When we are arrived early in the morning the Reception staff seemed annoyed that we were asking lots of questions. On booking I had requested an earlier check in and we did get a room quite early so we appreciated that as we had come off an overnight flight. The trip was for a 70th birthday.
Before arrival I had paid for one of the rooms to be decorated for the birthday and this was never done. Infact someone called the room that the surprise was for and told my father which spoilt the surprise despite me explaining this on check in and a couple of other times to the reception team.
We also confused as the half board options and explanation about the hotel facilities was very poor we tried foind out ourselves.
Ananya made a huge difference and upgraded our rooms and personally came to see us to apologise. She also gave us the hotel complimentary bags which were never offered to us but were to others. The amount I paid for the room decoration (£52) wasnt refunded although Ananya did a arrange for a small effort to put balloons in the room.
All the pool staff were amazing Vinod, Jacklyn, Umesh, Jameel, Leela, Sanoj and more they were friendly great service and helpful.
Varq was excellent really tasty food and presentation. Riya our waitress was great.
Raia had great food but the service could have been better it was a little slow.
Roaring Rabbit was excellent and the service was exceptional as the chef came out and asked us how the food was. John our waiter was great too.
The Palm was good. Noor was exceptional as a waiter.
We found out ourselves with the help of Usman that there was an option for a private excursion. They (third party) originally said it would take 1 hour, then we were told it would be 2 hours, then he came a further 20 mins later. We wanted to see the main attractions in Dubai including the gold souks and we had limited time which we explained. The driver took us to a rug place that was trying to sell to us - we didnt ask to go her and we wasted an hour of our time. On top of that Emirates mall was one of places we wanted to go he dropped us and then told us within 20 mins we needed to come back which was a complete waste of time. The excursion was a waste of time.

Overall we liked the hotel however it lacked atmosphere but the staff in the restaurants, poolside, Ananya and Usman made up for it.

We would have given final score 5/5 if we didnt experience the above.