Concorde Deira Hotel

We couldn't sleep because of the traffic noise outside. There was no free parking, so we paid 20 d for one night. The room was dirty, and the replacement room was dirty too. Reception kept our passport for two hours, leaving us stuck in the room, and they charged an extra 15 d for no reason. Everything about the hotel was bad. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

The broken washroom lock was a basic maintenance problem that should have been fixed. The front desk experience was worse: the reception ladies assumed I was only visiting and told me to leave without checking whether I had a room booked. It was embarrassing and disrespectful. They need proper customer service training, or a rethink of the front desk staff. Very disappointing.

The bar noise was so loud that relaxing or sleeping comfortably was impossible. I also found cockroaches in both rooms. One was there as soon as I entered the first room, so I asked reception to move me, but the second room had them too. That made it seem like a hotel-wide cleanliness problem, not just one room. Management needs to take pest control and cleanliness more seriously. I wouldn't stay here again.

The room was spacious and the bed was heavenly, and somehow we still had a pleasant nine-night stay. The club noise became part of our playlist. We even pretended not to notice the cockroach relaxing on our plate beside the fetta cheese. When I showed the staff, they seemed surprised, and one of them brought us fresh cheese. That was a customer service moment, at least. The location is amazing, with everything nearby and Al Rigga station a short stroll away. The room size and bed might suggest four stars, and the price is more like two, but the rest of the place really doesn't feel four star. The runner boys were friendly. The concierge and most of the other staff seemed uninterested. There are night clubs all around, in every direction. The hallway to breakfast smells strongly of cigarettes, and feels like a slow walk into a brothel. Several clubs are crammed together, and an open bathroom door showed a bin full of tissues. The supposedly smoke-free third floor hallway often smelled like a cigarette factory. There were cockroaches in the breakfast area, on the fetta cheese, in the bathroom, in the room, and at reception. The room wall had mould too. I wouldn't recommend this place for families or couples unless club beats and cigarette perfume are your idea of romance. If you're sensitive, picky, classy, allergic to chaos, or have high standards, it isn't for you. You need thick skin and low expectations to deal with cockroaches on your breakfast, nightclubs, and the general atmosphere. I've travelled to seven countries, this was my fifth time in the UAE, and I'm an Australian citizen. I've stayed in everything from luxury suites to rooms that should have been shut down by the health department. Real travellers adapt. So, Concorde Deira, thanks for the memories. In the photo is the brave little cockroach that somehow made its way onto our fetta cheese.