NINE7ONE RESTAURANT

Thanks to riwash rahul from room service and also chef manish and arjun, I like the food hotel room and everything thank you so much.

I stayed at Anantara with my wife recently to celebrate a special occasion. It was a complete disappointment - the services were poor and there was no value for money.

This used to be my favorite hotel when it was a part of the Oberoi group.  It is unfortunate that Anantara took over the chain 2 years ago - the differences in management across these hotel chains are strikingly visible in each and every aspect of the stay - e.g., guest welcome experience, breakfast, service, staff courtesy, quality of toiletries, concierge services, and even making complimentary room arrangements for special occasions.

This difference was acknowledged by the hotel staff themselves, who blame it on management policies which seems stingy with an excessive focus on cost control, resulting in poor value for money for a discerning customer.

Let's do a comparison of my experience when it was a part of the Oberoi chain, and now a part of Anantara.

At Oberoi, the guest welcome experience was king size and check in was done in the room itself - the GM personally welcomed guests staying in suite category rooms.

At Anantara, the staff at the reception curtly tells you 'Wait at the lobby sir; I am busy with a guest now'. The experience is sloppy - I got a welcome drink and my wife did not get a welcome drink for a long time and got one upon request.

At Oberoi, the breakfast was supreme quality and service was topnotch. There was a personal level of service in everything.

At Anantara, they could not even do a basic masala omlette properly. As per their definition of a masala omlette, it has only onions and no salt or masalas. Seriously ? Which cooking school did they learn that from ? I asked for a fluffy moist-inside masala omlette folded restaurant style and I got a tasteless omlette without salt two times repeatedly. Why will I come to a 5 star hotel and have this mockery of an omlette ? Upon repeated requests, the sous chef finally prepared an omlette for me to my liking. The third time is always a charm at Anantara, but you have to ask for it. The fattet hummus had dangling bread in the hummus. The chef was courteous to send a properly prepared one to my room but my hunger had died by that time. There were parathas but no accompaniments like chana etc. The indian food section was very basic and screaming for more variety. There was chicken dimsum but no veg dimsum. What is the idea here ? Upon request, they prepared it but it was mushy to the core. What a horrible breakfast. Guests stay at hotels for the breakfast experience - and this was worse than pathetic.

At Oberoi, due to the magnanimity of management, special occasions for guests like anniversaries etc. are celebrated in style , with lovely decorations, souvenirs, cake etc.

At Anantara, there were six balloons worth 4 AED placed on the bed with a few rose petals - 6 small petals to be precise, along with the swan towel art which was flimsy and not tasteful.

All this comes at a very high price point with no value for money whatsoever. It is very disheartening to see a favorite place where I built memories with my family turn into a dump.

We have spent a wonderful moment in the Anantara Downtown Dubai Hotel. It’s very well located in Business Bay. The room was very nice (thanks to Samiksha). The staff is amazingly king and professional.
Many thanks to Lhamu (from the reception) also to Miyo and to Aman, Alena, Zayyah, Sabita, Michael and Puspa. You all made our stay unforgettable.

I had an amazing stay at Anantara with my son. Everyone was friendly and welcoming and helped us whenever we asked. A special thanks to Iris on the travel desk, Bhoj and Kenneth. The young lady at breakfast who took my eggs and coffee order was also very welcoming and polite - sorry I can’t remember your name.

The hotel is clean and beautiful but the staff make a pleasurable experience. The room was good when came back my room the housekeeper payal make my room and leave a note which make me surprise. I hope next time also i will stay.