A Dubai hotel is trying to ease the pain of the global financial crisis by offering free dinners for laid-off workers, according to UAE media reports.

The three-star Arabian Park hotel is offering its free dinners from December 15 until January 15 to locals and foreigners who can prove they were fired from their jobs.

'(The scheme is) to remind people of our value for money,' the hotel general manager Mark Lee was quoted as saying in the Gulf News.

The city, best known for its gleaming skyscrapers and man-made islands, is often compared to Las Vegas.

But the glamorous city has been hit by falling real estate prices in the wake of the crisis.