Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai

Mandarin Oriental Jumeira sits on Jumeira Beach Road in Jumeira 1, 15 minutes by car to the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall, 20 to the airport, and a 10-minute walk along the sand to La Mer. Jeffrey Wilkes designed it as a low white building running along its own stretch of beach, and the lobby he gave it is a grove rather than a room: a line of tall sculptural trees in brushed brass and steel, branches strung with glass leaves, standing over a long reflecting pool that runs the length of the space. There are 251 keys in the building, 174 rooms and 77 suites, and the fan cut into brass panels throughout the property is Aljoud Lootah's own design, its pattern taken from Khous, the palm-frond weaving Emiratis have used for generations.

Every grade here chooses between two things: the Gulf or the skyline, and how much room around the bed. Superior Room and Club Superior Room are the entry point, an oak-panelled foyer and a Statuario marble bathroom, one of the only two grades here with no balcony. Deluxe Skyline View Room and Club Deluxe Skyline View Room add one, facing the Burj Khalifa across the rooftops of old Jumeira; Deluxe Sea View Room, Premier Sea View Room and their Club equivalents turn the other way, onto the water. A king bed or two doubles is the choice on 6 of the 18 grades here — ask for either when you book. Above the rooms, Junior Sea View Suite opens into a proper sitting room, and Skyline View Suite, Sea View Suite and Premier Sea View Suite each add a separate living and dining room of their own. Mandarin Sea Front Suite is the largest single-bedroom suite in the building; the two-bedroom suites split a king and a second room between them for a family; and at the top, Presidential Suite runs to 350 square metres with 3 bedrooms and a private rooftop pool, and Royal Penthouse, reached by its own lift, has a second: 7 metres of water on a rooftop terrace, with the Gulf on one side and the last of the sun on the other.

The hotel keeps a full Club floor running underneath its top grades: 15 of the 18 room and suite categories here carry Club Lounge access — champagne breakfast, afternoon tea and evening canapés, served in the lounge under the same brass trees as the lobby. Private dining can be arranged through most of the restaurants for an occasion that wants a room of its own, and the events team runs weddings and functions out of a 700-square-metre glass-walled ballroom that opens onto its own beachfront terrace, seating 360, with 4 further meeting rooms that divide into 7 and a 121-square-metre bridal room beside them. The concierge is the route to anything not sold outright as a standard rate — Presidential Suite, Royal Penthouse and the connected family room among them.