Abu Dhabi: Stuff the expense

Written by Stephen Baines

Thursday, 19 August 2004

Stuff the expense, I thought. I've just been to the main hotel and asked how much it would be to upgrade, and see one of the rooms I could have. "No problem sir. I'll check" Umms and aahs for a while. "I'm afraid it's quite expensive; it'd cost you an extra 120 Dirhams per night". I do my calcualtions in my head - even I can divide by six - and work out that this is £20 a night. I agree to see a room. It's heaven. It has a comfy bed, comfy chairs, a desk which you can work at, seperate phone sockets and power sockets so you don't have to have the lights out to charge the phone and computer, it has working air conditioning, it has a bath and a decent size bathroom. This is what I need for two weeks away from home and somewhere where I can get work done in the evening. The porter brings my bags from next door while I check in, and finally I can relax. It's now ten minutes to midnight and I'm exhausted. I'm going to be working long hours for the next two weeks, including weekends and bank holidays, I need to be able to relax and work in the evenings. Also, as a resident of the hotel I can use the pools, the beach, everything. I couldn't at the place "next door".