Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa, Jumeirah, Dubai

I’m just back from Dubai, having spent 9 days out there with my partner, meeting up with some of her friends (she lived and worked there for over 15 years in the airline business). It gave her the opportunity to see Dubai as a tourist for the first time, with me sitting on her coattails and having the benefit of her local knowledge.

Dubai is an ever-changing and fascinating place. Think skyscrapers (Burj Khalifa), cleverly designed buildings (Museum of the Future), architectural statements (Dubai Frame), stunning hotels and for those that love shopping, many, many shopping malls (Dubai Mall is just one to mention). If you’re a foodie, you have a wide range of cuisine to pick from, a lot of it managed by chefs at the top of their game. You can stay in the heart of downtown Dubai, or you can go out of downtown for 30 minutes towards Jumeirah Beach and The Palm for a 'beachy' vibe.

Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa

Every now and then, you come across a hotel where the service just blows you away. Given that my partner had spent most of her time in Dubai living in the downtown area, we decided that staying near The Palm would be the more relaxing option. A few members of my partner's family had stayed at Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa in the past and had enjoyed it, so we decided we would give it a go.

This was one of the first properties built in this part of Dubai and dates back to the mid-90s. The external architecture is not what you would call 'modern', but don't let that trick you into thinking you should just pick some glitzy high-rise hotel instead. Built before Dubai went high-rise crazy, this hotel is a modest 15 floors high and, like the Ritz-Carlton, a couple of properties down the street, both of these low-rise properties benefit from having a very large garden leading down to the sea. In a time when there was plenty of land (or sand) to build on, this allowed the hotels that started building first to buy up very large plots of land. This does make a difference when you want to escape the hustle and bustle of Dubai and allows you to wander amongst 19 acres of landscaped gardens.

With regard to the rooms, the first and probably most important thing to note is that the hotel is divided into two wings. The rooms you really want to go for are the Royal Club Tower rooms, as these rooms have all been recently redecorated to a very high standard. Yes, these rooms are more expensive than the other wing of the hotel (those are called the Super Deluxe rooms), but with the recent refurbishment and with a butler service (more on that later), they represent excellent value for money. They are extremely comfortable, and if you pick a room with a sea view, you'll avoid a few of the plentiful skyscrapers that have sprung up around the hotel.

The Royal Club Tower rooms also offer complimentary breakfast, tea and cakes in the afternoon (1500-1700) and complimentary pre-dinner drinks in the early evening (from 1800-2000) all taken in the Club Bar area. Breakfast gets you away from the very busy main hotel restaurant, and it is much more personal as a result and very much quieter. Tea and cakes in the afternoon offer a wide choice of pastries, cakes and sandwiches. If you like your beer, cocktails and wine, the pre-dinner drinks are a wallet saver, for as those who have been to Dubai will know, it is expensive to buy anything alcoholic. Accompanying those drinks is a selection of canapés and some hot food, and if you wanted to, you could avoid going out for dinner just by eating your way around the food offerings.

I mentioned the butler service earlier. I have stayed at hotels previously where a butler service is on offer, but I have very little need to call upon it. This time, mainly through our own stupidity, the butler staff were fantastic. You see, as a travel director, I had booked to stay at another hotel for the second half of our stay because I wanted to see another property. Having got to this other hotel (which shall remain nameless) and checked into our hotel, we realised building work was going on next door. Cutting a long story sideways, we decided to leave the hotel and return to Le Royal Méridien but when we got back there....no passports, no jewellery, no money...everything had been left in the safe at the other hotel. Cue panic, but this is where the butlers stepped in, called the other hotel, sorted everything out, and so a quick taxi ride later, all was resolved. From then on, we were on first-name terms with the butler team and the service level seemed to go up another notch (look out for Fahad in particular, he's worked there for 10 years and knows his stuff ). Put simply, the service was exceptional.

If you value space over high rise modernity, enjoy having the choice of 3 swimming pools and a beach area that is not crowded, this is the place to go. We will be going back.