Dubai is known for its hotels, particularly the kinds that are regarded as glittering beacons of luxury and that hold world records: tallest (Ciel Dubai Marina); highest infinity pool (Address Beach Resort); most waterslides (Atlantis the Palm); largest tin of caviar (Burj Al Arab). Some are architectural landmarks, like the super-yacht-shaped Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab or the pair of towers housing the One&OnlyOne Za’abeel and SIRO One Za’abeel (home to the world’s longest cantilever, don’t you know?). A few are tourist attractions in their own right: Visitors flock to the Burj Al Arab in droves to get a glimpse of this fabled temple to seven-star luxury; when I checked in to the Atlantis the Royal, I felt as if I was in a particularly shiny train station thanks to the masses of slackjawed visitors wandering through the lobby. (Mercifully, things were much calmer elsewhere on the property.)
But in Dubai, hotels aren’t just cosseted places for out-of-towners on a dizzying sprint through one of the world’s glitziest cities. They’re also woven into the fabric of everyday life—places that residents visit for everything from a 50th-anniversary dinner to a weekly pedicure. Locals use them for quick coffee meetings and long beach club days; they pop in to pick up cakes for birthdays or to linger over Dubai’s infamously decadent Sunday brunches.
In New York City, where I live now, I have a hard time making hotel recommendations for visiting friends, because aside from the occasional work event or lobby meeting, I rarely spend time in hotels. But in Dubai, where I lived in 2021 and 2022, I used them all the time.
I regularly browsed art in the galleries at the XVA Art Hotel in the historic Al Fahidi District, had the most delicious çılbır for breakfast during a staycation at the Park Hyatt Dubai, got the best blowdry of my life at a nondescript salon on the ground floor of a three-star hotel, and sank my toes in the sand while catching up with friends over shisha at Drift Beach at the One&Only Royal Mirage. I celebrated the launch of my Assouline book, Mystic Mist: The Rituals of Huqqa, at the Four Seasons Resort at Jumeirah Beach. And in the desert just outside the city, as the sun dipped over a dune, I got engaged at Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa.
‘We have such a high concentration of hotels and resorts that they almost act as public spaces.’
“We have such a high concentration of hotels and resorts that they almost act as public spaces,” says Isabella Craddock, editor of Middle Eastern travel magazine Near and Far and the Middle East Academy Chair for the World’s 50 Best Hotels. “I think this goes back to the beginnings of Dubai as we know it, when international luxury hotels like the Burj Al Arab, Jebel Ali Hotel [now the JA Beach Hotel Dubai], and One&Only Royal Mirage became these mini worlds within a rapidly growing city. In some cases, the hotel arrived before the neighborhood around it did, becoming a destination and social hub in its own right.”
Why hotels are so rooted in the city
In those early days, long before the Burj Khalifa loomed on the horizon, alcohol licenses were largely restricted to the city’s hotels, which is why they came to play an outsize role in expat social life. The rules have relaxed in recent years, but many destination restaurants remain attached to major hotels: 13 of Dubai’s 19 Michelin-starred restaurants are at resorts.
“Growing up here, the only places you could go to, especially places that were licensed, were at hotels,” remembers Tehzeeb Ahmed, a PR strategist who was born and raised in Dubai and watched the city’s now-iconic skyline being built.
Today, she gets her hair done at the Shangri-La or the Fairmont, buys cakes for special occasions at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and has spontaneous coffee catch-ups in the lobby of the Four Seasons or Mandarin Oriental. “I also just use them as landmarks when getting around, or explaining to someone where I live or where to meet,” she adds.
Dubai hotel amenities are not just for guests
In other cities, hotel amenities are largely off-limits to nonguests, but in Dubai it’s another story. Locals mingle with visitors while taking advantage of coworking spaces at 25Hours Hotel Dubai One Central, gym memberships at the wellness-centric SIRO One Za’abeel, or the Yacht Club at Bulgari Dubai. Even nonguests can book the utterly over-the-top breakfast buffet at Atlantis the Royal, served in a labyrinthine series of rooms.
Apps such as Privilee and Supper Club make these properties more accessible, with deals on day passes to pools, spas, and other spaces that might otherwise be off limits. “All the stuffiness and ambiguity to whether external guests can enjoy [the amenities] is removed,” says Craddock. “It’s as easy as booking a restaurant.”
For families, access to world-class resorts brings a whole new level of work-life balance, transforming weekends into mini vacations. “We live and we work very normal lives—kids, school, after-school activities, work,” says Kiran Ali, a lawyer turned tech exec who founded the community group American Women of Dubai after relocating from Washington, D.C., three years ago. “But on the weekends, or if we want any kind of a treat, hotels are the anchor.”
She’s spent spa days at the Banyan Tree and Palazzo Versace, booked day passes through Privilee at the One&Only Royal Mirage and Raffles the Palm, and taken advantage of resident rates on staycations at Atlantis the Palm and Address Beach Resort, all at a fraction of what she might have paid for similar experiences in the USA.
“You don’t have to necessarily invest tons of money to go on a trip somewhere to get that little dose of unwinding and relaxing,” she says. “You have opportunities to do it every weekend if you want to.”
In so many vacation hot spots, the lives lived by locals and visitors can feel worlds apart. But in Dubai, hotels are a way of life—for everyone.
Related: I’ve Called Dubai Home for a Decade. These Are the 13 Hotels That Actually Capture It.
