JA The Manor Hotel, Dubai

Excellent stay at JA The Manor Hotel. Simplicity room was clean, comfortable and perfect for a couple. Facilities were outstanding and everything ran smoothly. Staff were helpful and check-in was easy. Strong stay. Would book again.

The service at the reception was exceptional. I did not have my laptop and cellphone charger but the staff went out of their way to make sure my devices are charged The food was great

was okay

The duty manager handles objections poorly and came across as unfriendly. He wasn't wearing a name badge for the entire stay. Customer focus isn't his thing, and I'm not sure "hospitality" is in his vocabulary. When we asked for a quick tour of the hotel, he kept it to "the restaurant is around the corner, the pool is on the 8th floor." Okay then. The furniture in the rooms is new, but there are plenty of visible spots (not all, of course) where the work was done half-heartedly. The sealant lines in the shower are a good example. Someone with no technical training could probably have done a better job. Crooked white silicone is a minor thing, though, and it doesn't ruin the stay. A missing toilet brush is another matter. Maybe the hotel can't afford them. Quality control is supposedly the duty manager's job, but I'm sure it's not his fault. Apparently there's no budget for shampoo either, so you get one universal gel for everything. It smells like supermarket dish soap. The liquid soap is the same colour, and the texture seems slightly different, so let's hope they're actually different products. The taps have no hot/cold markings, so you find out by trying. A printed sticker would solve it, but I guess that's not in the budget either. Only one of the built-in bedside lights works, and the lighting controls are inconvenient: to turn on the light you have to walk to the far end of the room to the switches by the bed. The floor has dips and bumps I never managed to figure out. The carpet is rough and hard (purely personal opinion) and left calluses on my feet. The wardrobe doors seem to have been installed with the same attention to detail as the sealant, because they won't open with a light touch of the hand. They also told us the wrong thing about which views were available from the windows. Let's call it an honest mistake. They knew two people were staying, and we had a few hours' notice, yet the only item from the bathroom kit was a single toothbrush. It was already unwrapped and sitting in the glass (I hope nobody used it before us). A shaving kit is available on request, but the razor looked unsafe, so I didn't risk it. The kettle area was just as sparse: two tea bags, one coffee stick and two small bottles of water. That's all. The day started with a fire alarm (a false one, thank God). It took several minutes to switch off, and I don't remember anyone apologizing for the inconvenience. We called reception, and I believe the same man answered. We didn't get to order anything at the restaurant, but it seems good. The kitchen team lives in a different world from the front office: everyone was friendly and kept the breakfast buffet stocked. The selection is modest, but the food quality is good. Please change the olive oil, as the taste isn't great. The sausages aren't great either. Overall, the hotel should consider replacing a few managers (duty and engineering) and investing a little in the guest-facing details. Two black tea bags, cheap scents and low-grade toiletries are the bare minimum to fix, and then everything would be fine. The rooms and linen were clean, and I have no complaints about housekeeping. Oddly enough, a 3-star in Al Barsha from a little-known brand turned out better than a 4-star from JA. P.S. Please hire at least one valet parking attendant. Cars get parked wherever people like, and getting in and out is a hassle. All the best, and please choose your managers carefully. They are the people a hotel stands on.