On arrival into Dubai, I went through immigration and customs fairly quickly as it was not a busy time for arrivals at the airport. I had already been given my hotel info and Dubai Connect info at check-in in Chicago. Dubai Connect is a program that Emirates has for longer connections of 8-26 hours on both cash and award tickets where they will give you a complimentary hotel room and include transportation to and from the hotel.

The eligibility for this program seems to be quite nebulous. Technically, you are supposed to be traveling on the next eligible connecting flight. In my case, there was a flight at 10:30pm which did not have a First Class cabin, so that flight wouldn’t count. There was also a flight at 2:50am that did have a First Class cabin, so technically, as I was not on that flight, I should not be eligible for Dubai Connect. That was my understanding and why I had booked my own hotel for the night. However, I chatted with Emirates via their website a couple of weeks before the trip and figured I would just ask if I could still get the service. To my surprise, they said I was eligible, even though the online Dubai Connect booking option did not show up when I went into Manage My Booking on the website. I believe the reason I was eligible was because there was no First Class award space on the 2:50am flight and my flight at 9:40am was the next eligible flight with First Class award space. In any event, I was able to book the service, so I canceled the hotel I had previously booked.

For economy layovers, they will send you in a van to the Copthorne Hotel, a no-name brand which seems about the level of a Holiday Inn or Fairfield Inn, but hey, free is free. For Business Class travelers, they tend to use the Le Meridien near the airport, which seems like a solid choice. For First Class travelers, they are usually given a room at the JW Marriott in downtown Dubai and a luxury transfer via BMW sedan. Obviously, all of this depends on hotel availability on the day.

In the arrivals area, I saw the Dubai Connect desks, but when I inquired at the First & Business Class desk, they told me I could go directly to the Chauffeur area further along as I already had my hotel voucher.

At the chauffeur area, I showed my voucher to the rep at the desk and she sent me outside to meet my chauffeur.

I went outside Exit 4 and I was given the next car up, a BMW station wagon.

It took about 20 minutes to get to the hotel. There wasn’t too much traffic. The driver said it gets busier in the winter during tourist season as there are a lot of seasonal residents of Dubai.

We drove past the iconic Burj Khalifa. More on that later.

We reached the JW Marriott and I found the special check-in desk for Emirates. I snapped a quick pic of the driveway on my way in.

I provided my Marriott number, but the helpful and friendly front desk agent said it would be unlikely to credit me for the night since it was direct-billed to Emirates. As it turned out, I did not get any elite night credit or bonus points, which is understandable.

They put me in a King room on the 7th floor of the A Tower. Meals are included in the Dubai Connect program so I technically could have had dinner and breakfast at the hotel. I had neither as I was still full from the flight and left before breakfast began in the morning.

My room was very nice, especially given the price. I grabbed a few pictures on arrival.

I knew that the hotel had a free shuttle to the nearby Dubai Mall and it was leaving at 8pm so I quickly went back downstairs and found the shuttle. The shuttle dropped us off at the Dubai Mall entrance around 8:15pm, and the driver told us that the last shuttle back would be at 9:30pm. I headed into the mall in search of a good view of the Burj Khalifa.

I followed the signs and found the exit toward Dubai Fountains (which appeared to be under renovation) and finally got a clear view of the tallest building in the world.

I walked through the Time Out Market with an eye for some dessert, but didn’t find anything good. A quick Google search found that there was some well-reviewed gelato inside the mall so I found that store and had some tasty, but expensive gelato.

I found an interesting contrast in the mall between all the Western restaurants serving alcohol and the many people walking around in conservative, religious attire. After some more steps in the air-conditioning, I got back to the shuttle area in time for the 9:30pm bus back to the JW Marriott and fell into bed by 10:15pm.

Of course, I woke up at 2:30am and despite trying for an hour, could not fall back asleep. I gave up the fight and called downstairs to see if I could get an earlier ride back to the airport. They confirmed I could take a 4:15am car so I got ready and was downstairs in time for my ride back to DBX for a visit to the Emirates First Class Lounges. It only took about 15 minutes to reach the Emirates First Class check-in area.

Up Next: Emirates First Class Lounge DXB Concourse A Review

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