I was very disappointed with my experience at the ...

I was very disappointed with my experience at the Shangri-La Dubai. This was my first interaction with Shangri-La and I am not sure I would go back to one. Upon check-in, the concierge was rude and the wait times at the front desk were a bit much. We felt that we were trying to be sold upgrades and this and that upon check-in without much context. On our second day, we tried to take the free shuttle and were told the wrong times twice by the porters at the back door, being told that "It would just be easier if we got our own car", the second time this happened I went to the front desk, after a long wait to speak to someone, we naturally missed the shuttle [of the wrong informed time] and the concierge that helped us was not friendly at all. The manager at the time did his best to amend the situation, but was not particularly friendly about it. The rooms were also extremely dated.

The whole pool situation was not great either. Upon booking we understood that there was a large pool for the guests, we were not aware that this area was essentially shared with a club area [a la Las Vegas]. Pool attendants were rude when we searched for chairs to lay around the pool, telling us to 'come back later'. There was also constantly a shortage of seats and towels. We spent ages trying to get drinks from the bar, never received the bottles of water poolside we were told were coming on several occasions/ and even after asking politely.

Additionally, it was to our understanding that this elevated hotel would not be a big 'family' hotel. The sound of children crying, screaming and running around early in the morning and late at night was not expected at all and not part of the experience we believed we had booked.

I do want to take a moment though, to thank the doormen/porters at the front of the hotel and the shuttle driver [for when we finally got on the shuttle] for being extremely attentive, friendly and helpful. They were the highlight of our Shangri-La experience.