I stayed at the Novotel Suites Mall Avenue Dubai for four nights earlier this year during a work trip. It’s the type of hotel you end up booking when everything else is full, which sounds like a criticism but isn’t really. Sometimes you just need somewhere decent for a few nights. This property does that competently enough.

Location

The location near InsuranceMarket metro station is one of those technically convenient but not really situations. It’s roughly an 8-minute walk from the station to the hotel, and that matters because in May, the heat Dubai is genuinely unpleasant.

You can book the RTA Dubai Bus on Demand through your phone if you’d rather not brave the heat to get to the hotel, which I’d recommend. It’s really not expensive and you can use your RTA Nol card.

The hotel is situated in the Mall Avenue area. The Mall of the Emirates is nearby if you need something, and a few restaurant options scattered around, but nothing particularly compelling. If you’re here for work or a conference, the lack of neighbourhood appeal doesn’t matter. If you’re on holiday in Dubai, you’ll likely spend your time elsewhere anyway.

Check-in

My company covered for the night before as I landed in Dubai at 5am. I reached the hotel around 7am for check-in. Check-in took a while as the hotel reception staff had to look for my papers. Interestingly, they tore my check-in papers as they thought I wasn’t going to show up. This is after the fact that I’ve already emailed in stating that I’ll be late.

Given that this was through my company’s travel agency, I wasn’t able to add my Accor membership to the booking, but that’s fine since most of the Accor Platinum membership benefits are for use in Asia anyways.

The room

All rooms here are suites, which is genuinely the main selling point. I was booked into a lead-in suite but interestingly, got upgraded to a Family Suite measuring 48 sqm. The standard suites come in at 33 sqm, so the upgrade made a real difference in how big the room felt. Maybe it’s also because I checked in at 5am the next day.

The layout is straightforward. You walk into a living area with a circular table and TV.

The bedroom sits to your left without any door separating it. That bedroom has its own bathroom.

On the right is an open room a sofa that converts to a sofa bed if needed, plus a separate bathroom.

Everything felt clean and maintained properly. The furnishings are pretty much a cookie-cutter business hotel. The real advantage is simply having more space than a standard hotel room. If you’re staying one night, it barely matters. If you’re here for multiple nights like I was, that extra living space becomes genuinely useful, especially if you need a space to work in the room.

Now, about the pricing. During the conference week in May, rates were genuinely expensive. Once the conference ended and the hotel emptied out, prices dropped to actually reasonable levels. This isn’t unique to Novotel, but it’s worth knowing that you’re paying peak pricing for a mid-range property during busy periods. If you have any flexibility with your dates, wait for the rates to come back down.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served at the Deli Boutique on level 1, and is shared between the Novotel Suites and the adjoining Ibis property, which works better than you’d expect given how many people are funnelling through.

The spread covers the basics well, such as pastries, local and international dishes, and Indian options. The live egg station is in the Ibis section, so you have to walk over, that’s something that isn’t very well-advertised by the staff.

The quality is not bad and quite consistent. Pastries are actually fresh rather than the cardboard situation you get at some lower-end hotels. Eggs are cooked properly. For a hotel breakfast, it’s not bad. It’s not going to impress you, but it won’t disappoint either.

Concluding thoughts

The Novotel Suites Mall Avenue Dubai is average in the truest sense. It’s a reliable all-suites hotel that handles the basics well. The suite layout genuinely adds value compared to a standard room, especially if you’re staying several nights.

Where it falls short is in location and distinctiveness. You’re not somewhere convenient enough to explore comfortably on foot, and you’re not somewhere special enough to make that trade-off worthwhile.

That said, if you’re coming to Dubai during a busy period and hotels are genuinely full, this is a good fallback option. If you’re visiting for vacation and have any choice in the matter at all, you’d do better elsewhere. But if circumstances push you here, you won’t regret it, you just won’t get particularly excited about it either.