FAIRMONT THE PALM ^{* * * * *}

Security and parking management guys during ramadan and iftar were not managed properly

Overall stay is okay. Good service and warm staff. Typical high-end hotel but the “wow” factor is missing (probably the hotel is old), unlike other modern 5 star hotel. Not much that activities and amenities specially for kids.

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Will you come back: trying once is fine (own preference)

Will you recommend: hard to tell. Wow factor is missing.

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The residence is great , apartment has nice large layout with ample
Space , the building is old
But well maintain , hence the always the lifts every 2 weeks is out of service and we have to wait or walk long to the other lifts . Overally the location is great with access to west beach to multiple restaurants and facilities.

We had two torturous nights in this hotel. There were many issues, but the paramount one was that unexpectedly (who would have thought this about a Fairmont? and there was absolutely no warning or notification), we had to sleep next to an Iftar tent with very loud music well into the night. Imagine sleeping next to a main stage at a music festival. We thought it was a fluke on the first night, and then it ended around midnight (but then around 3 am, we were woken by staff rearranging furniture on the terrace). However, the second night, even louder than the first, the music went up until 3 am. Then, at around 5 am, we were again awakened by some landscaping sound. The hotel didn't do anything, even tho we repeatedly called the guest service, and by their reaction, we were not the only ones complaining. At this point, we both felt like zombies and were thinking about how to escape this ordeal. The hotel tried to offer us another room near the previous one so we couldn't accept it. After we wanted to check out and get our money back, it was handled now on a managerial level, and we were offered a suite (supposedly, the big size would have helped with the noise, too...) - only to figure out after a while that it would not be available that night...The most shocking thing was that after all this, the managers categorically refused to refund us for the first two nights and even acted like they did a favor by giving us back the money for the night not spent. They did not deny the severity of the issue (on the level that they even tried to offer a suite) but did not feel the need to take any responsibility. It was also evident from the conversation the noise is a regular issue in the hotel (if not during Ramadan, then because of their beach club). Still, apparently, these directors didn't feel they should do something to fix this.
There was also a weird smell in the room (probably mold, as we met another couple in the lobby, where the lady got an allergy attack, being allergic to mold). The carpet under the bed was visibly dirty, and the bed was completely messy. The air conditioning's thermostat was wrong, showing 50 Celsius. So on and so forth...
This is a poorly managed hotel that can't meet even the basics of what you would expect from a motel, but it charges luxury resort prices. How Accor can let this hotel be run in this state and under a Fairmont name is a mystery. We usually have excellent experiences in their member hotels (we moved to Raffles Dubai from here, too), but our stay in Fairmont The Palm was an unmitigated disaster.

Beautiful.