ALISON BELL wasn't convinced about skiing in Dubai, but she did like her hotel
DUBAI, ONE OF the more evolved tourism destinations in the Arab world, is not quite a dirty word for overdevelopment, but it has the potential to become one given its enormous dependency on two of the most highly volatile and challenged business sectors: construction and tourism itself.
Huge infrastructure projects, including the metro scheduled to open on September 9th, make for chaotic traffic; combined with roads populated by what have to be the worst drivers in the world they make Dubai my number-one place to freak out in a taxi (two and three being Cairo and Rome).
Rumours abound of airport car parks filled with deserted vehicles, keys left in the ignition by owners returning to their homelands; one travel agent told me about a great group booking he thought he had just taken – until he realised the 300 tickets were all one-way, out of the United Arab Emirates (of which Dubai is part).
By day you can’t help but crane your neck in awe at the next skyscraper emerging from the sand, and landmark hotels such as Burj Al Arab and Atlantis the Palm Resort loom like mirages in the hazy sunshine; by night it’s Gotham City, and you just have to smile at the colourful illuminations of the tall glass blocks and the pretty dhows working their way along the calm waters of the new marina.
You’ll have guessed I’m ambivalent about Dubai, torn between horror at the scale of development yet seduced by the incredible, single-minded vision in building the ultimate tourism resort.
Which brings me nicely to our hotel, the five-star Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates. And let me say up front that it deserves every one of those stars, even if I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to stay there after our sedate first stop of the trip, the utterly and predictably luxurious Ritz- Carlton.
Situated on the main Sheikh Zayed Road, which connects Dubai with Abu Dhabi, Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates is a 393-bedroom hotel with 15 ski chalets. That’s right: ski chalets. Perfectly appropriate when you have an indoor ski slope on your doorstep.
Ski Dubai is the world’s third-largest indoor ski resort. Nothing can prepare you for the first glimpse of local men weaving their way down the slopes in dishdashas. The mercury level outside may well be a balmy 28 degrees; inside it’s a cool minus one.
Six thousand tons of real snow in full view of the lobby of your Middle Eastern hotel is almost indescribably surreal; my travel companion had a blast trying it out, returning after an hour with a grin from ear to ear and minus his shoes and hat, which he’d lost along the way.
I had taken the time to try out the Ayurvedic spa and was only sorry it was our final day; otherwise, I’d probably still be there.
One of the joys of the Middle East is that it’s a global melting pot of workers, and the Kempinski staff was among the best I have encountered. From the stunning Kenyan doorman to the local woman running the business centre, the service was sublime.
Standard bedrooms are huge, complete with king-size beds, comfortable seating areas and carefully designed lighting. The bathrooms deserve a special mention – every bathroom should have a wide antifog mirror – and there’s more than enough space in the bedroom to store the multiple purchases you will inevitably make in the adjacent shopping mall.
Yes, beside the ski slope you’ll find 223,000sq m of retail space, with more than 400 shops, including Harvey Nichols, Zara and Louis Vuitton, and a range of temptations to test even the most abstemious of shoppers.
TripAdvisor warns travellers about the hotel’s location, the risk of having a view of the exterior of Ski Dubai – think giant metal tube glinting in the sun. You’ll also be warned about the swimming pool, which is in the shade for some of the morning and comes complete with background noise of heavy traffic running along a highway just below.
Ignore the begrudgers. Kempinski, which has been in the hotel business since 1897, pulls off the most incongruous of juxtapositions – world-class hotel on the edge of the desert with ski slope and shopping mall – with admirable style.
** Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Barsha, Dubai, 00-971-4- 3410000, www.kempinski-dubai.com. Rack rates start at 2,500 dirhams (about €500) per room; the hotel’s website can include offers of up to 50 per cent off
** Alison Bell is managing director of Spa Ireland
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Etihad (www.etihadairways. com) flies from Dublin to Abu Dhabi, a 90-minute free coach transfer from Dubai. Other carriers, including BA, Emirates, KLM and Air France, fly from Dublin to Dubai via their hubs.