Atlantis struggles on debut week

HIGH DEMAND: The Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah struggled to cope with demand on its opening week. (Supplied)

The Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah struggled to cope with demand on its opening week, with long queues, packed restaurants and problems with water supply.

The Atlantis was overwhelmed by visitors, with staff forced to turn away customers from busy restaurants over the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, UAE daily The National reported on Sunday.

Most of the hotel was even without water for seven hours when the resort’s main water intake valve ruptured, according to the newspaper.

The water stoppage meant guests would not check out of their rooms, sparking further delays for other hotel guests, the newspaper said.

The Atlantis was not immediately available to comment on the problems when contacted by Arabian Business on Sunday.

The bad news follows an acid-laced review of the hotel by popular UK daily The Sun published last month, in which the reviewer described the flagship development as the "eighth circle of hell".

The review, titled "The 8th chunder of the world", criticised everything from the hotel's pink exterior and centrepiece sculptures to its Ambassador Lagoon and the appearance of its staff.

The Atlantis, a 1,539-room resort encompasses 46-hectares with 17 hectares of water-themed amusement parks, an open air marine habitat, beaches, opened on Sept. 24.

Rooms at the hotel cost between $450 a night for a standard room up to $25,000 for the Bridge Suite.

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Atlantis
Posted by marijke, Manama, Bahrain on Thursday 9 October 2008 at 10:05 UAE time

I haven't been to the hotel, but having worked in hospitality for 8 years, I know it's very hard to start up a new venture. No matter how well you think you are prepared, it takes time before things run smoothly. It annoys me to read peoples complaints saying what a bad experience it was, it's not an easy task especially with such a huge place. Give it some time and give the staff and management some credit at least for working hard and trying to do their job the best they can!

Captive audience at Atlantis
Posted by Graham Plater, Munich, Germany on Monday 6 October 2008 at 17:43 UAE time


Now that the party is over, how about letting the "rescued" whale shark off the hook and returning it to the sea instead of keeping it locked up for the delight of the incensed guests? Or hasn't it recovered quickly enough and still needs captivity for it's own good, as the sea around Dubai is so full of sewage...?

Unpleasant Experience
Posted by Mohammad Itani, Dubai, UAE on Monday 6 October 2008 at 16:59 UAE time


I had my family over to spend the Eid Holiday in Dubai. Unfortunately i decided to take them to Atlantis. The hotel was so hot as if the air conditioning is off. I didnt see any person in Atlantis with a smile. And the worst was the valet parking, it took us 45 min to get the car and over that, it turned out to be the wrong one. The staff are in a bad mood as if they wished they didnt end up working in such a hotel. With such a hype and marketing spend, i expected something much better.

STAY AT ATLANTIS
Posted by gary, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Monday 6 October 2008 at 11:27 UAE time


This is with regards to my recent stay at the Atlantis on 25th - 27th September . We had booked 2 rooms for my family staying in room 18406 & 18408. On the first day after the check in our luggage was missing for 3 hrs ( after checking in at 3 pm) .The complete day was wasted as we had to stay put in our room as we could not carry out any outdoor activities .
On the 27th afternoon after having our breakfast, my kids proceeded for swimming ,whilst i went to the room for collection of clothes . Myself and my son ( age 4 yrs) got stuck in the elevator for 1hr 15 mins . The elevator was shaking vigorously and going up and down between the 13th floor and the ground floor . None of the emergency buttons worked and in spite of screaming i was unable to get anybody to help me . Finally i forced the internal door open and banged on the door for help .Finally when somebody responded , they were unable to locate the technician . By this time my son was getting hysterical and uncontrollable .
Finally when they located the technician ,the technician could not locate the keys
By this time i was claustrophobic and finding it difficult to breathe as i suffer from asthma
Finally when i was out, i was totally in a state of shock as i could control my son crying as well as did not know the whereabouts of the rest of my family
I wasted another 15 -25 mins to locate the manager and finally Mr Saber took me to the Kaleidoscope . He helped locate my family . He assured me that that what happened in the elevator was an accident and there was nothing wrong with the elevator.
After all this we went back to the pool area and we realized our clothes and belongings went missing . Not only this we were unable to locate our luggage
Finally when we left the hotel at 21:30 hrs after a good 3 hr wait , we were dressed in bathrobes shivering in the cold as we had still not found our clothes .
Between the time we left Mr Saber and the time we left the hotel , we tried to get in touch with him again but no luck
After this ordeal , my four year old son was crying for 2 days and refusing to eat any food
After 3 days of continuous call to the hotel and with the help of Ms Bernie , we finally managed to locate our belongings . When we came to the hotel to collect our belongings they were just given to us in un-orderly manner even without a bag in the main lobby . It was here, if you remember that i contacted you asking for a bag to carry out my belongings
After going through this ordeal , i am surprised that no one from the hotel has even tried to contact me to check on our well being and even apologise for the events that has taken place at your hotel
Hence i strongly feel that we should get compensated for the horrible experience we had during our stay at our hotel . What should have been a memorable experience is still giving nightmares to my son and me!
Appreciate your prompt response on this matter

Komal Whabi

Disaster...
Posted by Judith, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Monday 6 October 2008 at 09:41 UAE time


My 6 year old son came out with that statement! We waited 2 hours to get our rooms , 3 hours to get our bags ... which we eventually found & moved ourselves. We witnessed chaos & confusion everywhere ~ restaurant reservations not answering the 'phones, incorrect information about aqua park opening hours etc. The resort has opened with inadequate staff training - the strain showed & we didn't see one smile from them. Paying a high rate to be a guinea pig just doesn't do it for me .... I'll vote with my hard earned cash & give Atlantis a very wide berth.

Still suffering from the Trauma!!!
Posted by Aras on Monday 6 October 2008 at 09:29 UAE time


The Atlantis experience ranks amongst the top excruciatingly bad experiences i have ever had with a hotel here or any where else. Our family spent the Eid break there and spent almost the entire day waiting to check in and locate our baggage. The external and internal phone system was atrocious and the parking system was a mess. Its all very well to say a hotel will have teething problems but these were all at the cost of the customer and the cost was not trivial by any means!! The hotel was simply not ready to open. There were many major problems that could have been avoided had the management thought them through beforehand, instead of trying to capitalize on the Eid rush by advertising so heavily. This was greed pure and simple and guests were basically used as guinea pigs......until the real VIPs arrive for the so called " Grand opening" in November.
Management were well trained and had obviously been to standard customer service courses as they all had the same " glazed look and apologetic smile (that didn't quite reach the eyes) combined with lots of sympathtic head nodding" but nothing by way of problem solving.......The Aqua park and Dolphin bay was like a different world in comparison with excellent organization and fantastic managment and staff. In retrospect think paying 220AED just for the park would have been a much better option.
My advice, wait 6 months at least if you want value for money and a memorable experience.........in a good way!!!

Teething problems and sheer bad luck
Posted by Mustaha Huneyd, ABu Dhabi, UAE on Monday 6 October 2008 at 08:39 UAE time


I stayed with 5 other families at the Atlantis on 30th Sept and 1st October; to our dismay, it took us almost 6 hours to get our room. Adding to the teething problems for Atlantis, was a problem with the PALM water supply, and a lack of trained staff. A certain Mr. Frank at the front desk told my wife to come to the Hotel some other day as she mentioned that our kid was ill and we need a room.

Teething problems and sheer bad luck
Posted by Mustaha Huneyd, ABu Dhabi, UAE on Monday 6 October 2008 at 08:35 UAE time


I stayed with 5 other families at the Atlantis on 30th Sept and 1st October; to our dismay, it took us almost 6 hours to get our room. Adding to the teething problems for Atlantis, was a problem with the PALM water supply, and a lack of trained staff. A certain Mr. Frank at the front desk told my wife to come to the Hotel some other day as she mentioned that our kid was ill and we need a room.

Atlantis
Posted by Rinaldo Boscaro, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Monday 6 October 2008 at 08:03 UAE time


I've been going to the Atlantis a couple of weeks before the pre-opening and was there just after. I think the management and especially the staff have done a tremendouse job, worked extremelly hard and have proven to Dubai that they can open on time dispite the critiques and the earlier fire in the main lobby. Well done Atlantis.

Giving credit to the people
Posted by Samer, Dubai on Monday 6 October 2008 at 02:14 UAE time


The Sun’s article reeks sensationalism. Gust satisfaction is achieved by a combination of facility readiness and the staff effort. The Sun piece didn’t make that distinction and ignored the fact that it was actually a soft launch and rooms were going at a very discounted rate.

The facility wasn’t ready, but the people behind it were doing their best.

I was in the middle of all this whole “mess” The Sun claims. I do have to admit that check-in queue was long and it took me about 1.5 hrs to get to the reception desk attendant, but once I was there, I was heading to my room after 10 minutes.

The room I had (Regal Suite) was one of the best rooms I ever stayed in. I dined in a number of restaurants and the experience was definitely to be repeated. Hotel staff was so pleasant and helpful, it was clear that they went far beyond their way to make my (and my family’s) stay a memorable one.

And though I didn’t complain nor whine even once, I got a personalized letter from the GM apologizing for the inconvenience.

And I have nothing to do with neither the owner, nor developer of the hotel. I just believe in giving credit where/when credit is due.

Atlantis Services
Posted by Mounir, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Monday 6 October 2008 at 01:39 UAE time


I think some of their staff also need better training on customer relations. I have approached their banqueting people to book training rooms for about a year in advance on 5-10 days per month. Their response was pretty much sorry we cannot help you, they could not reserve that far in advance - so we said let us work on quarterly basis; "sorry we cannot help" with out even a consideration for a single week. The tone of the emails were not highly professional especially from a place costing a huge sum of money.

ATLANITS IS NOT SUNK !!!!!!!!!!! IT IS ETERNAL AND WILL BE THERE ALWAYS !!!
Posted by SUNEEL PARWANI, DUBAI, UAE on Sunday 5 October 2008 at 17:08 UAE time

I VISITED MY FRIEND KAMAL SATWANI WHO WAS STAYING IN THE HOTEL, I WAS REALLY AMAZED TO SEE THE PROPERTY AND HATS OFF FOR THIS WONDERFUL PIECE OF ARCHITECTURE. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT EVERY THING IN THIS WORLD HAS TEETHING PROBLEMS AND GRADUALLY IT BECOMES SMOOTH AND RUNNING. I REALLY SALUTE THE STAFF AND THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ATLANTIS FOR BEING ON THEIR TOES INSPITE OF THE DIFFICULTIES THEY WERE ACTUALLY FACING FROM THEIR CUSTOMERS. I PERSONALLY FEEL THAT THEY DID THEIR BEST TO SATISFY EACH AND EVERYONE. I PERSONALLY WOULD LIKE TO APPEAL TO ALL THE GUESTS WHO HAS FACED THIS PROBLEM NOT TO REACT BUT TO JOIN HANDS TO MAKE IT EASY FOR THE STAFF AND MANAGEMENT TO SERVE ALL OF US IN A MUCH BETTER AND ORGANIZED FOR OUR NEXT VISIT.

atlantis
Posted by kamal satwani, dubai, uae on Sunday 5 October 2008 at 16:34 UAE time


Our stay was amazing the whole staff were very co-operative and customer friendly, though there were huge crowds but the staff did their best to handle in a very professional way. We will surely go back to stay in Atlantis, and this place will be a landmark for Dubai, in the years to come.
all the best to the people of atlantis

The Atlantis from hell
Posted by Sybilla Daley, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 5 October 2008 at 15:50 UAE time


This is an understatement! Twice i have visited the Atlantis and wanted to give them the benefit of doubt but no, they couldnt run a marathon let alone a hotel. The first incident saw me waiting for over 1.30 hrs for a medium rare steak, the second and most terrifying is when they LOST my car for 3 days in the valet park and proceeded to tell me lies! DONT GO!!

Atlantis struggle on opening
Posted by bobby on Sunday 5 October 2008 at 15:13 UAE time


In spite of its major flaws during the EID, the staff went ouf of the way to handle the situation. The service recovery provided by the hotel was more than generous and eventually this will be a good property and an unique place to stay or visit.....

Atlantis Opening
Posted by Anil Menon, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 5 October 2008 at 14:33 UAE time


It is so easy for people to criticise, Sun's eigth circle of hell could be someone's eight circle of bliss. Hotel openings and specially for the size of Atlantis are not easy. They will eventually get through it. All the best guys, hang in there.

will be fine
Posted by Sanjay, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 5 October 2008 at 12:43 UAE time

It will be fine Atlantis... all good things start with some criticism.

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