Hello everyone, I hope you're well.
You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging for a couple of weeks and that is because I have actually been back in Dubai for a holiday. The summer months in Dubai mean extreme heat and instant stickiness, so keeping cool was definitely a priority and one incredible service allowed us to do this whilst still being able to relaxed and enjoying the sun . That is what I am going to be talking about in todays blogpost. This time I went I decided to take my friend Georgia with me, she had never been before so we had a full packed 2 weeks of touristy stuff but also spent some down time where we allowed ourselves to relax before heading back to our hectic lives in England. On our second week we got guest privilee passes as my parents are members and I really wanted to write a post on this service and exactly what I thought about it.
Privilee is a paid membership allowing access to a large number of the best beach clubs and luxury resorts in order to use their pools, private beaches, spas and gyms for free and for as long as you wish. The normal memberships can be paid for monthly or for the year and gives you complete access to as many as you can fit in all year. With these year memberships you also get the opportunity to purchase guest passes so that visitors can use them for the week at a discounted price. The guest passes cost AED249 which is the equivalent to around £50 which is incredible considering the hotels you can visit and also the services and facilities that can be used. Most hotels offer day passes to use their facilities but these themselves cost from AED150-300 so to be able to use as many as you want for a week and also get discounted food and drinks AED249 is an outstanding price. Privilee are partnered with some of the most established and beautiful hotels in the Middle East giving you access to a relaxing pool day, laid back lunch or even a quick workout with a view.
Out of the whole process we only had one small issue with getting our membership cards and we ended up getting them later than expected so we could only use them for 4 days rather than the 5 (weekends are excluded) but that wasn't an issue because we still got our money's worth. We paid for them to be delivered but after realising they wouldn't get there in time we ended up asking to pick up the cards ourselves and they were printed the same morning that we asked for them. The customer service was excellent and once we realised there was a mistake with the cards the employees made it their priority to help us and get the cards done as quickly as possible which I am extremely grateful for, their email replies were fast and they were always asking if their was anything else that we needed to make the service better.
1. Double Tree Hilton JBR
Now onto the actual hotels partnered with privilee and their facilities. After picking up the cards we knew we didn't want to waste anymore time so we went to one of the nearest hotels to the privilee offices which was the Hilton Doubletree in Jumeriah beach residences. This hotel had a lovely pool and its own private beach that you could use as well as free access to the gym and spa which me and Georgia made the most of. The majority of the hotels also had discount on food and beverages with the guest passes which was great for a mid swim snack. The discount varies from 15% to 50% and the Double Tree in particular had 25% off so lunch by the pool was a must. This hotel was fairly quiet and relaxing and the spa included a hot tub, sauna and steam room which you could use for as long as you wanted with discounts on spa treatments as well.
2. Kempinski Hotel & Residences Palm Jumeirah
The following day we decided to go to the Palm and we chose the Kempinski which out of all 4 that we visited this by far had the best pool. The pool and beach were stunning and the staff couldn't be any friendlier, I loved everything about this hotel and I would definitely go back many times. With the privilee pass we got 15% off food and beverages which was the lowest out of the hotels but it was still reasonably priced and you also got 25% off of spa treatments which unfortunately we never got to experience as we run out of time. The hotel was great for the kids as they had a park/play area and small children pool and for the adults they had a swim up bar and a relaxing bubbled area similar to a jacuzzi making it perfect for families. The staff were constantly walking around checking up on everyone and due to the heat they offered refreshing ice lollies to both the children and adults which were complimentary.
3. Rixos The Palm Dubai
After loving the Palm the day before we decided to choose another the following day and after researching a few we decided on Rixos which is located at the end of the crescent. When we first arrived the poolside was extremely busy so we nearly visited another hotel on the palm but once we spoke to the pool assistant and explained that we wanted pool side sun lounges he went out of his way to find us some and then we ended up staying the whole day. The vibe at Rixos was great, the music was playing throughout the day and they even started activities up such as water polo which everyone could join in with. They had a pool bar similar to the other two hotels and we had the most amazing mocktail there which ended up being fairly cheap with the 25% off. The pool area seemed smaller and more crowded than any other hotel we visited but it was a lovely hotel to visit and spend the day.
4. The Palace Downtown Dubai
Last but not least is the Palace Downtown which we visited on our final day in Dubai. At first I was skeptical about visiting this hotel because I loved the idea of the hotels having their own beach and also being away from all the hustle and bustle of the main areas of Dubai such as downtown but when we got there we were amazed by the views and also how calm and relaxing it was. The pool was lovely and refreshing and again the staff were so friendly and helpful it just made the experience that bit more special. The views we had of the Burj Khalifa and the fountains was amazing so we were able to watch the fountain show whilst we were there. Food was 20% with the guest passes and their food and drinks were lovely so overall I can't fault this hotel at all oh and their sun lounges were the best haha!
Overall the whole privilee experience was amazing and I would definitely use this service again when visiting Dubai or Abu Dhabi as some of the hotels there too have partnerships with Privilee. Every hotel was different and each one we loved for different reasons so it was very difficult to pin point our favourite. The Privilee staff were extremely helpful which made the whole process a lot easier even when we did have a problem with getting the cards and every hotel was beautiful and it made our time in Dubai that little bit more special and relaxing. I couldn't recommend this membership anymore so if you want to check out more details about Privilee or have any questions then make sure to check out the link to their website here: https://www.privilee.ae
Red Bikini top: https://www.missguided.co.uk/cross-over-front-bikini-top-red (not the exact but similar)
Thank you for reading
Lots of Love
Lydia<3
Don't forget to follow/contact me on:
Instagram: lydiakateashley
Twitter: lydiakateashley
Email: lydia.ashley15@yahoo.co.uk
