After waiting 1 year for our much-needed holiday, we were left completely disappointed! We checked in after a long flight approx. 9pm and when we were taken to our room, we were greeted with the most awful smell, which I can only explain as the smell of sick. It was so bad; it would make us gag and we couldn’t even sleep, we literally could not escape this smell. We spoke to the reception the next morning before breakfast and they tried to insinuate we was the smell? Finally, they said they can change our room but will not be until this afternoon. We went back after lunch to speak with reception, and we were left waiting to speak to someone for a long while, and then was eventually told we could move rooms but not until 8pm!!! As you could imagine, this ruined the first day and now first night of our holiday as we could not relax during the day, as we was not sure on what the situation was going to be, and then now we was unable to enjoy dinner or even unpack. Once we finally got to the 2nd room, we were now greeted with the smell of smoke and stale tobacco??? These are non-smoking rooms and my partner and I are not smokers, or never have been! So this smell is extremely unpleasant to us. We had to turn off the aircon to prevent the smell becoming worse, but this still did not help. We went back to speak to the receptionist again the following and was told management will contact me. In the meantime, I reached out to travel republic (our holiday rep) and advised them of the issue. We were left days without any contact, and the hotel management contacted us on day 7 of our 9-day trip!!! (The hotel reception said they have been trying to contact us, which was not the case as we had no missed calls, or neither did they visit our room to speak to us in person. On the morning of day 7, we were told they needed to move us “now”, otherwise they cannot move us – we had to cancel our plans to meet our friends to make this 3rd move happen. As you could imagine, packing and un-packing for the 3rd time to move at the end of your holiday is a complete waste of time! I have travelled around the world and stayed in many of hotels in every country you can imagine (from hostels in Australia, to 5 stars in Dubai) and I can confirm this hotel is not a 5-star luxury hotel. The two foul-smelling rooms which we were given for money we paid for this trip was nothing other than upsetting and disappointing. The rooms are dated, dark and not clean, and quite simply should be rated as a 3 star. Not even to mention the food half board package, It is not your typical Dubai half board. Buffet food is very bland and repetitive, and no buffet for lunch time. EVERYTHING is an additional extra – other hotels I have visited in Dubai, nothing is an issue but this hotel they will charge you extra for absolutely everything. Dubai is expensive I know, but this hotel is extremely expensive as you would need to look to pay approx. £7/8 for a can of coke, £8 for an ice cream and an iced coffee is approx. £9.50. Sofitel should be very thankful for their porter staff as they truly are a credit to this hotel, they are the only good memories and experience we have taken from this trip was meeting the porter staff. I reached out to the hotel and my travel agent (travel republic) directly to share my concerns, I advised they I would not return to the hotel as I was left upset, and disappointed. They asked me to re-book and to pay again to come and stay with them again, and as a gesture as goodwill they would upgrade my room – and they call this compensation?! At what point is me spending money to come and stay with you again, compensation? They are NOT interested in the slightest. Now they have my money, and my trip is over they do not care about rectifying any wrong doings. Dubai is a beautiful place, so if you are looking for a 5-star luxury holiday and experience, do not book through Travel Republic and choose another hotel.