At first glance the ramee hotel apartments doesn't look to bad, close to the metro, large room, roof top pool We arrived at the hotel at am and had to sit in the lobby being stared at by the staff and everyone that entered and left the hotel until we were allowed our room at , they did us a favour as check in wasn't supposed to be until 2pm but the constant looks from the staff and fact that we hadn't slept for 24 hours made the whole experience very unsettling.
To experience dubai at it's best don't stay in this neighbourhood, made up of only locals and people from India and Pakistan: as two young English girls we were made to feel extremely uncomfortable. The building is situated opposite a mosque: yes you can hear the prayer through the loud tannoy five times a day, although we were lucky that it didn't wake us up at 5am and there was a building construction site to the back of us. The hotel itself smells, in particular our room, , we were told we were being upgraded to the best room in the building, finally we thought something good to happen: the beginning of our back packing adventure had been some what stressful so far, with high expectations we entered a room that smelt like gone off curry and dirty ovens, the The hotel itself smells, in particular our room, , we were told we were being upgraded to the best room in the building, finally we thought something good to happen: the beginning of our back packing adventure had been some what stressful so far, with high expectations we entered a room that smelt like gone off curry and dirty ovens, the stench stayed through out our whole stay here.
We even went and bought air freshener from the shop down the road, which only helped for about a minute. The room size was good but not clean at all, there was mold behind the kitchen tap, and bath, the cutlery draw was sticky and stained yellow from the left overs of curry, the bin hadn't been changed since the last people stayed and smelt like stale rubbish.
The oven was encrusted with rust and burnt sauce to the point where Ty actually had to scrub a lot of it off, the state of the kitchen didn't help the smell of the room as we were staying in the studio apartment. The bed was big but hard and the bed side draws had obviously never been wiped out as little bits of debri and hair lined both of them. There was pen scribbles across the wall and duvet obviously from a child who had stayed in the room. Me and my girlfriend aren't fussy as such but basic hygiene and cleanliness is to be desired if you're sleeping somewhere for a week.
The first day I had a shower the water took ages to heat up and then I dried off with a towel that smelt like pee. One day the cleaner told us he'd cleaned, we entered the room and the only thing that had changed was the bin, no new towels, no new toilet roll, bed still the same, it was only when we specifically asked for new loo roll and a sheet change that we recieved that.
