Background
Emaar Hospitality Group’s Vida Hotels and Resorts brand has a handful of properties spread across Dubai, as well as one each in Umm Al Quwain and Bahrain. In Dubai, it opened its Vida Dubai Marina and Yacht Club in the second half of last year.
Where is it?
Located close to the DMCC metro station, this property is easily accessible to public transport. If you’re driving in, it’s conveniently located off Sheikh Zayed Road. When pulling up to the hotel, one entrance is dedicated to those staying in the residences, while another one just a few feet away is for hotel guests. Even if you enter the lobby for the residences, an internal interconnecting passage will take you to the hotel reception.
What’s it like?
The reception space is airy, bright and not cluttered with ostentatious furnishings. There are co-working desks with fixed desktops in the lobby and a handful of sofas while the reception desks are discreetly tucked to the right of the entrance. Further down the lobby, a café with full-length windows opens out onto spectacular views of the marina and its yachts which are only a few feet away from the hotel.
Rooms
There are 158 rooms and suites here. We stayed in the Deluxe Marina View suite. There’s a guest bathroom in the corridor as you enter the suite which then leads you to the living room. A large TV screen, plush couch, artwork on the wall, a centre table and an oval-shaped writing desk are all present there. The bedroom had a king bed, with a high-back chair nearby and another TV along the wall. The wardrobe had plenty of hanging and storage space. Two notable features of the room include the expansive continuous balcony which stretches the length of the suite and allows you to access it from either the living room or the bedroom, as well as the bedroom’s ensuite bathroom which has uninterrupted views of the yachts anchored at the marina below. There was plenty of bottled drinking water available in the suite, as was a coffee machine in the living room.
Food and Drink
For dinner, we headed to Origins restaurant at the basement level. The menu has a mix of sandwiches, pastas, salads, pizzas, and Asian food too. For fail-safe options, try the cheese and steak sandwich as well as the delicious salmon platter. The buffet breakfast the next morning was served at the same venue. Thankfully, the buffet spread was not excessively extravagant nor wasteful – yet we found all that we typically crave at a hotel breakfast including a selection of cheese, jams, bread, juices, and a few Asian and Arabic specialities. There’s also an à la carte menu from where you can order one additional main breakfast item complimentary as part of the buffet.
Meetings
The business centre is located on the sixth floor of the property. The reception area is a well-appointed space with artwork, small sculptures and books along the wall in a space that resembles a study. There are multiple meeting rooms, each configured with audio and video conferencing facilities, as well as different seating style setups to cater to varying group sizes. One of the meeting rooms, called Marina, resembles an executive boardroom and also opens out onto a terrace.
Leisure
The pool, gym and kid’s club are located on the 13th floor. You’re be able to enjoy great views of the marina and the surrounding skyline from the pool as well as from the nearby gym which is kitted with Panatta equipment.
Verdict
A conveniently located hotel, this property has an appealing mix of both business and leisure facilities. It helps that it all comes at a price point that does not break the bank.
Fact Box:
Best For: The views of the marina from the hotel.
Don’t miss: A visit to the pool on the 13th floor at sunset.
Price: Internet rates for a midweek stay in October start from Dhs1,824 for a Deluxe Marina View suite.
Contact: Dubai Marina, Dubai, UAE; + 971 4 550 8888; vidahotels.com
