Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Citymax Bur Dubai hotel.  In case you were wondering why the lobby is always busy (unless you check in around 1:30 or 2 in the morning), it’s because they have a pretty nifty arrangement that keeps them full.

I’m not sure how Citymax and Alpha Tours (dba “Natalie Tours” in Russia and Ukraine) hooked up, but hooked up they have, and as a result, there are tons of Russian speaking people here.  There are three room service menus here — one in English, one in Arabic and one in Russian.  Most of the staff speak a little Russian as well, sometimes not much more than the basics related to their jobs, but still some.  English is still the better language to know to get around, but this place had made it very easy for Russian speakers to visit.

They were down to a single non-smoking room by the time we arrived.  It wasn’t in the best place — first floor (which is the second story of the building) and right next to the elevator.  Plus the window looked into an unused courtyard area.  We could have gotten a smoking room that might have been a bit better, but I didn’t want to be smelling smoke all night.  (I don’t care how thoroughly you clean a room; if people regularly smoke in it, you’re gonna smell something.)  Fortunately, we were able to grab another room the next day, 5th floor, with a westward looking window.  There’s a lot more traffic noise, though.  Traffic noise or people/elevator noise — sometimes you just can’t win.

The hotel is OK.  Kind of a Motel 6-y sort of place, but with a pool on the roof.  They do have three restaurants and a bar, though, and I don’t think Motel 6 has gotten to that point yet.  Small rooms, but OK; if you’re not really attached to the person you’re sharing the room with, you might want to get a second room.

Here’s something crazy:  wi-fi is free in the public areas of the hotel, but you have to pay for it in the rooms.  However, the wired internet is free in the rooms. That just makes no sense to me.  Things work, though, so I can’t really complain about that.  Fortunately, I had brought along a laptop that I was planning to leave with my wife.  If I had just come with my iPad or iPod, I would have had to spend a lot more time in the lobby.

You know how most of the lower cost hotels have a free breakfast for you?  You know — toast, muffins, a bit of juice and coffee?  Well, this place definitely amps that up.  Free breakfast here is a real breakfast, and is included as part of the tour package.  (Like I said, Citymax and Alpha Tours.)  Every morning there’s a breakfast buffet, which makes their main restaurant a busy, noisy place.  There is a good variety of stuff, including some common items from the American breakfast table.  No bacon, I’m sorry to say, but then again, this is an Islamic country.  (They don’t even sell bacon-flavored potato chips in the stores. And the ham here is turkey ham.) This morning, in addition to some of the more common fare I prefer, I tried this Indian rice and corn thing.  It was something like grits and it tasted pretty good.  The other morning I sampled a spicy vermicelli; I liked it, but my wife’s not big on the spices.

This is a 600-plus room hotel, but so far, the staff has been pretty prompt and attentive to any questions or issues.  I’m not saying that if I found myself in Dubai in the future, I would absolutely stay here, but it’s not bad, and I’m sure there are other places that are worse.