Hotel hopping in Dubai City!

CEBU, Philippines - We’ve done a lot of familiarization tours with the media, but it was my first time to be with travel agents where I learned that travel agents must travel and visit the very places that their clients would like to travel to and the only way to ensure that they are booked in a right priced hotel is to see it for themselves! That’s what we did in Dubai!

With us on the Fam Tour were Travelways International’s General Manager Alan Carvajal, Fortune Travel’s Sales & Marketing Mitchell Uy, Grand Holidays Manager Cristine Tan, Leisure Travel Sales Manager Elena “Rosi” Mancao, Grand Hope Travel Asst. Manager Clavel Su, Blue Horizon’s Manager Cecilia Saa, Rakso Travel’s September Ape, Global Link Travel Manager Jeanne Teh and Southwind Travel General Manager Desiree “Cookie” Chan.

Escorting the group were the principal sponsors, Cathay Pacific Airways (CPA) Passenger Sales Executive Jewel Sanchez who gave the group Business Class tickets, courtesy of Camilla Taylor, CPA’s newly arrived Cebu Manager. For the hotel accommodations and our tours, we had Meteor Philippines General Manager Ligaya Tabirao, who gave us Vipin Kumar, a top-ranked Tour Guide and Supervisor of White Sands Tours & Travel in Dubai.

Our trip to Dubai from Cebu meant an hour’s stopover in Hong Kong, then we boarded our Cathay Pacific Airbus 330-342 and yes, being in Business Class means having your own seat (it’s actually more like a cubicle) complete with television that gives you the latest movies, current TV shows and games. But the most remarkable part is that your seat turns into a bed by simply pressing a button! The food was classic Cathay Pacific gourmet and yes, they even serve my favorite port.

The first hotel we visited was the Atlantis the Palm Jumeriah located at the Palm Island and it was very impressive with its lagoon holding marine life with its theme, the Lost City of Atlantis. Sales Exec. Chona Alejan showed (rooms start at P10,000/day) us the Poseidon room where you can see the Ambassador lagoon from the surface and the lost City of Atlantis under the water. Its main marine celebrity is a huge Whale Shark that glides around the huge aquarium. Atlantis also hosts an Aquaventure with a 17-hectare water play area with the signature 275-foot drop making this hotel a must destination for tourists to see. Lunch was courtesy of the Atlantis.

The next hotel we visited has become a symbol of Dubai City; it is the only 7-Star Burj Al Arab Jumeriah, considered the World’s most luxurious hotel that has been featured so prominently in National Geographic. Marcus Gonzalez told us that celebrities from all over the world come to this hotel for a vacation. Indeed, we barely missed Julia Roberts, their recent visitor.

The design of the Burj has sort of become a symbol of Dubai, looking like a huge sail. All rooms are two floors with a loft and exquisite in everyway with gold fittings in your bathroom and a terrific view of Dubai! Just at the entrance of the Palm Island was the Tamani Hotel which was unique in the sense that their target market are Arabian families as Walid al-Awa Sales Director told us. The Tamani’s rooms are just like a luxury home with a master’s bedroom and rooms for the children, even for the maid.

The following day we dropped by the Hyatt Regency and Akram Malhas showed us around the only hotel across the still under construction Palm Deira, the 3rd Palm Island that Dubai is making. The next day we had a sumptuous lunch at the Crowne Plaza Dubai and Fanny Vasquez, a Spaniard from Madrid, toured us to see their excellent facilities, including two swimming pools.

Then we proceeded to the Fairmont Hotel, where Group Sales Director Miguel Payla told us that they have three Imperial Suites, two Royal Suites and two Presidential Suites. So we asked to see the room that Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo used and he showed us a three-floor Presidential suite that’s bigger than most luxury houses and pretty expensive too. The Fairmont’s main lobby didn’t look impressive, but as they say, never judge a book by its cover, it is a grand and modern hotel that glows in the evening.

There were may other hotels we visited, the Ascott Hotel, the Novotel and the Ibis Hotel across the City Land Center Shopping Mall. We even visited the fabulous Flora Park Deluxe Hotel Apartments where Asst. Sales Manager Manoj Chandran showed us around. Of course we must not forget to mention that we stayed at the very comfortable Dhow Palace Hotel. To go visit Dubai, Cathay Pacific will fly you from Cebu to Hongkong for a one-hour layover then to off to the eight-hour flight to Dubai City.