club lounge again for breakfast.The breakfast offer was constantly good and of high quality. They offered each day 4 different fresh fruit juices, and the eggs were made upon request by the chef.

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During the day the lounge was open and there were softdrinks and coffee/tea available, and some fruit and small cookies. In the evening from 18.00 tot 20.30 there were some small snacks available, a few hot dishes (always one vegeterian), bread, salat, cheeses and a choise of fresh fruit and each day three different desserts. The open bar was including alcoholic drinks. They offered 2 kinds of white and red wine, sparkling wine, Heineken beer and some gin, rum, and whisky. Overall the evening spread was of high quality and the service in the lounge was attentive. It was never crowded.

Booking

The property is currently a category 3 hotel. If you use points it will cost you 12,000 points per night (no local taxes are due in that case) or on a points and cash rate it is 6,000 points per night plus USD 75 (plus 20% local tax). I initially made a points and cash booking for 5 nights. Becaus of the nice upgrade to the Emiri suite I booked an additional night at a rate of AED 650 because Hyatt had an opening offer of 3,000 bonus points per paid stay. The last night I booked fully on points, as the rate that nights was AED 900 plus tax, so that costed another 12,000 points.

Conclusion

Overall we were very happy with the hotel during our stay, the Emiri suite we received by using the DSU was beautifull and beyond our expectations, the facilities were 5-star and the hotel staff was simply amazing. Multiple times they surprised us in a positive way. If you want a nice and new hotel located near Dubai airport, check out this place if the price is right.