How do meal vouchers work at all-inclusive hotels in the UAE?

On the check-in day, all-inclusive guests may receive lunch vouchers even when arriving around 1 pm. In the reported case, this suggests that the meal plan starts with lunch on arrival day.

A standard voucher can be applied toward a higher-priced dish, with the balance paid separately: a 130 AED steak was partly covered this way. At the Italian restaurant, vouchers for two guests were worth 140 AED.

Voucher value varies by venue and the number of guests in the room: at the Indian restaurant Bukhara it is 70 AED per person (140 AED for two, 210 AED for three), while at Zanzibar it is 50 AED per person (100 AED for two). Check menu prices and pay any excess; for example, lobster costs 420 AED and a Zanzibar burger costs 98 AED.

Vouchers are issued per room for each meal except breakfast, listing the room number, meal type, and number of guests. If the whole family skips a meal, they can all eat together later using the same voucher. If only one person skips, reception splits and duplicates the voucher, marking the correct headcount so the rest can dine separately.

Example breakdown: a single-person voucher costs about 70 AED, so a room with 3 guests has a voucher worth roughly 210 AED total. If all 3 dine together, one full voucher is used. If only 1 person eats, reception splits the voucher, issuing a duplicate marked for 1 person, while the remainder (covering 2 people) stays unused and can be redeemed later.

Since the voucher is tied to the room, guests sharing a room are usually asked to come to meals at the same time. To eat at different times, you need to ask the restaurant manager to note that the other family members will arrive later.

Vouchers aren't limited to the main buffet restaurant — you can also use them at other hotel restaurants and bars, and you choose yourself whether to spend a voucher on lunch or dinner. However, at other venues the voucher's face value is lower (around 50-70 AED depending on the place), so you'll need to pay the difference.

Guests used vouchers to get lobster with appetizers at the hotel's Mexican restaurant and pizza at the Italian restaurant — food quality was praised.

Skip both lunch and dinner one day, and the next day you can use both saved vouchers to eat three times in a single day.

Breakfast is included for all guests with no voucher needed; vouchers are only issued for lunch and dinner. Collect several vouchers and spend them at the bar or restaurant on special-menu items not part of standard all-inclusive — for example lobster or a grilled seafood platter. Alcohol quality is good and champagne is included; there's no evening entertainment program, just live music by the pool on certain days.

A skipped lunch or dinner voucher doesn't expire — you can use a leftover voucher later, even on checkout day when lunch is no longer included in the package. If the meal costs more than the voucher covers, you can pay the difference on the spot.