Beach Rotana Hotel Reviews

Beach Rotana - Abu Dhabi - December 2006

Away for Christmas after a busy year, looking forward to sun and lazyness. Well the sun did not shine much, and the locals said they were having the worst weather in memory. Sun in mornings but then cloudy after about 1 p.m.

Hotel - Absolutely impressive, very clean, rooms large and luxurious bathrooms. We had upgraded to a Club Rotana Room in the Tower and were glad we had. We had use of the Superior Lounge and this provided breakfast in a quiet setting with free tea/coffee all day, high tea, feee drinks for 3 hours in evenings, a place to read papers and chill out generally away from the other guests.

Staff were helpful and mostly friendly. Other guests not really friendly and lots of different nationalities there.

Only disappointment was the really thin walls between us and the next room. You really could hear them walk across the floor, and it was carpeted not tiled! If they spoke or laughed it sounded as it they were in our room! We had read this on other reviews once we had booked but it was too late then. So if you are a light sleeper think twice about booking here.

Restaurants in Hotel generally good, we tried Italian a few times, the fish restaurant is lovely and if warmer would be great to eat on the terrace overlooking the sea, (as would the Italian) unfortunately when we were there it was too cold in the evenings.

Shopping is OK, mostly expensive Designer shops for women or eastern wear. Men's wear is good. Jewellry can be a good buy but shop around and haggle hard.

A very safe place to wander around even at night and get the feel of the town. Taxi's cheap. Mall attached to Hotel OK but limited, Large mall down near Emirates Palace, very large and lots of designer shops i.e. Dior, Gucci, Chanel etc.

Beach at hotel very small but clean and lots of grass to sunbathe on and comfy beds. Pool very warm, lots of beds around and a pool bar. Changing rooms all around with showers, loos, hairdryers, lockers and largest ones have a jacuzzi!

So in summary a great hotel, but totally spoilt for us by thin walls. If that doesn't put you off go and have a great time!

I can only agree with the other writers coments, not much I can add, but here it is:

My wife and I have just returned from a week in this hotel which was really 1st class. Apart from the internal building works going on, (these should be finished by end Nov 04) we have absolutely no complaints. The hotel accepted that the noise from the works was unacceptable and upgraded us to the tower block, which surprise surprise was even better then our original room.

Eating in the hotel can however prove expensive. I would recommend going to the DANA Hotel which is a 5 minute walk away. The evening buffet cost 45 dhrm and is comparable to Rotana buffet which cost 90 dhrm. Abu Dhabi is the commercial centre so don't expect to much going on at night although there are some clubs around.

We loved it here. The hotel definitely lives up to its 5* rating (We've travelled a lot so know when a hotel is really special). We were checked in quickly and they provided us with some ice cold face towels to refresh ourselves. We had booked an executive suite and they put us in room 1701 which I think must be bigger than the others as it is an end room. The bed was HUGE and the suite was kept immaculate. The bathroom was lovely, all marble with a jacuzzi bath and also a bidet. They provided you with a bath robe and slippers and most of the toiletries that you will need while staying there.

The swimming pool is great - really huge. Absolutely loved it. There is also a kiddies pool and little climbing frame etc for the children.

There is a gym but we never went in there. It was very popular though so I think it must have been nice. If the rest of the hotel is anything to go by, it would be lovely. There is also a place where they do different types of massages but I didn't try this out. In the changing rooms by the pool, there is a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi that is free to use.

The hotel lobby is very swish and all the staff are so polite and courteous. They treat you like VIPs/royalty.

We went in September and the temp was 39 degrees every day. It was just about bearable but you wouldn't want it any hotter than that! We just kept jumping in the pool every 15 minutes! (We were told that in their summer June - Aug, the temps are 49-50 degrees every day and unbearable). Take lots of suncream as they only tend to have factor 4 or factor 70 in their chemists and not much in between! The evenings are hot too so although you should respect their Muslim beliefs and try to cover your shoulders and knees up, you won't want anything thick or you'll be boiling!

The beach is small but quite nice - I think it is manmade. The sea water is as warm as a bath (33 degrees!) and you see a few fish swimming round. Be careful if you're a non/weak swimmer though as it dips down deep quite suddenly.

There is a 3 storey shopping mall actually within the same building as the hotel which is great to have a walk around.

There are about 5 restaurants in the hotel - a steak house (the steaks are first class), an Italian, a Japanese restaurant, a German restaurant and another called Trader Vics (which I think is a variety of everything, steaks etc). There is also a buffet restaurant called Rosebuds which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner (where the all inclusive people eat) - this is fantastic, offering soo many different choices of food. You can eat as much as you like and you will be spoilt for choice. It is not like usual buffet food e.g. mass produced rubbish that all tastes the same. It's all top quality dishes all prepared individually. We were staying there on a BandB basis and ate at the Rosebuds every day for breakfast (also yummy) and also had dinner there several times for dinner as it was so good. For lunches, the Bayview Restaurant is really good.

If you are looking to buy some jewellery, it's definitely worth taking a taxi ride to the gold souk (taxis are much cheaper than here in England). There is a shopping mall and every shop sells jewellery. Gold is cheaper over there and you should barter with them for a good price.

There is a company called Arabian Adventures that organises trips. I'd really recommend the jeep dune safari - it's a fantastic day/evening out where you go in a kind of rollercoaster ride in a jeep in the desert along the sand dunes. Then you have a camel ride and have your dinner (barbecue) under the stars in the desert. They also have henna tattooing and a belly dancer too. We didn't do this while in Abu Dhabi but did it when we stayed in Dubai last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We really enjoyed our stay here and would definitely recommend it and would stay there again. Next time, I'd go All Inclusive though as the price of all the meals and drinks does add up.

The only thing I would say is that at the moment (October 2004) they are doing a bit of building work (I heard that they are upgrading the 'standard' rooms) so if I was you, I'd pay the bit extra for an executive suite so you are not disrupted by the works being done and the noise from this.

the hotel was realy clean and the hotel rooms were spotless ,with maid all males .they clean rooms 2 a day when you go out for dinner they turn down beds put clean towels for morning and put poems and flowers on beds what a touch!

we paid 600 pound each for a week all inc with kuoni travel club that inc break lunch dinner in rosebuds resturant and wine beer by the glass good wine no problem if you want 3 4 5 glasses they just brought you another.the pool erea and indoor gym and jacuzzi great .food great also they done theme nights also inc food was exellent . the reception was great for people watching plenting off arab royalty and consulate functions,we done trips the dune jeep safari was great and tha city tour ,it took you pass the kings and princes palaces what money! the tour we did not enjoy was the eve boat trip no alc allowed outside hotels ,so it was a bit strange having a lobster meal and drinking coke

well i would say it was good holidayand very good value,but! abu dhabi airport is the worst i have ever been to it is nothing like dubia ,i think all the workers fly home from there it was like a cattle market. well go and enjoy abu dhabi and have a diffrent experince.