The Retreat Palm Dubai, part of the MGallery by Sofitel chain, is the first holistic well-being resort in Dubai promising a healthy stay to detox and recharge. The hotel focuses on long-term stays by offering wellness packages starting from 5 days onwards. These packages include personal trainers, personalized treatments and counselling and promise a rejuvenating journey. You won’t find alcoholic drinks on the menu, which instead includes a variety of fresh juices and smoothies to boost your vitamins and fibres intake.
We haven’t tried any of the wellness packages, since we stayed only for the weekend, but we got an idea of the hotel characteristics and what are the things you might want to consider when booking your stay.
From the rooms you should avoid to the quality of the food served passing by the level of the service, you’ll find that a few right decisions can significantly improve your stay.
Choose your room wisely
We usually advise to pick rooms with Palm Jumeirah view when staying at a resort on the palm crescent. The skyline is generally more interesting and the side facing the beach is quieter than that facing the open sea and the main road. This is even more important when staying at The Retreat Palm Dubai, considering that the sea view rooms are actually facing active construction sites and the access road.
Even though these rooms are cheaper, we would invest more to get a better view especially if you plan to stay longer to enjoy a wellness package.
We actually booked a sea view room thanks to an offer for UAE residents we found online without knowing the actual situation around the hotel. You can imagine our relief when the check-in staff informed us that we’d be upgraded to Palm Jumeirah view thanks to our ALL gold membership. This is one of our favourite perks of being Accor’s loyal members.
Our room was on the second floor, just above the wellness centre and overlooking the pool and the palm. The bedroom was sufficiently big, with a comfortable king size bed. The bathroom was smaller than what we are used to in Dubai, but still provided with all necessary amenities, including a rain shower and separate bath tub. The balcony was quite small though, with the outdoor chairs obstructing the door.
Food & Drinks at The Retreat Palm Dubai
Options at this resort are limited. The only restaurant open at the moment is Vibe, which serves health-focused a la carte and buffet options for all meals. You’ll find many vegetarian and vegan options (including a delicious vegan chocolate cake), something not always available in other hotels.
We opted for breakfast and dinner at the buffet, while we got our lunch delivered by the pool for convenience. The service at the restaurant wasn’t always up to the hotel rating. Some of the staff ignored the ingredients of the food they were serving, something we wouldn’t expect in a resort focusing on health conscious eating.
At the buffet we enjoyed the mushroom and veggie stew for dinner and liked the healthy omelette options in the morning, which was delivered to our table so we didn’t have to wait in line at the eggs station. At lunch, we noticed most of the guests ordered burgers while we liked our salads and fruit juices.
There is also a café in the lobby serving coffees, juices and pastries, ideal to entertain friends and guests,
Keep in mind that this is an alcohol free hotel.
The Service
The service offered at The Retreat Palm Dubai can be a hit and miss. As mentioned before, we found quite surprising the lack of knowledge of some staff members working at the restaurant. When we asked about the differences in the many bread types offered, we got an “all same, nothing inside” response. This is something the resort management may want to improve, along with the coordination between departments.
At the moment of check-in, we asked to book a spot at the free morning meditation session. Since we didn’t get any confirmation during the day we followed up in the evening. Surprisingly they told us they had no idea whether the booking was successful. They informed us that it depends on what the trainer wrote on their list and they advised us to go in the morning and see whether there are free spots or not.
What we really liked is the service at the pool and the beach. The staff there is proactive and friendly, ready to bring you an extra towel by the pool if you feel cold or to move your umbrella when required.
Wellness and family friendly concept
The Retreat Palm Dubai is family friendly with many kids playing in the pool, at the kids’ club area or the giant board games available at the beach. The Rayya wellness centre offer six wellness retreat packages designed to help improve mental and physical wellbeing. It also offers yoga sessions, a Jacuzzi, wet and dry sauna and much more. There are also water sports to hire and a ping pong table by the poolside.
The main attraction however is the pool, which is great for swimming laps or lounging in the sun on the waterbeds. Just make sure you get there early since they are only a few loungers around the pool area. The beach has plenty of sun loungers with umbrellas and there are also a few air-conditioned cabanas. There is also a built up sundeck if you don’t want to get your toes in the sand.
How to reach The Retreat Palm Dubai
The Retreat is located on the East side of the Crescent on Palm Jumeirah. You can get to it by car, following the signs to Sofitel the Palm or Atlantis to put you in the right direction. Once you pass the main Sofitel resort, slow down and look on your right to spot the banner indicating the hotel. It is not that big and if you speed you may miss it.
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