Emerald Palace by Kempinski

Our third time in Dubai and we decided to stay at Raffles The Palm. The hotel had its grand opening at the end of November 2018. The first few years the management was under Kempinski. Raffles has now taken over the management.

Our first impression was: do we like this or don’t we like this as what you see when you enter the building is red, gold and bling, bling…… At first we did not like it but after half a day we started to appreciate it and in the end we loved it. This hotel is over the top if you look to the interior and design.

Entrance

We took the private chauffeur service from Emirates and drove to the Palm Island. The taxi passed the hotel and turned. We were not sure on the outside if we liked the hotel. Normally we like contemporary buildings and this hotel is build like a European palace from the 18th century. The taxi turned in front of the W-hotel (very contemporary) and had to drive back to the Palace. We went into the main lobby and saw mainly gold and red we were flabbergasted. We arrived in an extreme posh ambiance where everything is over the top. Upfront we knew it would be luxurious but this exceeded our expectations by far……..

We arrived very early, the flight from Bali landed early in the morning. The room was not ready so we went for breakfast and after breakfast the room was already ready. This was greatly appreciated by us.

When we checked in we found out that we had been upgraded to a Premier Jacuzzi Suite One Bedroom. Our suite was about 220 m2. The interior in the room is designed by Francesco Molon. One of the most expensive interior brands in the world and it is in the suite. WOW…… no words! We know we are in Dubai.

We had a hot tub / jacuzzi on our balcony. As this is an Islamic country we decided to use our bathing clothes when sitting in the jacuzzi because the villa’s might see you on your balcony. We took a glass of champagne to the jacuzzi and enjoyed the hot tub during night. We did not see any neighbors. Only once we saw some people on the roof of the villa in front of our suite. What I did not like about the villa’s was that it’s not very private. The pool is on the roof and the hotel has views to the pools of the villa’s.

The building is inspired by palaces of the 18th century in Europe and they succeeded in this. The interior is opulent while Dubai is already opulent itself, but the Emerald Palace has the superlative of lavish luxury.

The Blüthner hall is located in the main lobby. This bar is posh. Service is excellent, cakes are delicious and ambiance is so cool. Try to have a coffee or a champagne in this bar during day time. They also have high tea with bubbels…..

The building is well lit in the night.

The garden is very well laid out. The main restaurant serves inside and outside. During summer period outside will be too hot, but during winter time this will be a great spot. The day we arrived we had early breakfast and we decided to eat outside. Although early we noticed it became hot very fast.

The pool is large and close to the beach. Pool service is excellent. A lot of life guards are at the pool. On each corner one life guard is located, a bit too much in my opinion as they have nothing to do (luckily). The pool is cooled, I like this. Temperature was still about 30 degrees Celsius. A great play ground for kids and adults. It was end of summer, so the ocean was even warmer than the pool. This is for Europeans a strange experience.

A great hotel, very luxurious decorated by Fransisco Molon. Good ambiance, great atmosphere, beautiful property and very good staff. Several staff members knew us although we never met them before. A must visit when you are in Dubai. We will return to this hotel in the near future.