Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk

Nice & really very comfortable stay. Clean rooms with caring & polite staff specially thanks housekeeping team Anas and Kumari who take care of a small request & making our stay more comfortable.

The front desk/Club staff were not particularly friendly or helpful, and the way our concerns were handled was disappointing. The windows in our original room were visibly dirty. Although the hotel eventually moved us to a room with clean windows, this only happened after we raised the issue. Resolving a basic cleanliness problem after the guest complains is not the level of service I expect from Sofitel.

What was even more disappointing was being offered an upgrade to a suite only if we paid extra. I do not consider asking the guest to spend more money as an appropriate solution to a problem caused by the hotel. We should not have to pay for an upgrade simply to have a better experience after being given a room that did not meet basic cleanliness standards.

If I was willing to pay extra for a better room and experience, I would have booked the nearby Raffles in the first place, which also has a connection to Wafi Mall. An upgrade at an additional cost is a commercial offer, not a resolution to a service failure.

For a hotel like Sofitel, I expected better attention to basic room standards, as well as a more welcoming and solution-oriented approach from the front desk. Overall, the experience was disappointing and fell short of what I expected from the brand.

If you are happy to pay 5-star prices and receive 3-star service, then Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk may be the place for you.

Unfortunately, after two previous stays where my experience was very different, the level of service has dramatically declined.

I do not blame the staff. In fact, many of them were clearly trying their best under difficult circumstances. My concern is with the management and how the hotel is currently being operated.

During my 5 day stay, I had the pleasure of meeting almost the entire engineering team, both day and night shifts. They spent around 40 minutes at a time in my room trying to resolve the air-conditioning problem for 3 nights .

Imagine being in Dubai and spending three days complaining about the AC.

The hotel has temperature sensors and a minimum temperature setting in the rooms, yet despite repeated complaints, my room never reached the required temperature. I was eventually offered another room just two days before departure, which was hardly a practical solution for someone who primarily uses the room to sleep.

What was particularly disappointing was the lack of proactive guest recovery. Despite three days of complaints, nobody from management thought to send even a simple apology card or amenity to acknowledge the problem and reassure me that it was being addressed.

Charm was genuinely trying hard to help, but unfortunately there was only so much she could do.

The espresso machine in the room was also reported as broken, yet it remained there without being replaced.

The Wi-Fi was another issue. It was constantly dropping and extremely slow throughout my stay, despite being perfectly reliable during my previous two stays.

Breakfast was also noticeably reduced compared with my previous visits, both in terms of selection and staffing. Again, the staff were trying hard, but unfortunately the first impression and overall experience matter.

I spoke with the Assistant Office Manager, while my colleagues also raised the matter with the Managing Director. Yet there appeared to be no meaningful follow-up or communication between the different levels of management.

The clearest example came at departure, when reception asked me whether I had enjoyed my stay, despite the fact that I had been complaining about the same unresolved issues for three consecutive days.

When I raised the possibility of compensation, I was told that I would not receive any reimbursement and that the hotel was “in compliance with government requirements”. I am still unclear what requirement was being referred to, but compliance with a minimum requirement does not necessarily equate to delivering the 5-star guest experience that guests are paying for.

Sofitel The Obelisk is a beautiful property, and that is precisely why this decline in service is so disappointing.

I have stayed here before and experienced a completely different standard. I hope management takes this feedback seriously, because the issue is clearly not the individual staff members. It is about leadership, communication, guest recovery and maintaining the standards expected from a 5-star hotel.

This was my third stay, and unfortunately, it will be very difficult for me to return unless there is a significant improvement.