It's irrelevant to the hotel that you're arriving late on the first night. The check-out time is 12pm, and they might give you a couple hours extra, but anything after that would generally be considered an extra night (or at the very least some additional fees).

I don't recall seeing any data points on this thread for a very late check-out. Rearranging the Dinner should be a little easier to manage, although not a given. I suggest calling the hotel to check and discuss.

 

What you're asking for is the Your24 benefit which allows you to check in at any time you want and check out 24 hrs later. It's a benefit reserved for Ambassador members and I don't remember if resorts are excluded. If you have Ambassador status, you could check with your Ambassador.

 

sadly, I am just platinum

 

For those who drove to Al Maha, was it necessary to deflate tires for some of the journey?

 

I went there with a regular taxi that we grabbed in Dubai and our driver didn't have to do anything special to get us to Al Maha. My only concern would be getting the right turn to the resort

 

No, that is not necessary as you only have to drive over compacted sand or asphalt.

 

I had my third stay here over the Labor Day long weekend, though this time I only stayed one night as I only had 72 hrs on the ground. I was thrilled upon pulling up to the property, my door was opened by Michelle, the field guide that I had during my Aug. 2022 visit that I absolutely loved the activities with.

I was assigned suite 22, which is one of the furthest ones from the main building, so I relied on the buggy more than usual given how hot it was. The feels like temps were easily ~115 F during the day. The one new thing I did this time was the horse riding. It's a supplemental cost of 270 or 300 AED depending on if you do the beginner or intermediate/advanced ride. I did the former, as I haven't been on a horse in years. I thought it was well worth it. Michelle passed me off to another guide for this activity, Anise, who she described as the property's best horse rider.

The ride is early at 5:45 am, before the heat of the day and to catch the sunrise. It wound up being a solo activity, just me, Anise and one of the stable guys. The three of us took the horses out for an hour and up and down some small dunes. I really recommend this, even though its an supplemental charge, it's fun. Since none of us were in a rush, Anise asked me if I wanted to help them do the the wash down, so we sprayed the horses down and I got to walk my guy back to his stable. One thing to note, you have to wear long pants, but if you're like me and didn't bring any, they have a stack of Al Maha uniform cargo pants in various sizes you can borrow. There is a restroom/living room area for guests down at the stable to change if needed. Also on the long pants, typically that's the men's dress code for dinner, but Michelle said they don't strictly enforce that during the summer. So long as you have a collared shirt and smart shorts, like khaki or chino shorts and closed toed shoes they're fine.





One thing I asked about, if you do any of the activities that require a supplemental fee (horse riding, dune bashing, etc) it does not use up one of the 2 complimentary activities. Which makes sense, but isn't actually described anywhere. So since I paid for that, I used my two freebies for the wildlife drive and sundowners happy hour. For the wildlife drive, we went out to the fence line of the Al Maha concession to look for Oryx and on the way stopped at the somewhat dystopian old entry gate to the property (she said they stopped using it 15-20 years ago).




Another great stay. Seemed like a slow week, the guy that checked me in said occupancy was about 50% ish. Between that and the heat, I didn't see any other guests other than during meals or activity time. As usual, the food was top notch. They brought out a rather large cake slice for me for dessert at dinner as a welcome back gift, which was unneeded but thoughtful. As I said two years ago, I'm sure I'll be back... Even if it is ungodly hot this time of year, it's good for the rates. I cashed in an 85k cert + 5k points for the night.

Sadly Michelle may not be there much longer, as she was telling me she received an offer/promotion to a role at the Ritz Carlton Al Wadi.

Not needed. You'll dust up your rental car, but no special prep needed. I had a brand new rental car, literally 100ish kms on the odometer, when I went out there and it's fine. The rent car will hang out with a bunch of MB G65s and the like.

 

Michelle is absolutely great, she’s a total sweetheart

 

I've read quite a few pages/post and had some questions, and would appreciate anyone's input:

1. We'll be arriving in the UAE the night before our check-in date, so we're able to head to the resort at any time. What would be the best time to head in?
2. My understanding is that you're entitled to two meals on the first day, and 3 meals on other days, with the option to forego your lunch to have breakfast/lunch on the day you check out. Is this accurate and still valid?
3. If we decide to be lazy and have lunch served in our rooms, are the options the same as in the restaurant, or are they reduced?

Thank you!

 

1 - They do stick to an afternoon check-in so generally would advise arrive around lunchtime, take a leisurely lunch and they'll come and get you when the room is ready

2 - It's 3 meals a day so in above example you can take lunch on arrival then dinner later, so your last day you'd only get breakfast. Or if you want just take dinner on the first day then you get breakfast and lunch on check out day

3 - It's the same menu for room service. They'll give you as much as you like from the menu but would always recommend leaving space for dinner as it's exceptional.

 

Thanks for clarifying, and taking the time to respond--it's appreciated!